To think that Cæsar bears such rebel blood 40 That will be thaw'd from the true quality If thou dost bend and pray and fawn for him, 45 I spurn thee like a cur out of my way. Know, Cæsar doth not wrong, nor without cause Met. Is there no voice more worthy than my own, iii. 66. The reading of the Folio 40. rebel blood] Compare 11. i. 69. 41. That] See note on I. ii. 33. 43. Low-crooked] Compare "kneecrooking knave," Othello, I. i. 45. 43. spaniel] For Shakespeare's opinion of the spaniel, compare Midsummer Night's Dream, 11. ii. 203: 50 "I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, The more you beat me, I will fawn on you"; and the use of "spaniel" as a verb in Hanmer's emendation of Antony and Cleopatra, IV. xii. 21. 45. If thou dost bend] Compare 1. iii. 104, 105. 47. Cæsar doth not wrong] See Appendix. 48. Will he be satisfied] See Appendix. 54. repeal] (re, back, and appello, call) recall. The verb is used in this sense in line 51, and in Othello, 11. iii. 363. Freedom of repeal means restoration to the enjoyment of the civic rights lost by banishment. "Freedom" is here opposed to "banishment" as in As You Like It, 1. iii. 140, Richard II. 1. iii. 273, and Lear, I. i. 184. "Enfranchisement" in line 57 has the same meaning, so that "immediate freedom here = "enfranchisement immediate" in Richard II. III. iii. 114. " Cæs. What, Brutus ! Cas. Pardon, Cæsar; Cæsar, pardon : 55 As low as to thy foot doth Cassius fall, To beg enfranchisement for Publius Cimber. Cæs. I could be well mov'd if I were as you; If I could pray to move, prayers would move me; But I am constant as the northern star, Of whose true-fix'd and resting quality There is no fellow in the firmament. The skies are painted with unnumber'd sparks, 60 But there's but one in all doth hold his place: 65 That unassailable holds on his rank, Unshak'd of motion: and that I am he, Let me a little show it, even in this, That I was constant Cimber should be banish'd, 61. true-fix'd] true-fixt Capell, true fixt Ff, true, fixt Rowe. 60. the northern star] the polar star, “the ever fixed pole” of Othello, 11. i. 15. 61. true-fixed] fixed so as to be constant, immovable. "True" is used in this sense in v. v. 35 in "well and truly laid," and in the proverbial comparison "true as the needle to the pole." 61. resting quality] immobility. Compare Othello, v. ii. 336, "You shall close prisoner rest,' where "rest" has the meaning of the Latin resto, remain. 62. no fellow] no equal. Compare v. iii. 101, and Pym's historical saying, "Stone dead has no fellow." 67. apprehensive] intelligent, as in 2 Henry IV. IV. iii. 107. 70 69. holds on his rank] keeps his position unaltered by any motion. Skeat compares the following lines in the "Parabola" of Alanus de Insulis : 69. "Etherius motus movet omnia sidera, præter Unum, sed semper permanet illud idem; Sic constans et fidus homo sine fine tenebit Hunc in more modum quem tenet ipse polus." 70. he] the person described in line 72. constant] fixed in my resolve. See line 60. And constant do remain to keep him so. Cin. O Cæsar,— Cæs. Dec. Great Cæsar,- Hence! Wilt thou lift up Olympus? 75 [They stab Cæsar. Doth not Brutus bootless kneel? Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets. Fly not; stand still; ambition's debt is paid. Casca. Go to the pulpit, Brutus. [Dies. 80 75. Doth... kneel?] F 1 ; Do... kneel? F 2, 3, 4; Do... kneel. Rowe. 75. Doth not Brutus] This is an a fortiori argument. As Brutus is pleading in vain, no one else can expect to move Cæsar. "Brutus" here means Marcus Brutus, even though Cæsar is addressing another Brutus. Rowe, following the later Folios, reads "do." But Decius Brutus is nowhere else in the play called simply Brutus. He is always distinguished as Decius or Decius Brutus even when the more famous Brutus is not present. 76. Speak hands] Compare Macbeth, v. viii. 7. 76. stab Cæsar] contrary to the principle of the Greek drama expressed in the well-known line of Horace: Ne pueros coram populo Medea trucidet. In the Earl of Sterline's play the assassination of Cæsar is narrated by a messenger. 77. Et tu, Brute] This exclamation is given in the very words in which it is supposed to have been uttered. According to Suetonius, Caesar's last words were καὶ σὺ, τέκνον, which are in accordance with the popular belief that Cæsar had an intrigue with Servilia, the mother of Brutus; but Shakespeare does not care to refer to this scandal. In the Mirror for Magistrates (1587) we read, And Brutus thou, my son, quoth I, whom erst I loved best,' the first three words of which line are a word for word rendering of Et tu, Brute. The earliest extant work in which the exclamation appears in its Latin form is the True Tragedy of Richard, Duke of York, published in 1595. It may have originated in a Latin drama (Epilogus Cæsaris Interfecti) composed by Richard Eedes on the death of Cæsar and represented at Oxford in 1582. 