80 To lock such rascal counters from his friends, Cas. I denied you not. Bru. You did. Cas. I did not: he was but a fool Brutus hath riv'd 85 my heart: A friend should bear his friend's infirmities, But Brutus makes mine greater than they are. Bru. I do not, till you practise them on me. Cas. You love me not. Bru. I do not like your faults. Cas. A friendly eye could never see such faults. Bru. A flatterer's would not, though they do appear 90 As huge as high Olympus. Cas. Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come, Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius, Hated by one he loves; brav'd by his brother; 95 Bru. Check'd like a bondman; all his faults observ'd, Set in a notebook, learn'd, and conn'd by rote, To cast into my teeth. O! I could weep My spirit from mine eyes. There is my dagger, 100 When thou didst hate him worst, thou lov'dst him better Than ever thou lov'dst Cassius. 105 Sheathe your dagger: Be angry when you will, it shall have scope; 98. my] Ff, his Capell. 101. editors. 96. Check'd] rebuked. The noun is so used in Othello, III. iii. 67: "Not almost a fault to incur a private check." 97. set in a note-book. This is exactly the way in which Bacon treated the faults of his rivals. See the account of his Commentarius Solutus in Abbott's Bacon. 98. my] It is quite natural that Cassius in his excitement should suddenly in the middle of a sentence give up speaking of himself in the third person. 100. naked unprotected by armour, as in Othello, v. ii. 258 and 3 Henry VI. v. iv. 42. 101. Dearer] more precious. 101. Pluto's] is altered into "Plutus'" in most editions here and in Troilus and Cressida, III. iii. 197, "every grain of Pluto's gold," although, as indicated by the derivation of the name, Pluto, as well as Pluto's] Ff, Plutus' Pope and later Plutus, was the god of riches and is expressly so called, as M. Beljame points out, by Webster in the Duchess of Malfi, III. ii., "Pluto, the god of riches." If Shakespeare and Webster identify Pluto and Plutus, they might plead the authority of Aristophanes (Plutus, 727) and Sophocles (Fr. 259) in support of the identification. It should also be borne in mind that Pluto is the Italian form of Plutus. See note on I. ii. 3. 102. If that] See note on III. i. 92. 102. thou] The use of the singular pronoun shows that Cassius is impassioned. The colder Brutus throughout the scene uses the plural pronoun in addressing Cassius. 107. it] your anger, implied in the adjective "angry.' Compare v. iii. 4, and Marmion, II. vii. 1 : "Lovely and gentle and distress'dThese charms might tame the fiercest breast," Cas. Do what you will, dishonour shall be humour. Hath Cassius liv'd 108. humour] Ff, honour Craik. 108. dishonour shall be humour] I will overlook any insults you vent upon me as due to your peculiar temper. This is just the way in which Cassius wishes Brutus to treat the poet in line 134. 110. That carries anger] The incongruity, by which a lamb appears to be represented as liable to flashes of anger, is due to the fact that the image of the lamb is not distinctly present to the consciousness of the speaker, so that he goes on as if he had not said "lamb," but "mild man." Compare such mixed metaphors as "take up arms against a sea of troubles." This way of looking to the sense rather than to the words actually used to express the sense also produces the sense constructions in line 151, 11. i. 319, and iv. 28. 66 66 66 III. who] may refer to "flint." In Tempest, 1. ii. 7, Comedy of Errors, 1. ii. 37, Love's Labour's Lost, IV. ii. 4, Merchant of Venice, II. vii. 4, Winter's Tale, Iv. iv. 581, Coriolanus, III. ii. 119, we find " vessel," drop,' 'pomewater," casket," "anchors," and "knees" as antecedents to "who." There is no reason, however, in the present passage, why "who" should not refer to "lamb," in which case the comparison of the "lamblike" 109. lamb] Ff, man Pope. ΠΙΟ 115 Brutus to a flint is first expressed by a simile and then by a metaphor. 