Bru.

That by no means I may discover them

By any mark of favour.

75

Let 'em enter. [Exit Lucius.

They are the faction. O conspiracy!
Sham'st thou to show thy dangerous brow by night,

When evils are most free? O! then by day
Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough
To mask thy monstrous visage?

conspiracy;

Hide it in smiles and affability:

80

Seek none,

For if thou path, thy native semblance on,

83. path, thy] F 2; path thy F 1, 3, 4; hath thy Q (1691); march, thy Pope; put thy Dyce; hadst thy Grant White; pace, thy Anon.

ever, could not well be done over a brimmed hat. We must therefore suppose that the conspirators with their togas covered the lower part of their faces.

90.

75. discover] identify.

76. favour] See note on I. ii.

79. most free] least subject to restriction. Compare the Gospel of John iii. 19.

82. smiles and affability] Compare Lady Macbeth's exhortation to her husband:

subjunctive, while the verb in the
consequent is in the past tense.
The irregularity is no doubt due
to the wish to avoid such an ugly
word as "pathed" or "pathedst."
Although Steevens quotes examples
of "path" used as a verb by Drayton,
e.g. in his Polyolbion: "Where from
the neighbouring hills her passage
Wey doth path,'
" and "unpath'd
waters" occurs in Winter's Tale, IV.
iv. 578, the commentators are not
satisfied with the word. Coleridge
proposed to read "put," which is
pronounced to be " 'certainly" right
by Walker, and is adopted by Dyce.
Grant White suggests
"hadst,'
which is supported by "hath," the
reading of the Quarto of 1691. The
reading "hadst" would remove the
irregularity in the construction of
the sentence, as also would “passed,”
if we may venture to suggest another
emendation, slightly altering the read-
ing "pass" suggested by the author of
the Footsteps of Shakespeare.

"Bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under it." 83. if thou path, thy native semblance on] if thou goest about undisguised in thy true colours. Many nouns are used as verbs by Shakespeare and other Elizabethan writers, most of them as transitive verbs, but "bench" is intransitive in Lear, III. vi. 40, and “fault" in the Preface to North's Plutarch: "Cannot fault 83. thy native semblance on] Comtwice." The conditional sentence pare Taming of the Shrew, IV. i. 51: is irregular, as the verb in the Every officer his wedding garment antecedent clause is in the present

66

on.'

Not Erebus itself were dim enough

To hide thee from prevention.

Enter the Conspirators, CASSIUS, CASCA, DECIUS, CINNA, METELLUS CIMBER, and TREBONIUS.

Cas. I think we are too bold upon your rest:

Good morrow, Brutus; do we trouble you?
Bru. I have been up this hour, awake all night.

Know I these men that come along with you?
Cas. Yes, every man of them; and no man here
But honours you; and every one doth wish
You had but that opinion of yourself
Which every noble Roman bears of you.
This is Trebonius.

Bru.

Cas. This, Decius Brutus.

85

90

He is welcome hither.

Bru.

He is welcome too.

95

Cas. This, Casca; this, Cinna; and this,

Metellus

Cimber.

Bru. They are all welcome.

What watchful cares do interpose themselves

Betwixt your eyes and night?

Cas. Shall I entreat a word?

100

[Brutus and Cassius whisper.

Dec. Here lies the east: doth not the day break here?

86. are too bold upon your rest] take an undue liberty in thus disturbing your rest.

92. that opinion] Cassius in Plutarch says to Brutus, "Be thou well assured that at thy hands they specially require as a debt due to them, the taking away of the tyranny, being fully bent to suffer any extremity for

thy sake, so that thou wilt show thyself to be the man thou art taken for and that they hope thou art."

98. watchful cares] Compare 117 and I. ii. 9.

101. Here lies the east] This discussion as to the exact spot at which the sun will rise fills up the time during which Brutus and Cassius

Casca. No.

Cin. O pardon, sir, it doth; and yon grey lines

both de

That fret the clouds are messengers of day. Casca. You shall confess that you are ceiv'd.

105

Here, as I point my sword, the sun arises,
Which is a great way growing on the south,
Weighing the youthful season of the year.
Some two months hence up higher toward the
north

are whispering. Such a discussion at
such a time is very natural. Experi-
ence shows that men are inclined at
a great crisis to relieve their high-
wrought feelings by talking of the
weather or such indifferent matters.

101. doth not the day break here] Compare Marston's Antonio and Mellida, Part I. III. i.:

"Is not yon gleam the shuddering morn that flakes With silver tincture the east verge of heaven?" 102. No] Notice the characteristically curt negative of the blunt Casca.

