Mar. What trade, thou knave? thou naughty knave, what trade? Second Com. Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me: yet, if you be out, sir, I can mend you. Mar. What meanest thou by that? Mend me, thou saucy fellow! Second Com. Why, sir, cobble you. Flav. Thou art a cobbler, art thou? awl: I meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor 20 25 16. Mar.] Fla. Ff. 26. woman's] womens F I; womans F 2, 3, 4; withal ] F 1; withall I F 2, 3; withal, IF 4. think that the citizen is speaking of souls. Shakespeare makes the same play upon words in Romeo and Juliet, I. iv. 15, and in the Merchant of Venice, IV. i. 123: "Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew, Thou makest thy knife clean," where some difference of pronunciation is required to make the meaning intelligible to the audience. 16. What trade, etc.] The Folios assign this question to Flavius, and the next question to Marullus. But the word 66 me" in line 20 shows that the two questions must be assigned to the same speaker, whether that speaker be Flavius or Marullus. 16. naughty] wicked or worthless. In Shakespeare's time the term was applied to inanimate objects and grown-up men, and not, as now, confined to children. Compare Lear, III. vii. 37, Merchant of Venice, v. i. 91, Prov. vi. 12, and Jer. xxiv. 2, "very naughty figs." 18, 19. out with] angry with. Immediately afterwards the cobbler uses "out" in the sense of " worn out," "torn," which sense still survives in the expression, out at the elbows." Compare the pun in Measure for Measure, II. i. 59. 66 be 26. woman's] for "tradeswoman's," the prefix "trades" being carried on from "tradesman's" to "woman's," as in Othello, I. i. 30, where lee'd and calm'd” = "be-lee'd and becalm'd," and Lear, III. iv. 135, "The wall-newt and the water," i.e. "water-newt." 26. withal] (= with all, i.e. in addi. tion to all) is here an adverb meaning "moreover," and introduces additional information. The sound also suggests "with awl." Most of the later editors follow Steevens, who reads "with awl," and puts a full stop after "awl" and a comma before "but." In this case the secondary meaning suggested by the play upon words is "with all," i.e. "with everything," so that in one sense the sound of the words expresses an apparent contradiction, namely, that he meddles with everything, but with no kind of trade. danger, I recover them. As proper men as Flav. But wherefore art not in thy shop to-day? Why dost thou lead these men about the streets? Second Com. Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get myself into more work. But, indeed, sir, 30 we make holiday to see Cæsar and to rejoice 35 in his triumph. Mar. Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home? What tributaries follow him to Rome To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels? You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things! 40 O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome, oft Have you climb'd up to walls and battlements, To towers and windows, yea, to chimney-tops, 42. Pompey?] Pompey Ff; oft] oft? Ff. 44. windows,] windowes? Ff. 28. recover] keeps up the metaphor, as it means to "restore to health," as well as to "mend by covering the rents with patches," although there is a slight difference between the pronunciation of the verb in these two the second person singular, because the number and person are sufficiently indicated by the suffix. The suffix "t" is etymologically equivalent to "thou." 34. indeed] introduces the direct (see line 12), plain, serious answer. 38. What tributaries] This is a rhetorical question expecting a negative answer. 39. captive bonds] Compare "sterile curse," ii. 9. 40. stones] See note on III. ii. 147. 41. hard hearts] For the metonymy compare "slow bellies," Epistle to Titus i. 12. Your infants in your arms, and there have sat And do you now put on your best attire? 45 50 55 That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood? Be gone! Run to your houses, fall upon your knees, Pray to the gods to intermit the plague 48. but appear] only appear, before it actually came near and passed them. Abbott, sec. 139, takes "but " with "chariot," in which case the meaning would be "only his chariot," Pompey himself being too distant to be distinctly visible. His interpretation of the passage is supported by III. ii. 196. 