The Barren, touched in this holy Chase,
Shake off their fterile Curfe.
Ant. I fhall remember,
When Cafar fays, do this; it is perform❜d.
Caf. Set on, and leave no Ceremony out.
Sooth. Gafar,
Cafe. Bid every noife be ftill; peace yet again.
Caf. Who is it in the prefs, that calls on me?
I hear a tongue, fhriller than all the musick,
Cry, Cafar. Speak; Cafar is turn'd to hear.
Sooth. Beware the Ides of March.
Cef. What man is that?
Bru. A footh-fayer bids you beware the Ides of March.
Caf. Set him before me, let me fee his face.
Cafe. Fellow, come from the throng, look upon Cæfar. Ca. What fay't thou to me now? fpeak once again. Sonb. Beware the Ides of March.
Caf. He is a dreamer, let us leave him; pass.
[Exeunt Cæfar and Train,
Manent Brutus and Caffius.
Caf. Will you go fee the order of the Course?
Bru. Not I.
Bru. I am not gamefome; I do lack fome part
Of that quick spirit that is in Antony:
Let me not hinder, Caffius, your defires;
I'll leave you.
Caf. Brutus, I do observe you now of late;
I have not from your eyes that gentleness
And fhew of love, as I was wont to have;
You bear too ftubborn and too ftrange a hand
Over your
friend that loves you.
Be not deceiv'd: if I have veil'd my look,
I turn the trouble of my countenance
Meerly upon myfelf. Vexed I am,
Of late, with paflions of fome difference,
Conceptions only proper to myfelf;
Which give fome foil, perhaps, to my behaviour:
But let not therefore my good friends be griev'd,
Among which number, Caffius, be you one;
Nor conftrue any farther my neglect,
Than that poor Brutus, with Himself at war,
Forgets the fhews of love to other men.
Caf. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion
By means whereof, this breast of mine hath buried:
Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.
Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?
Bru. No, Caffius; for the eye fees not itself,.
But by reflexion from fome other things.
Caf. is juft.
And it is very much lamented, Brutus,
'That you have no fuch mirrors, as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into y your eye,
That you might fee your fhadow. I have heard,
Where many of the best refpect in Rome,
(Except immortal Cafar) fpeaking of Brutus,
And groaning underneath this age's yoak,
Have with'd that noble Brutus had his eyes.
Bru. Into what dangers would you lead me, Caffius, That you would have me feek into myself.
For that which is not in me?
Caf. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepar'd to hear; And fince you know you cannot see yourself So well as by reflexion; I, your glass,
Will modeftly difcover to yourfelf
That of yourself, which yet you know not of
And be not jealous of me, gentle Brutus,
Were I a common laughter, and did ufe:
To ftale with ordinary oaths my love
To every new protestor; if you know,
That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard,,
And after fcandal them; or if you know,
That I profefs my felf in banquetting
To all the rout, then hold me dangerous.
[Flourish and fbout Bru. What means this fhouting I do fear, the People Chufe Cafar for their King.
Caf. Ay, do you fear it ?
Then must I think, you would not have it fo.
Bru. I would not, Caffius; yet I love him well:
Eut wherefore do you hold me here fo long?
What is it, that you would impart to me?
If it be aught toward the general good,
Set Honour in one eye, and Death i' th' other,
And I will look on Death indifferently: (3)
For let the Gods fo speed me, as I love
The name of Honour, more than I fear Death,
Caf. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
As well as I do know your outward Favour.
Well, Honour is the fubject of my story:-
I cannot tell, what you and other men
Think of this life; but for my single self,
1 had as lief not be, as live to be
In awe of fuch a thing as I myself.
I was born free as Cæfar, fo were you;
We Both have fed as well; and we can Both
Endure the winter's cold, as well as he.
For once upon a raw and gufty day, (4)
(3) And I will look on both indifferently;] What a contradiction to this, are the lines immediately fucceeding? If he lov'd Honour, more than he fear'd Death, how could they be both indifferent to him? Honour thus is but in equal balance to Death, which is not fpeaking at all like Brutus for, in a foldier of any ordinary pretenfion, it should always preponderate. We muft certainly read, And I will look on Death indifferently.
