83. Did Cæsar swoon?-Here swound is the word in all the Folios. 85. 'Tis very like: he hath the falling sickness.-Like is likely, or probable, as in 57. I am surprised to find Mr Collier adhering to the blundering punctuation of the early copies, "Tis very like he hath," etc. Cæsar's infirmity was notorious; it is mentioned both by Plutarch and Suetonius. 86. And honest Casca, etc.-The slight interruption to the flow of this line occasioned by the supernumerary syllable in Casca adds greatly to the effect of the emphatic we that follows. It is like the swell of the wave before it breaks. 66 87. If the tag-rag people.-In Coriolanus, iii. 1, we have "Will you hence, before the tag return." This," says Nares, "is, perhaps, the only instance of tag without his companions rag and bobtail, or at least one of them." 87. No true man.-No honest man, as we should now say. Jurymen, as Malone remarks, are still styled "good men and true." 89. He plucked me ope his doublet.-Though we still use to ope in poetry, ope as an adjective is now obsolete. As for the me in such a phrase as the present, it may be considered as being in the same predicament with the my in My Lord, or the mon in the French Monsieur. That is to say, it has no proper pronominal significancy, but merely serves (in so far as it has any effect) to enliven or otherwise grace the expression. How completely the pronoun is forgotten, or we may say, quiescent-in such a case as that of Monsieur is shown by the common phrase "Mon cher monsieur." Vid. 205 and 471. The best commentary on the use of the pronoun that we have here is the dialogue between Petrucio and his servant Grumio, in Tam. of Shrew, i. 2:-"Pet. Villain, I say, knock me here soundly. Gru. Knock you here, sir? Why, sir, what am I, sir, that I should knock you I here, sir? Pet. Villain, I say, knock me at this gate, and rap me well, or I'll knock your knave's pate. Gru. My master is grown quarrelsome: I should knock you first, And then I know after who comes by the worst. . . . Hortensio. How now, what's the matter? . . . Gru. Look you, sir,—he bid me knock him, and rap him soundly, sir : Well, was it fit for a servant to use his master so? Pet. A senseless villain!-Good Hortensio, I bade the rascal knock upon your gate, And could not get him for my heart to do it. Gru. Knock at the gate ?-O heavens! Spake you not these words plain,- Sirrah, knock me here, Rap me here, knock me well, and knock me soundly?' And come you now with-knocking at the gate?" 89. A man of any occupation.-This is explained by Johnson as meaning "a mechanic, one of the plebeians to whom he offered his throat." But it looks as if it had more in it than that. In the Folios it is "and I had been a man ; " and again in 95 "and I tell you." So also Bacon writes (Essay 23rd):-" Certainly it is the nature of extreme self-lovers, as they will set an house on fire, and it were but to roast their eggs;" and (Essay 40th) :—" For time is to be honoured and respected, and it were but for her daughters, Confidence and Reputation.' : 95. Marullus and Flavius.-In this instance the Marullus is Murrellus in the First Folio (instead of Murellus, as elsewhere). 97. I am promised forth.—An old phrase for I have an engagement. 102. He was quick mettle.-This is the reading of all the old copies. Mr Collier, however, in his regulated text, has mettled, but not, it would appear, on the authority of his MS. corrector. I have allowed the distinction made by the modern editors between metal and mettle to stand throughout the Play, although there can be little doubt that the latter form is merely a corruption of the former, and that the supposed two words are the same. In the First Folio it is always mettle; in 16 and 105, as well as here and in 177 and 506. Dr Webster, however, thinks that mettle may be the Welsh mezwl or methwl, mind. 103. However he puts on. -We should hardly now use however, in this sense, with the indicative mood. We should have to say, "However he may put on."-This tardy form: this shape, semblance, of tardiness or dulness. 104. I will come home to you... Come home to me.— To come home to one, for to come to one's house, is another once common phrase which is now gone out of use. 105. Think of the world.—The only meaning that this can have seems to be, Think of the state in which the world is. 105. From that it is disposed.-Here we have the omission, not only of the relative, which can easily be dispensed with, but also of the preposition governing it, which is an essential part of the verb; but, illegitimate as such syntax may be, it is common with our writers down to a date long subsequent to Shakespeare's age. Vid. 224. 105. Therefore it is meet.—It is (instead of 'tis) is the reading of the First Folio, which has been restored by Mr Knight. The excess here is of a syllable (the fore of therefore) not quite so manageable as usual, and it makes the verse move ponderously, if we must not say halt; but perhaps such a prosody may be thought to be in accordance with the grave and severe spirit of the passage. 105. With their likes.-We scarcely use this substantive now. 105. Cæsar doth bear me hard.-Evidently an old phrase for does not like me, bears me a grudge. It occurs again in 199, and a third time in 345. In 199, and there only, the editor of the Second Folio has changed hard into hatred, in which he has been followed by the Third and Fourth Folios, and also by Rowe, Pope, Hanmer, and even Capel. Mr Collier's MS. annotator restores the hard. It is remarkable that the expression, meeting us so often in this one Play, should be found nowhere else in Shakespeare. Nor have the commentators been able to refer to an instance of its occurrence in any other writer. 105. He should not humour me.-The meaning seems to be, If I were in his position (a favourite with Cæsar), and he in mine (disliked by Cæsar), he should not cajole, or turn and wind, me, as I now do him. He and me are to be contrasted by the emphasis, in the same manner as I and he in the preceding line. This is Warburton's explanation; whose remark, however, that the words convey a reflection on Brutus's ingratitude, seems unfounded. It is rather Brutus's simplicity that Cassius has in his mind. It would be satisfactory, however, if other examples could be produced of the use of the verb to humour in the sense assumed. Johnson appears to have quite mistaken the meaning of the passage: he takes the he to be not Brutus, but Cæsar; and his interpretation is, "his (that is, Cæsar's) love should not take hold of tion, so as to make me forget my principles." 105. In several hands.-Writings in several hands. 105. Let Cæsar seat him sure.-Seat himself firmly (as on horseback). my affec SCENE III.-The same. A Street. Thunder and Lightning. Enter, from opposite sides, CASCA, with his sword drawn, and CICERO. 106. Cic. Good even, Casca; Brought you Cæsar home? Why are you breathless? and why stare you so? 107. Casca. Are not you moved, when all the sway of earth I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds But never till to-night, never till now, Or else the world, too saucy with the gods, 108. Cic. Why, saw you anything more wonderful? 109. Casca. A common slave (you know him well by sight) Like twenty torches joined; and yet his hand, Who glared upon me, and went surly by, Transformed with their fear; who swore they saw 110. Cic. Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time: Casca. He doth; for he did bid Antonius 117. Casca. Your ear is good. Cassius, what a night is this! Cas. A very pleasing night to honest men. Casca. Who ever knew the heavens menace so ? 120. Cas. Those that have known the earth so full of faults. |