50. her banks] It is strange to find the river, whom the Romans adored as Father Tiber, personified in the feminine gender here and in line 52. Although all rivers are masculine in Latin, even Milton in Comus personi fies the Severn as a female goddess under the name of Sabrina. 56. That] has for antecedent the possessive "his" in the preceding line. This construction is still common in poetry, e.g. Marmion, Int. i. 71: 60 "Say to your sons-Lo, here his grave Who victor died on Gadite wave. 56. blood] offspring. Compare 1 Henry VI. IV. v. 16: That basely fled when noble Cæsar's last triumph here referred to Draw them to Tiber banks, and weep your tears 65 [Exeunt all the Commoners. See whether their basest mettle be not mov'd; They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness. Go you down that way towards the Capitol; This way will I. Disrobe the images If you do find them deck'd with ceremonies. Mar. May we do so? You know it is the feast of Lupercal. Flav. It is no matter; let no images 66. whether] where Ff; mettle] Ff, metal Johnson and later editors. 66. whether] is spelt "where" in the Folios, which indicates that it must be pronounced as a monosyllable. Abbott compares the contraction of "other" into "or." 66. basest mettle] their disposition base though it be. "Metal" and "mettle" are etymologically the same word, although the latter spelling is now preferred to express "courage." The two spellings appear to have been used indiscriminately in Shakespeare's time. Here "basest" indicates that the speaker is consciously using metaphorical language. 69. Disrobe the images] "There were set up images of Cæsar in the city, with diadems upon their heads like kings. Those the two tribunes, 70 Flavius and Marullus, went and pulled down" (Plutarch). 70. ceremonies] symbols of honour and majesty, namely, the diadems mentioned in the above quotation from Plutarch, which are called trophies in line 74, and scarfs in ii. 289. For this concrete use of "ceremony,' compare Measure for Measure, 11. ii. 59: "No ceremony that to great ones 'longs, Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword, The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe, Become them with one half so good a grace As mercy does." 72. the feast of Lupercal] the Lupercalia, a festival celebrated at Rome on 15th February in honour of Lupercus, the god who defended sheep against wolves. Shakespeare probably Anglicises the name of the feast in this short form for metrical convenience. In Latin lupercal meant a cavern on the Palatine hill sacred to Lupercus. Be hung with Cæsar's trophies. I'll about 75 So do you too where you perceive them thick. Who else would soar above the view of men And keep us all in servile fearfulness. [Exeunt. SCENE II.-The Same. A public Place. Enter, in procession, with music, CÆSAR; ANTONY, for the course; CALPURNIA, PORTIA, DECIUS, CICERO, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, and CASCA; a great crowd following, among them a Soothsayer. Cas. Calpurnia! Casca. Cæs. Peace, ho! Cæsar speaks. 1, 7, 183. Calpurnia] Calphurnia Ff. 74. Casar's trophies] ornaments in honour of Cæsar. A trophy now means a sign of victory generally consisting of spoil taken from the conquered, but in Shakespeare it means any honourable decoration, such as the diadems on Cæsar's images. In Hamlet, IV. vii. 173, Ophelia's coronet weeds" are identical with "her weedy trophies" in line 175. 74. I'll about] I'll go about. Compare line 1. 75. the vulgar] Compare the use of "the general" in II. i. 12 and in Hamlet, II. ii. 465: "Caviare to the general." 77. These growing feathers plucked] the plucking of these growing feathers. This is a good instance of the Latin [Music ceases. Calpurnia! participial construction, in which an abstract idea is expressed by a concrete noun and a participle. Compare P. L. x. 332 and Othello, II. iii. 350: "All seals and symbols of redeemed sin," i.e. of the redemption of sin. 78. pitch] being a term of falconry, keeps up the metaphor. Compare Richard II. 1. i. 109: "How high a pitch his resolution soars." Scene II. 1. Calpurnia] The name is generally but not always spelt correctly without the "h" in North's Plutarch. 1. Peace, ho] Here Casca shows himself to be one of Cæsar's most servile flatterers, unless he is speaking ironically. |