What occafion'd the corruption, I prefume, was, the transcribers Imagining the adverb indifferently must be applied to two things oppos'd. But the ufe of the word does not demand it; nor does Shakespeare always apply it fo. In the prefent paffage it fignifies negledingly, without Fear, or Concern: And so Casca afterwards, again in this A&t, employs it.
And dangers are to me indifferent.
1. e. I weigh them not; am not deterr'd on the fcore of danger. Mr. Warburton.
(4) For once upon a raw and gufty day,] This may, perhaps, appear a very odd amufement for two of the greatest men in Rome. But it appears, this was an ufual exercife for the nobility, that delighted in the hardy ufe of arms, and were not enervated, from this paffage of Horace, 1. i. Ode 8.
Cur timet flavum Tiberim tangere ?
The troubled Tiber, chafing with his shores,
Cæfar fays to me, "Dar'ft thou, Caffus, now,
Leap in with me into this angry flood,
"And swim to yonder point?"-Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in,
And bid him follow; fo, indeed, he did.
The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it
With lufty finews; throwing it aside,
And stemming it with hearts of controversy.
But ere we could arrive the point propos'd,
Cæfar cry'd," Help me, Caffius, or I fink."
I, as Æneas, our great Ancestor,
Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder
The old Anchifes bear, fo, from the waves of Tiber
Did I the tired Cæfar: and this man
Is now become a God; and Caffius is
A wched creature, and muft bend his body,
If Cæfar carelefly but nod on him.
He had a fever when he was in Spain,
And when the fit was on him, I did mark
How he did shake: 'tis true, this God did fhake;
His coward lips did from their colour fly,
And that fame eye, whofe Bend doth awe the World..
Did lofe its luftre; I did hear him groan`:
Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans
Mark him, and write.his speeches in their books,
Alas! it cry'd, "give me fome drink, Titinius?-
As a fick girl. Ye Gods, it doth amaze me,
A man of fuch a feeble temper should
So get the start of the majestick World,
And bear the Palm alone.
Bru. Another general fhout!
I do believe, that thefe applaufes are
For fome new honours that are heap'd on Cafar.
Caf Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world.
Upon which Hermannus Figulus makes this comment: Natare. Nam
Romæ prima Adolefcentiæ juvenes, præter cæteras gymnafticas difci
plinas, etiam natare discebant, ut ad belli munera firmiores aptiorefq;
fent. And he puts us in mind from Suetonius, how pert a fwim-
mer Jul. Cafar was,
Mr. Warburton.
Like a Coloffus; and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs, and peep about
To find ourselves difhonourable Graves.
Men at fome times are mafters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our Stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
Brutus and Cafar! what should be in that Cæfar?
Why should that name be founded, more than yours?
Write them together; yours is as fair a name:
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;
Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with 'em,
Brutus will start a Spirit, as foon as Cæfar.
Now in the Names of all the Gods at once,
Upon what meat doth this our Cæfar feed,
That he is grown fo great? Age, thou art fham'd;
Rome, thou haft loft the breed of noble bloods.
When went there by an age, since the great fad,
But it was fam'd with more than with one man?
When could they fay, till now, that talk'd'of Rome,
That her wide walls incompafs'd but one man?
Now is it Rome, indeed; and room enough,
When there is in it but one only man ?
Oh! you and I have heard our fathers say,
There was a Brutus once, that would have brook'd
Th' eternal devil to keep his State in Rome,
As eafily as a King.
Bru. That you do love me, I am nothing jealous;
What you would work me to, I have fome aim;
How I have thought of this, and of thefe times,
I fhall recount hereafter: for this prefent,
I would not (so with love I might intreat you)
Be any further mov'd. What you have said,
I will confider; what you have to say,
I will with patience hear; and find a time
Both meet to hear and answer fuch high things.
Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this;
Brutus had rather be a villager,
Than to repute himself a fon of Rome
Under fuch hard conditions, as this time
Is like to lay upon us.
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