Lucius with the gown." After 632 there is merely "Exeunt." 634. Poor knave, I blame thee not; thou art o'erwatched.-For knave see 647.-O'er-watched, or overwatched, is used in this sense, of worn out with watching, by other old writers as well as by Shakespeare, however irreconcilable such an application of it may be with the meaning of the verb to watch. We have it again in Lear, ii. 2: "All weary and o'erwatched, Take vantage, heavy eyes, not to behold This shameful lodging." 634. Some other of my men.-By some other we should now mean some of a different sort. For some more we say some others. But, although other thus used as a substantive, with the plural of the ordinary form, is older than the time of Shakespeare, I do not recollect that he anywhere has others. Nor does it occur, I believe, even in Clarendon. On the other hand, it is frequent in Milton. 634. I'll have them sleep.-Such expressions as this, which are still familiar, show that have ought to be added to the verbs enumerated in the note on "You ought not walk," in 1, which may be followed by another verb without the prefix to. 635. Varro and Claudius!-In the old copies .it is "Varrus and Claudio," both in the speech and in the stage direction that follows. 637. I pray you, Sirs.-Common as the word Sir still is, we have nearly lost the form Sirs. It survives, however, in the Scottish dialect, with the pronunciation of Sirce, as the usual address to a number of persons, much as Masters was formerly in English, only that it is applied to women as well as to men. 639. Servants lie down. This stage direction is modern. 641. Canst thou hold up, etc.-This and the next line are given in the Second Folio in the following blundering fashion, the result no doubt of an accidental displacement of the types : "Canst thou hold up thy instrument a straine or two. And touch thy heavy eyes a-while." The transposition is corrected by Mr Collier's MS. an notator. 645. I know young bloods look.-Vid. 56. 647. It was well done.—So in the old copies; but the Variorum edition has "It is," in which it has been followed by other modern editors,-though not by either Mr Knight or Mr Collier. 647. Gentle knave, good night.-Knave, from the ancient cnafa, or cnapa, having meant originally only a boy, and meaning now only a rogue, was in Shakespeare's time in current use with either signification. It was in its state of transition from the one to the other, and consequently of fluctuation between the two. The German Knabe still retains the original sense. 647. I will not do thee so much wrong to wake thee.— Vid. 408. The stage direction " He sits down " is modern. 647. It comes upon me.-It advances upon me. 647. Speak to me what thou art.--We scarcely now use speak thus, for to announce or declare generally. 648, 649. Thy evil spirit, Brutus, etc.-It is absurd to attempt, as the modern editors do, to make a complete verse out of these two speeches. It cannot be supposed that Brutus laid his emphasis on thou. The regularities of prosody are of necessity neglected in such brief utterances, amounting in some cases to mere ejaculations or little more, as make up the greater part of the remainder of this scene. 651. Well; then I shall see thee again?-So the words stand in the old copies. Nothing whatever is gained by printing the words in two lines, the first consisting only of the word Well, as is done by the generality of the modern editors. 652. Ghost vanishes.-This stage direction is not in the old editions.-Steevens has objected that the apparition could not be at once the shade of Cæsar and the evil genius of Brutus. Shakespeare's expression is the evil spirit of Brutus, by which apparently is meant nothing more than a supernatural visitant of evil omen. At any rate, the present apparition is afterwards, in 774, distinctly stated by Brutus himself to have been the ghost of the murdered Dictator : "The ghost of Cæsar hath appeared to me Two several times by night: at Sardis, once;" etc. So, also, in Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 6,— "Since Julius Cæsar, Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted." Perhaps we might also refer to 744: "O Julius Cæsar, thou art mighty yet and to "Cæsar's spirit, ranging for revenge," in 363. It may be well to append the two accounts of the incident given by Plutarch, as translated by North. In the life of Brutus the apparition is described merely as "a wonderful strange and monstruous shape of a body," and the narrative proceeds :-" Brutus boldly asked what he was, a god or a man, and what cause brought him thither. The spirit answered him, I am thy evil spirit, Brutus; and thou shalt see me by the city of Philippi. Brutus, being no otherwise afraid, replied again unto it, Well, then, I shall see thee again. The spirit presently vanished away; and Brutus called his men unto him, who told him that they heard no noise nor saw anything at all.” In the life of Cæsar the account is as follows:-" Above all, the ghost that appeared unto Brutus showed plainly that the gods were offended with the murder of Cæsar. The vision was thus. Brutus, being ready to pass over his army from the city of Abydos to the other coast lying directly against it, slept every night (as his manner was) in his tent, and, being yet awake, thinking of his affairs, ... he thought he heard a noise at his tent door, and, looking toward the light of the lamp that waxed very dim, he saw a horrible vision of a man, of a wonderful greatness and dreadful look, which at the first made him marvellously afraid. But when he saw that it did him no hurt, but stood at his bed-side and said nothing, at length he asked him what he was. The image answered him, I am thy ill angel, Brutus, and thou shalt see me by the city of Philippi. Then Brutus replied again, and said, Well, I shall see thee then. Therewithal the spirit presently vanished from him." It is evident that Shakespeare had both passages in his recollection, though the present scene is chiefly founded upon the first. Plutarch, however, it will be observed, nowhere makes the apparition to have been the ghost of Cæsar. 653. Why, I will see thee.-This is an addition by Shakespeare to the dialogue as given by Plutarch in both lives. And even Plutarch's simple affirmative I shall see thee appears to be converted into an interrogation in 651. It is remarkable that in our next English Plutarch, which passes as having been superintended by Dryden, we have "I will see thee" in both lives. The Greek is, in both passages, merely "Ooμai (I shall see thee). 653. Boy! Lucius !-Varro! Claudius !--Here again, as in 635, all the Folios, in this and the next line, have Varrus and Claudio. So also in 661. 661. Sleep again, Lucius, etc.-It is hardly necessary to attempt to make verse of this. In the original text Fellow is made to stand as part of the first line. 669. Go, and commend me to my brother Cassius.— Vid. 279. 669. Bid him set on his powers betimes before.-The only sense which the expression to set on now retains is to excite or instigate to make an attack. The other senses which it had in Shakespeare's day may be seen from 27 ("Set on; and leave no ceremony out"); from the passage before us, in which it means to lead forward or set out with; from 714 ("Let them set on at once"); from 746 (“Labeo and Flavius, set our battles on ").— Betimes (meaning early) is commonly supposed to be a corruption of by times, that is, it is said, by the proper time. But this is far from satisfactory. Shakespeare has occasionally betime. ACT V. SCENE I.-The Plains of Philippi. Enter OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, and their Army. 671. Oct. Now, Antony, our hopes are answered: |