pleased them, as they use to do the players in the theatre, I am no true man.4 Bru. What said he, when he came unto himself? Casca. Marry, before he fell down, when he perceiv'd the common herd was glad he refused the crown, he plucked me ope his doublet, and offered them his throat to cut. An I had been a man of any occupation,5 if I would not have taken him at a word, I would I might go to hell among the rogues:-and so he fell. When he came to himself again, he said, If he had done, or said, any thing amiss, he desired their worships to think it was his infirmity. Three or four wenches, where I stood, cried, Alas, good soul!—and forgave him with all their hearts: But, there's no heed to be taken of them; if Cæsar had stabbed their mothers, they would have done no less. Bru. And after that, he came, thus sad, away? Cas. Did Cicero say any thing? Casca. Ay, he spoke Greek. Cas. To what effect? Casca. Nay, an I tell you that, I'll ne'er look you i' the face again: But those, that understood him, smiled at one another, and shook their heads: but, for mine own part, it was Greek to me. I could tell you more news too: Marullus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs off Cæsar's images, are put to silence. Fare you well. There was more foolery yet, if I could remember it. Cas. Will you sup with me to-night, Casca? Cassa. No, I am promised forth. Cas. Will you dine with me to-morrow? Casca. Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold, and your dinner worth the eating. 5 Cas. Good: I will expect you. Casca. Do so: Farewel, both. [Exit CASCA. Bru. What a blunt fellow is this grown to be? no true man] No honest man. See Vol. VIII, p. 209, n. 3. Malone a man of any occupation,] Had I been a mechanick, one of the Plebeians to whom he offered his throat. Johnson. So, in Coriolanus, Act. IV, sc. vi: He was quick mettle, when he went to school. Of any bold or noble enterprize, However he puts on this tardy form. With better appetite. Bru. And so it is. For this time I will leave you; To-morrow, if you please to speak with me, I will come home to you; or, if you will, Cas. I will do so:-till then, think of the world. [Exit BRU.. Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see, That Rome holds of his name; wherein obscurely And, after this, let Casar seat him sure ; For we will shake him, or worse days endure. [Exit. Thy honourable metal may be wrought From that it is dispos'd:] The best metal or temper may be worked into qualities contrary to its original constitution. Johnson. From that it is dispos'd, i. e. dispos'd to. n. 2. Malone. See Vol. XI, p. 341, 7 - doth bear me hard;] i. e. has an unfavourable opinion of me. The same phrase occurs again in the first scene of Act III Steevens. 8 If I were Brutus now, and he twere Gassius, He should not humour me] This is a reflection on Brutus's ingratitude; which concludes, as is usual on such occasions, in an encomium on his own better conditions. If I were Brutus, (says he) and Brutus, Cassius, he should not cajole me as I do him. To humour sig. nifies here to turn and wind him, by inflaming his passions. Warburton. The meaning, I think, is this: Cesar loves Brutus, but if Brutus and I were to change places, his love should not humour me, should not take hold of my affection, so as to make me forget my principles. Johnson. SCENE III. The same. A Street. Thunder and Lightning. Enter, from opposite sides, CASCA, with his sword drawn, and CICERO. Cic. Good even, Casca; Brought you Cæsar home?9 Why are you breathless? and why stare you so? Casca. Are not you mov'd when all the sway of earth Shakes, like a thing unfirm? O Cicero, I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds Cic. Why, saw you any thing more wonderful? Who glar'd upon me,3 and went surly by, 9 Brought you Cæsar home?] Did you attend Cæsar home? So, in Measure for Measure: "That we may bring you something on the way." See Vol. IX, p, 252, n. 8. Malone. 1 Johnson. sway of earth-] The whole weight or momentum of this globe. Johnson. 2 A common slave &c.] So, in the old translation of Plutarch: "-a slave of the souldiers that did cast a marvelous burning flame out of his hande, insomuch as they that saw it, thought he had bene burnt; but when the fire was out, it was found he had no hurt." Steevens. 3 Who glar'd upon me,] The first [and second] edition reads: Who glaz'd upon me, Perhaps, Who gaz'd upon me. Johnson. Glar'd is certainly right. So, in King Lear : "Look where he stands and glares!" Again, in Hamlet: "Look you, how pale he glares!" Without annoying me: And there were drawn Cic. Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time: Casca. He doth; for he did bid Antonius [Exit Cic. Casca, by your voice. Casca. Your ear is good. Cassius, what night is this? Cas. A very pleasing night to honest men. Casca. Who ever knew the heavens menace so ? Cas. Those that have known the earth so full of faults. For my part, I have walk'd about the streets, Again, Skelton in his Crowne of Lawrell, describing "a lybbard:" "As gastly that glaris, as grimly that grones." Again, in the Ashridge MS. of Milton's Comus, as published by the ingenious and learned Mr Todd, verse 416: "And yawning denns, where glaringe monsters house" To gaze is only to look stedfastly, or with admiration. Glar'd has a singular propriety, as it expresses the furious scintilla ion of a lion's eye and, that a lion should appear full of fury, and yet attempt no violence augments the prodigy. Steevens. 4 Clean from the purpose-] Clean is altogether, entirely. See Vol. VIII, p. 70, n. 9. Malone. And, when the cross blue lightning seem'd to open Casca. But wherefore did you so much tempt the heavens? It is the part of men to fear and tremble, Such dreadful heralds to astonish us. Cas. You are dull, Casca; and those sparks of life 5 thunder-stone:] A stone fabulously supposed to be discharged by thunder. So, in Cymbeline: "Fear no more the lightning-flash, "Nor the all-dreaded thunder-stone." Steevens. 6 Why birds, and beasts, from quality and kind; &c.] That is, Why they deviate from quality and nature. This line might perhaps be more properly placed after the next line: Why birds, and beasts, from quality and kind, Why all these things change from their ordinance. Johnson. 71 and children calculate;] Calculate here signifies to foretel or prophesy: for the custom of foretelling fortunes by judicial astrology (which was at that time much in vogue) being performed by a long tedious calculation, Shakspeare, with his usual liberty, employs the species [calculate] for the genus [forete!]. Warburton. Shakspeare found the liberty established. To calculate the nativity, is the technical term. Johnson. So, in The Paradise of Daintie Deuises, edit. 1576, Art. 54, signed, M. Bew: "Thei calculate, thei chaunt, thei charme, "To conquere us that meane no harme." This author is speaking of women. Steevens. There is certainly no prodigy in old men's calculating from their past experience. The wonder is, that old men should not, and that children should. I would therefore [instead of old men, fools, and children, &c.] point thus: stone. Why old men fools, and children calculate. Blackstone. *I cannot perceive the necessity of the alteration suggested by BlackHe has used the word calculate in its literal sense to support his position-not in the sense in which it is used by our author, and so fully explained by Warburton and Johnson. Am. Ed. |