Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

of Thrace, where they were now encamped? Thassos, on the contrary, was a little isle lying close upon Thrace, and at but a small distance from Philippi, to which the body might very commodiously be transported. Vid. Plutarch, Appian, Dion Cassius, etc." It is sufficient to say that Thassos is the place mentioned by Plutarch (in his life of Brutus) as that to which the body was sent to be interred, and that the name, as Steevens has noted, is correctly given in North's translation, which Shakespeare had before him.

746. His funerals.-As we still say nuptials, so they formerly often said funerals. So funérailles in French and funera in Latin. On the other hand, Shakespeare's word is always nuptial. Nuptials occurs only in one passage of the very corrupt text of Pericles :—“ We'll celebrate their nuptials " (v. 3), and in one other passage of Othello as it stands in the Quarto,—" It is the celebration of his nuptials (ii. 2)-where, however, all the other old copies have nuptial, as elsewhere.

[ocr errors]

746. Labeo and Flavius, etc.-In the First Folio, "Labio and Flavio ; in the others," Labio and Flavius." For "set our battles on see 669.

746. 'Tis three o'clock. In the original edition," three a clocke." Vid. 85.

SCENE IV.-Another part of the Field.

Alarum.---Enter, fighting, Soldiers of both Armies; then BRUTUS, CATO, LUCILIUS, and others.

Bru. Yet, countrymen, O, yet hold up your heads! 748. Cato. What bastard doth not? Who will go with me?

I will proclaim my name about the field :

I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho!

A foe to tyrants, and my country's friend.

I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho!

Bru. And I am Brutus, Marcus Brutus, I;

[Charges the enemy.

Brutus, my country's friend; know me for Brutus.

[Exit, charging the enemy. CATO is overpowered, and falls Lucil. O young and noble Cato, art thou down?

Why, now thou diest as bravely as Titinius;

And may'st be honoured being Cato's son. 1 Sold. Yield, or thou diest.

752. Lucil. Only I yield to die :

There is so much, that thou wilt kill me straight;

Kill Brutus, and be honoured in his death. 753. 1 Sold. We must not.-A noble prisoner!

[Offering money.

2 Sold. Room, ho! Tell Antony, Brutus is ta'en. 755. 1 Sold. I'll tell the news.-Here comes the general:

Enter ANTONY.

Brutus is ta'en, Brutus is ta'en, my lord.

Ant. Where is he?

Lucil. Safe, Antony; Brutus is safe enough:

I dare assure thee, that no enemy

Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus :

The gods defend him from so great a shame!
When you do find him, or alive or dead,

He will be found like Brutus, like himself.
758. Ant. This is not Brutus, friend; but, I assure you,
A prize no less in worth: keep this man safe;
Give him all kindness: I had rather have
Such men my friends than enemies. Go on,
And see whe'r Brutus be alive or dead:
And bring us word unto Octavius' tent
How everything is chanced.

[Exeunt.

All that we have in the Folios for the heading of this Scene is, "Alarum. Enter Brutus, Messala, Cato, Lucilius, and Flavius." And the only stage directions that we have throughout the Scene are "Enter Soldiers, and fight," immediately before the speech of Brutus (747), and the "Exeunt " at the end.

748. What bastard doth not?-Vid. 177.

752.

There is so much, that thou wilt kill me straight. The evident meaning of these words has

strangely escaped the acuteness of Warburton, whose interpretation (1747) is :-" So much resistance still on foot, that thou wilt choose to rid me out of the way, that thou mayst go, without the embarras of prisoners, to the assistance of thy friends who still want it." The true explanation is very well given by Heath in replying to this (in his Revisal of Shakespeare's Text, 1765) :—“ There is so much money for thee, on condition that thou wilt kill me straight."

753. We must not.-A noble prisoner !—The original edition places the entry of Antony immediately after this speech.

755. I'll tell the news.-This is the conjectural emendation of Theobald. All the Folios, and also both Rowe and Pope, have thee for the. Mr Collier adopts the emendation.

758. And see whe'r Brutus be alive or dead.-Vid. 16 and 745. It is "where" again in the original text. 758. How everything is chanced.-Vid. 69 and 374.

SCENE V.-Another part of the Field.