113. laughter] subject of ridicule. Compare 1. ii. 71. If the reading of the Folio is retained there, it gives additional force to this passage. Cassius, not being "a common laughter," would be the more galled at his friend's ridicule. 114. ill-tempered] badly combined, so as to make a man inclined to be ill-tempered in the present sense of the word, which we find in the following line. The expression “illtempered blood "is not exactly in accordance with the doctrine of the four humours (see note on v. v. 73), since here the blood is regarded as determining a man's character by itself and not in combination with choler, phlegm, and melancholy. Often "blood" in Shakespeare expresses the whole of the passionate side of human nature as distinguished from the reason, e.g., in Hamlet, III. ii. 74: ❝blest are those, Whose blood and judgment are so well commingled, That they are not a pipe for fortune's finger To sound what stop she please." 114. vexeth] singular, as the subject may be regarded as really one. 115. that] See line 49. Cas. Do you confess so much? Give me your hand. Bru. And my heart too. Cas. Bru. O Brutus ! What's the matter? Cas. Have you not love enough to bear with me, Bru. When that rash humour which my mother gave me Yes, Cassius; and from henceforth 120 Poet. [Within.] Let me go in to see the generals; Lucil. [Within.] You shall not come to them. Enter Poet, followed by LUCILIUS, TITINIUS, and Cas. How now! What's the matter? 125 Poet. For shame, you generals! What do you mean? 117. my heart too] For the connection that exists or ought to exist between hands and hearts compare Othello, III. iv. 46, and the line quoted on 1. iii. 117. In 111. i. 174, instead of hands and hearts, we have arms and hearts closely associated. 117. O Brutus] Cassius is so deeply moved, that, for the moment, he cannot give coherent expression to his feelings. Compare III. ii. 115. 119. that rash humour] the choleric temper of Cassius. 119. my mother gave me] Compare Nelson's humorous apology for his refusal to receive a French messenger: Love, and be friends, as two such men should be; For I have seen more years, I'm sure, than ye. Cas. Ha, ha! how vilely doth this cynic rhyme! Bru. Get you hence, sirrah; saucy fellow, hence! Cas. Bear with him, Brutus; 'tis his fashion. 130 Bru. I'll know his humour, when he knows his time: 135 What should the wars do with these jigging fools? Cas. Away, away! be gone. [Exit Poet. Bru. Lucilius and Titinius, bid the commanders Prepare to lodge their companies to-night. Cas. And come yourselves, and bring Messala with you Immediately to us. 140 [Exeunt Lucilius and Titinius. 132. vilely] F 4; vildely F 1, 2; vildly F 3. 131. I have seen more years] In North's translation of Plutarch we read that "he rehearsed the verses which old Nestor said in Homer: "My lords, I pray you hearken both to me, For I have seen more years than suchie three." Shakespeare, while improving the sound of the verses, obscures the logical connection between the principal and subordinate clauses. Compare II. iv. 28. 135. know his humour] recognise and indulge his humour, when he does not manifest it at an unseasonable time. 136. What should the wars do, etc.] these foolish rhymesters are quite out of place in a war. Malone notes that "a jig signified, in our author's time, a metrical composition, as well as a dance." "Jig" is derived from French gigue, a fiddle, and came to mean a lively dance or a song such as might be composed for the accompaniment of the fiddle. Hence it is used by Ben Jonson as a contemptuous term equivalent to "ballad" to express trifling metrical compositions unworthy of the name of poetry: "Posterity shall know that you dare in these jig-given times to countenance a legitimate poem.' 137. Companion] in Shakespeare's time expressed inferiority, as it still does when we speak of a lady engaging a companion. Hence, like "fellow," it came to be used as a term of contempt. Craik quotes a late example of this use of the word from Roderick Random: "Scurvy companion! Saucy tarpaulin! Rude impertinent fellow!" |