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Vol. Not so, my lord.

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

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

It is more worthy to leap in ourselves

[Low alarums.

Than tarry till they push us. Good Volumnius,
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.
[Alarum still.

777. Cli. Fly, fly, my lord; there is no tarrying here.
778. Bru. Farewell to you; - and you; - and you, Vo-

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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.

[Alarum.

Cli. Fly, my lord, fly!

780. Bru. Hence! I will follow.

Cry within, Fly, fly, fly!

[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 honor 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 honor by his death.

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

Brutus,

That thou hast proved Lucilius' saying true.

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

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

790. Mes. How died my master, Strato?

Stra. I held the sword, and he did run on it.

792. Mes.

Octavius, then take him to follow thee,
That did the latest service to my master.

793. 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!

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 honorably.
So, call the field to rest; and let's away,
To part the glories of this happy day.

9

[Exeunt.

PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY

ON

SHAKESPEARE'S JULIUS CESAR.

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ACT I.

SCENE I. The heading here in the original text is: : - "Actus Primus. Scoena Prima. Enter Flavius, Murellus, and certaine Commoners over · the Stage." Murellus stands throughout not only in all the Folios, but also in the editions of both Rowe and Pope. The right name was first inserted by Theobald.

This opening scene may be compared with the first part of that of Coriolanus, to which it bears a strong general resemblance.

I. You ought not walk. — The history and explanation of this now disused construction may be best collected from a valuable paper by Dr. Guest “On English Verbs, Substantive and Auxiliary," read before the Philological Society, 13th March, 1846, and printed in their Proceedings, II. 223. "Originally," says Dr. Guest, "the to was prefixed to the gerund, but never to the present infinitive; as, however, the custom gradually prevailed of using the latter in place of the former, the to was more and more frequently prefixed to the infinitive, till it

came to be considered as an almost necessary appendage of it. Many idioms, however, had sunk too deeply into the language to admit of alteration; and other phrases, to which the popular ear had been familiarized, long resisted the intrusive particle." The ancient syntax is still retained in all cases with the auxiliary verbs, as they are called, shall, will, can, may, do, and also with must and let, and oftener than not with bid, dare, have, hear, make, see, and perhaps some others. Cause is frequently so used; and so is help, sometimes,

to his friend Lawrence:

as in Milton's Sonnet

Where shall we sometimes meet, and by the fire
Help waste a sullen day?

But, even since the language may be said to have entered upon the stage of its existence in which it still is, several of the verbs just enumerated as not admitting the to are occasionally found following the common example and taking it; and others, again, which at the present day have completely conformed to the ordinary construction, formerly used now and then to dispense with it. One of Dr. Guest's quotations exemplifies both these archaisms; it is from the portion of The Mirror for Magistrates contributed by John Higgins in 1574 (King Albanact, 16): — And, though we owe the fall of Troy requite, Yet let revenge thereof from gods to light.

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That is, "Though we ought to requite, yet let revenge light," as we should now say. Here we have let with the to, and owe (of which ought or owed is the preterite), as in Shakespeare's expression before us, without it. Others of Dr. Guest's citations from the same writer exhibit the auxiliaries may, will, can, with the to. And he also produces from Spenser (F. 2., iv. 7. 32), —

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