104. fret] There are two verbs spelt "fret" in English, which are apt to be confused as they are identical in form; but one is derived from the old French freter, to interlace; and the other from the A.S. fretan, to eat. The former verb applied to architecture expresses the ornamentation of lines crossing each other at right angles, and may be used in a wider sense to express ornamental work that variegates cloth, so that the metaphor in the line before us may be regarded as comparing the clouds to a richly embroidered canopy. Compare the use of "lace in Romeo and Juliet, III. v. 7: "what envious streaks Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east";

in which passage the word ". sever

ing" suggests also the other meaning of "fret." The light of morning in both passages seems to be regarded as not only ornamenting, but also as gnawing its way through, breaking through the clouds. See Ruskin's letter recorded in the Transactions of the New Shakspere Society, 11th Oct. 1878.

106. Here as] in this direction

towards which. Compare the old meaning of "whereas"="in which place.'

107. growing on the south] Here grow expresses approach or proximity, not to a condition, but to a place, as in Midsummer Night's Dream, 1. ii. 10: "Read the names of the actors and so grow to a point," and Timon, 11. ii. 227:

"And nature, as it grows again towards earth,

Is fashion'd for the journey, dull and heavy." The sun rises due east at the vernal equinox on 21st March. On the 15th it rises only a little to the south of due east. We must therefore understand "a great way" with reference not to due east, but to the point to the north of east, at which the sun rises two months after the 15th March.

108. Weighing (participle absolute), when one takes into consideration. The sun rises more to the south in spring than in summer.

He first presents his fire; and the high east
Stands, as the Capitol, directly here.
Bru. Give me your hands all over, one by one.
Cas. And let us swear our resolution.

Bru. No, not an oath: if not the face of men,

The sufferance of our souls, the time's abuse- 115
If these be motives weak, break off betimes,
And every man hence to his idle bed;

So let high-sighted tyranny range on,
Till each man drop by lottery.

As I am sure they do, bear fire enough

To kindle cowards and to steel with valour

The melting spirits of women, then, countrymen,
What need we any spur but our own cause
To prick us to redress? what other bond

114. if not the face] Ff, if that the face Theobald, if that the fate Warburton, if not the faith Mason. 115. abuse-] abuse; Ff.

Than secret Romans, that have spoke the word 125

And will not palter? and what other oath
Than honesty to honesty engag'd,

That this shall be, or we will fall for it?
Swear priests and cowards and men cautelous,
Old feeble carrions and such suffering souls
That welcome wrongs; unto bad causes swear
Such creatures as men doubt; but do not stain
The even virtue of our enterprise,

Nor the insuppressive mettle of our spirits,

130

To think that or our cause or our performance 135
Did need an oath; when every drop of blood

125. that have spoke the word] Compare the description of a trustworthy man as one whose "word is his bond." As "that have spoke the word" is equivalent to the participle "having spoken the word," the construction may be regarded as a variation of the participial construction. "Secret Romans that have spoke the word "the fact that secret Romans have spoken the word. Since a word or the speaking of a word is not the same as a bond or written document, we have here a confusion of thought like that in the next question. The sentence goes on as if Brutus had said, "What other pledge" instead of "What other bond. Compare notes on line 127 and III. i. 47.

127. honesty to honesty engaged] pledge of honour given by one honourable man to another. As an instance of the Latin participial construction, this may be compared to I. i. 77. As such a pledge of honour is not an oath, we may compare P. L. ii. 678, 335, and 336:

"What peace can we return, But to our power hostility and hate."

129. Swear] may be either the second person imperative of a transit

ive verb, or the third person plural of an intransitive verb. There is the same room for doubt with regard to "fall not a tear" in Antony and Cleopatra, III. xi. 69.

129. cautelous] crafty, deceitful. Compare "cautelous baits," Coriolanus, IV. i. 33.

130. carrions] used contemptuously of men as in Henry V. IV. ii. 39: "Yon island carrions."

130, 131. such . . . That] See note on 1. ii. 33.

130. suffering] submissive, patient. 133. even] constant, uniform, steadfast. We may say of Brutus, as Lady Macbeth said of her husband, that what he would highly, that he would holily.

66

134. insuppressive] indomitable. Many adjectives ending in "ive" and other terminations, which we should only use in an active sense, have a passive sense in Shakespeare. Abbott, sec. 3, quotes "plausive," uncomprehensive," respective," and "unexpressive.' Compare Lycidas, 176. 136. Did need] The past tense may be explained on the ground that some time has elapsed since Cassius expressed his opinion that an oath was necessary. There is, however, a