83. ambition's debt is paid] Ambitious Cæsar has paid the penalty of his ambition, and no one else need fear us. 84. pulpit] Latin pulpitum, a stage or platform from which to address an audience. Casca, who has up to this point played such a prominent part, takes no more part in the action of Dec. Bru. Where's Publius? And Cassius too. 85 Cin. Here, quite confounded with this mutiny. Met. Stand fast together, lest some friend of Cæsar's Should chance Bru. Talk not of standing. Publius, good cheer; 90 Cas. And leave us, Publius; lest that the people, Rushing on us, should do your age some mischief. Bru. Do so; and let no man abide this deed Re-enter TREBONIUS. Cas. Where's Antony? Tre. Fled to his house amaz'd. the play. He speaks his last word in 101, 102, unless we follow the editors who assign these lines to Cassius. 85. Publius] See note on II. ii. 108. 86. mutiny] tumult. 89. Talk not of standing] Brutus scorns to stand on the defensive. See line 108. 91. Nor to no Roman else] For the double negative, see II. i. 231. 92. lest that Before prepositions were changed into conjunctions, they performed the part of conjunctions by governing the pronoun "that" followed by a clause in apposition to "that." See Abbott, sec. 288. This conjunctional affix "that" is retained after prepositions used as conjunctions in Shakespeare, e.g.,“for that,” “after that," and sometimes as here and in ii. 99 is added by false analogy to conjunctions that were never prepositions. The addition of "that to "lest" is redundant, as "lest" is etymologic ally equivalent to "the less that.' 95 93. your age] you an old man, as in Much Ado About Nothing, V. i. 56. The abstract is used for the concrete, as in Goldsmith's Deserted Village, line 14: "The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade, For talking age and whispering lovers made." 94. abide] endure the consequences of, pay the penalty of. Compare ii. 122. "Aby" is also used in this sense in the Quarto of Midsummer Night's Dream, III. ii. 175, 335, where, however, the Folio reads "abide.' two words, though etymologically distinct, were confused. The 95. But we] As "but" is a preposition here, grammar requires "but us." This irregularity is due to the confusion between "but" the preposition and "but" the conjunction, or to the analogy of nominative absolute construction with "except " and "save." See v. v. 69, and Abbott, sec. 118. Bru. Men, wives and children stare, cry out and run Fates, we will know your pleasures. That we shall die, we know; 'tis but the time And drawing days out, that men stand upon. 100 Casca. Why, he that cuts off twenty years of life Cuts off so many years of fearing death. So are we Cæsar's friends, that have abridg'd And let us bathe our hands in Cæsar's blood 100. stand upon] attach importance to, as in Midsummer Night's Dream, v. i. 118. 102. So many years of fearing death] These lines are by Dyce and other editors assigned to Cassius, in whose mouth they appear more appropriate. For the meaning compare Measure for Measure, III. i. 40: "Yet in this life Lie hid moe thousand deaths; That makes these odds all even"; and the philosophical aphorism “Vita commentatio mortis," which Bacon criticises as implying an exaggerated fear of death. 'Groans, convulsions, weeping friends, and the like show death terrible," he allows, "yet there is no passion so weak but conquers the fear of it. Revenge triumphs over death, love slights it, honour aspires to it, dread of shame prefers it, grief flies to it, and fear anticipates it." 104. So are we Casar's friends] This thought gives some satisfaction to the mind of Brutus. See the conclusion of the second scene of the second act. 106. let us bathe our hands] The carrying out of this proposal fulfils Calpurnia's dream. See II. ii. 79. 105 Plutarch says that the conspirators went with bloody hands and naked swords to the Capitol, but does not describe them as deliberately washing their hands in their victim's blood. In the Earl of Sterline's account of Cæsar's assassination : ་་ "That all might have like interest in his death And by the same look for like praise or blame, Then Cassius Brutus and the rest began With that great emperor's blood to dye their hands." The same motive may be supposed to actuate the conspirators in Shakespeare's play. By washing their hands in Caesar's blood they all acknowledged in the most open manner their responsibility for the deed they had done. Thus the symbolical act expressed the same meaning as the words of Brutus in lines 94, 95. In like manner Pontius Pilate, when disclaiming all responsibility for the crucifixion, washed his hands in water. The action of washing their hands in their victim's blood also suggests the comparison between them and hunters, which is more fully worked out in lines 203-210. |