Enter BRUTUS, Dardanius, CLITUS, STRATO, and VOLUMNIUS.
Bru. Come, poor remains of friends, rest on this rock.
Cli. Statilius showed the torch-light; but, my lord,
He came not back; he is or ta'en, or slain.

761. Bru. Sit thee down, Clitus: Slaying is the word;
It is a deed in fashion. Hark thee, Clitus.-
Cli. What, I, my lord? No, not for all the world.
Bru. Peace, then; no words.

Cli. I'll rather kill myself.

Bru. Hark thee, Dardanius!

[Whispering.

[Whispers him.

Dar. Shall I do such a deed?
Cli. O, Dardanius!

Dar. O, Clitus!

Cli. What ill request did Brutus make to thee?
Dar. To kill him, Clitus. Look, he meditates.

771. Cli. Now is that noble vessel full of grief,
That it runs over even at his eyes.

Bru. Come hither, good Volumnius; list a word.
Vol. What says my lord?

774. Bru. Why, this, Volumnius:

The ghost of Cæsar hath appeared to me
Two several times by night: at Sardis, once;
And, this last night, here in Philippi fields.
I know my hour is come.

Vol. Not so, my lord.

776. Bru. Nay, I am sure it is, Volumnius.

Thou see'st the world, Volumnius, how it goes;
Our enemies have beat us to the pit:

It is more worthy to leap in ourselves
Then tarry till they push us.

Good Volumnius,

[Low Alarums.

Thou know'st, that we two went to school together;

Even for that our love of old, I pr'ythee,

Hold thou my sword hilts, whilst I run on it.

Vol. That's not an office for a friend, my lord.

778. Cli. Fly, fly, my lord; there is no tarrying here.

[Alarum still.

779. Bru. Farewell to you;-and you ;-and you, Volumnius.

Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep;
Farewell to thee too, Strato.-Countrymen,
My heart doth joy, that yet, in all my life,
I found no man but he was true to me.
I shall have glory by this losing day,
More than Octavius, and Mark Antony,
By this vile conquest shall attain unto.

So, fare you well at once: for Brutus' tongue

Hath almost ended his life's history:

Night hangs upon mine eyes; my bones would rest,

That have but laboured to attain this hour.

Cli. Fly, my lord, fly.

[Alarum. Cry within; Fly, fly, fly.

781. Bru. Hence; I will follow.

[Exeunt CLITUS, DARDANIUS, and VOLUMNIUS.

I pr'ythee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord:

Thou art a fellow of a good respect;

Thy life hath had some smatch of honour in it:

Hold, then, my sword, and turn away thy face

While I do run upon it. Wilt thou, Strato?

Stra. Give me your hand first: Fare you well, my lord.
Bru. Farewell, good Strato.-Cæsar, now be still:

I killed not thee with half so good a will.

[He runs on his sword and dies

Alarum.-Retreat. Enter OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, MESSALA,
LUCILIUS, and their Army.

Oct. What man is that?

Mes. My master's man.-Strato, where is thy master ?
Stra. Free from the bondage you are in, Messala;
The conquerors can but make a fire of him;

For Brutus only overcame himself,

And no man else hath honour by his death.

Lucil. So Brutus should be found.-I thank thee, Brutus,

That thou hast proved Lucilius' saying true.

788. Oct. All that served Brutus, I will entertain them. Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me?

789. Stra. Ay, if Messala will prefer me to you. Oct. Do so, good Messala.

791. Mes. How died my master, Strato?

Stra. I held the sword, and he did run on it. 793. Mes. Octavius, then take him to follow thee, That did the latest service to my master.

794. Ant. This was the noblest Roman of them all:
All the conspirators, save only he,

Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar;
He only, in a generous honest thought
Of common good to all, made one of them.
His life was gentle; and the elements

So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up,
And say to all the world, This was a man !
795. Oct. According to his virtue let us use him,
With all respect and rites of burial.
Within my tent his bones to-night shall lie,
Most like a soldier, ordered honourably.-
So, call the field to rest; and let's away,
To part the glories of this happy day.

[Exeunt.

The heading of Scene V., with the locality, is, as usual, modern.

761. Sit thee down.-In this common phrase, apparently, the neuter verb to sit has taken the place of the active to seat. Or perhaps we ought rather to say that both in Sit thee and in Hark thee, which we have in the next line and again in 765, thee has usurped the function

« ПредишнаНапред »