(now nearly obsolete) of to hinder, as well as its more ordinary sense of to permit.

It is observed by Steele, in The Tatler, No. 137, that by the dogs of war" Shakespeare probably. meant fire, sword, and famine, according to what is said in the Chorus to Act First of King Henry V.:

Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
Assume the port of Mars; and, at his heels,

Leashed in like hounds, should Famine, Sword, and Fire Crouch for employment.

To this we might add what Talbot says, in 1 Henry VI. iv. 2, to the Captains of the French forces before Bordeaux :

You tempt the fury of my three attendants,

Lean Famine, quartering Steel, and climbing Fire. In illustration of the passage from Henry the Fifth Steevens quotes what Holinshed makes that King to have said to the people of Roan (or Rouen): "He declared that the Goddess of Battle, called Bellona, had three handmaidens ever of necessity attending upon her, as Blood, Fire, and Famine." And at that from Henry the Sixth Malone gives the following extract from Hall's Chronicle: "The Goddess of War, called Bellona, . . . hath these three handmaids ever of necessity attending on her; Blood, Fire, and Famine; which three damosels be of that force and strength that every one of them alone is able and sufficient to torment and afflict a proud prince; and they all joined together are of puissance to destroy the most populous country and most richest region of the world."

It might, perhaps, be questioned whether the words "And let slip the dogs of war" ought not to be considered as also part of the exclamation of Cæsar's spirit.

362. That this foul deed, etc. So that.

direction in the original edition is "Enter Octavio's Servant."

362. You serve Octavius Cæsar. So called throughout both this Play and that of Antony and Cleopatra. He was properly now Cæsar Octa

vianus.

365. The stage direction, Seeing the Body, is modern.

366. For mine eyes. This, which is clearly right, is the reading of the Second Folio. The First has "Passion I see is catching from mine eyes." [Dyce suggests begin here, which White approves; but both leave began in the text.]

368. Tell him what hath chanced. See 69. 368. No Rome of safety. - See 56.

368. Till I have borne this corse. — Corse here is a modern conjectural substitution for the course of the First and Second Folios, and the coarse of the Third and Fourth.

368. The cruel issue of these bloody men. The result or end which they have brought about.

368. According to the which. - This archaism occurs occasionally in Shakespeare, as it does also in the common translation of the Scriptures: "Every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed ". (Gen. i. 29). [Compare the French le-quel.]

368. Lend me your hand. We should now rather say a hand. The stage direction that follows is in the original edition, "Exeunt. Enter Brutus and goes into the Pulpit, and Cassius with the Plebeians."

SCENE II. 369. For Cit. here the original edition has Ple.; and afterwards for 1 Cit., 2 Cit., 3 Cit., it has 1 Ple., 2, 3; and for Cit. at 375, etc., it has All.

370. And part the numbers. - Divide the multi

tude.

370. And public reasons shall be rendered. - To render is to give back or in return for. Thus in 348, as we have seen, Antony asks Brutus and his confederates to render him their hands in return for his own. Here the act which had been done, the slaughter of Cæsar, is that in return or compensation for which, as it were, the reasons are to be given. - For the prosody of the present line, see the note on "She dreamt to-night she saw my statue" in 246. It may be observed that in the First Folio, where the elision of the e in the verbal affix -ed is usually marked, the spelling is here rendred; but this may leave it still doubtful whether the word was intended to be represented as of two or of three syllables. It is the same in 372.

372. Exit Cassius, etc. Brutus goes into the Rostrum. This stage direction is all modern. The Rostrum is the same that is called "the public chair" in 388, and "the pulpit" elsewhere. See 317, 319, 354, 357, 359. Rostrum is not a word which Shakespeare anywhere uses. Nor, indeed, is it a legitimate formation. It ought to be Rostra, in the plural, as it always is in Latin.

373. The noble Brutus is ascended. Even still we commonly say is come, is become, is gone, is arrived, is fled, is escaped, etc. In the freer condition of the language formerly such a mode of expression was carried a good deal farther. Thus, in the present Play, we have in 328, "[Antony is] fled

to his house amazed;" in 398, "O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts; in 458, "Brutus and Cassius Are rid like madmen through the gates of Rome;" in 509, 66 Hark, he is arrived; in 623, "The deep of night is crept upon our talk; 703, "This morning are they fled away and gone;" in 721, "Time is come round;" and "My life is run his compass."

in

[I am come, he is gone, etc., are equivalent to I have come, he has gone, etc. The former are the earlier and natural forms, and are still in good use, though decidedly less common than the latter. The writers on English grammar have generally either ignored these obsolescent forms, or have attempted to explain them as passive.* In French, Italian, German, and other languages, this conjugation with be is the regular one for certain verbs. It is not found in the Spanish. In Italian and German, as in Anglo-Saxon, the verb to be can be conjugated only in this way: io sono stato, ich bin gewesen, etc. Of course, forms like I have been, j'ai été, yo he sido, etc., are illogical, according to the commonly received explanation of the use of have as an auxiliary. See Latham, English Language, Fifth Ed. § 717.]

374. Romans, countrymen, and lovers. See 259. 374. Have respect to mine honor. That is, merely, look to (not look up to). We still employ

* [One of the most popular, and on the whole one of the least objectionable, of the school "Grammars" of the day states the matter thus: "Most intransitive verbs do not admit of the passive form. . . . But the verbs come and go, and perhaps a few others, may, in some cases, properly assume the passive form; as The time is come. Verbs of this description are usually denominated neuter passive verbs.” Of course, is come is really no more passive" than is black.]

66

such words as respect and regard in different senses, according to circumstances. I look with regard, or with respect, upon this man, or upon that institution. With regard, or with respect, to another man or institution I have nothing to say but what is condemnatory, or nothing to say at all.

374. Censure me. That is, merely, pass judgment upon me. See 328.

374. Any dear friend of Cæsar's, to him I say. It is "to them I say" in the Second Folio.

374. Not that I loved Cæsar less. Less than he (the "dear friend") loved Cæsar.

374. But that I loved Rome more. - More than he (the "dear friend of Cæsar ") loved Rome. 374. Had you rather.

in 54.

See note on Had as lief,

374. To live all freemen. It is commonly printed "free men," in two words. But the writer cannot have intended that such prominence should be given to the term men, the notion conveyed by which is equally contained in slaves; for which, indeed, we might have had bondmen, with no difference of effect. If it ought to be "free men" here, it should be "Who is here so base that would be a bond man?" a few lines farther on. In the original edition it is "freemen."

374. There is tears, etc. In modern edimany tions this is changed into "There are." But the tears, joy, etc., are regarded as making one thing. Instead of "There is," it might have been "This is," or "That is."

375. The stage direction is modern.

376. The question of his death. The word question is here used in a somewhat peculiar sense. It seems to mean the statement of the reasons.

In