114 And not for justice? What, shall one of us, Cas. Brutus, bait1 not me, I'll not endure it; you forget yourself, Bru. Go to: you are not, Cassius. Bru. I say, you are not. Cas. Urge me no more, I shall forget myself- Cas. Is't possible? Bru. Hear me, for I will speak. Must I give way and room to your rash choler? Shall I be frighted, when a madman stares? Cas. O Gods! ye Gods! must I endure all this? Bru. All this! ay, more. Fret till your proud heart break; Go, show your slaves how choleric you are, And make your bondmen tremble. Must I budge? Must I observe you? must I stand and crouch Cas. Is it come to this? Bru. You say you are a better soldier : Let it appear so; make your vaunting true, And it shall please me well. For mine own part, I shall be glad to learn of noble men. Cas. You wrong me-every way you wrong me, Brutus ; I said, an elder soldier; not a better. Did I say, better? Bru. If you did, I care not. Cas. When Cæsar lived, he durst not thus have moved me. 1 Bear-baiting, a favourite amusement of the days of Elizabeth, furnishes frequent allusions in Shakespeare and the other dramatic writers ; They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly, But bear-like I must fight the cause.-Macb. v. 7. Another reading is bay, retorting the expression in the preceding line: but the words seem in origin to be the same; see bait, Richardson's Dict. 2 In presuming to control or censure me. To make conditions; "to know on what terms it is fit to confer the offices at my disposal."-Johnson. Bru. Peace, peace; you durst not so have tempted him. Cas. I durst not! Bru. No. Cas. What? durst not tempt him? Bru. For your life you durst not. Cas. Do not presume too much upon my love; I may do that I shall be sorry for. Bru. You have done that you should be sorry for. For I am armed so strong in honesty, That they pass by me as the idle wind Which I respect not. I did send to you For certain sums of gold, which you denied me; And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring To you for gold to pay my legions, Was that done like Cassius? Cas. I denied you not. Bru. You did. Cas. I did not-he was but a fool That brought my answer back.-Brutus hath riv'd my heart. A friend should bear a friend's infirmities; But Brutus makes mine greater than they are. Bru. I do not, till you practise them on me.1 Cas. You love me not. Bru. I do not like your faults. Cas. A friendly eye could never see such faults. Cas. Come Antony, and young Octavius, come; For Cassius is a-weary of the world; Hated by one he loves; braved by his brother; My spirit from mine eyes!-There is my dagger, 1 Till you goad me into exaggeration by the annoyance they occasion. This line has great beauty when viewed in connection with the succeeding scene. If that thou be'st a Roman,1 take it forth. I, that denied thee gold, will give my heart: When thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him better Bru. Sheath your dagger. Be angry when you will, it shall have scope; Cas. Hath Cassius lived To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus, Cas. O Brutus ! Bru. What's the matter? Cas. Have you not love enough to bear with me, Bru. Yes, Cassius; and, from henceforth, When you are over-earnest with your Brutus, FROM HAMLET. HORATIO ANNOUNCES THE APPEARANCE OF THE GHOST. Hamlet, Horatio, Bernardo, Marcellus. Hor. Hail to your Lordship! Ham. I am glad to see you well: Horatio, -or I do forget myself? Hor. The same, my Lord, and your poor servant ever. Ham. Sir, my good friend: I'll change that name with you. And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?-Marcellus ! Mar. My good Lord Ham. I'm very glad to see you;-good even, Sir. [To Bernardo. But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg? 1 So far from being parsimonious, I would give to a Roman my heart in the cause of my country. 2 I will treat as your foible. The dramatic merit of this scene cannot be properly estimated without reference to those that succeed. 4 The abstraction of his sorrow prevents him from at first noticing who it is that addresses him. 5 Exchange. Ham. I would not hear your enemy say so; We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.1 I think it was to see my mother's wedding. Hor. Indeed, my Lord, it follow'd hard upon. Ham. Thrift, thrift, Horatio; the funeral bak'd meats Did coldly furnish forth the marriage-tables. 'Would I had met my dearest foe in heav'n, Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio! My father methinks I see my father! Ham. In my mind's eye, Horatio. Hor. I saw him once, he was a goodly king. I shall not look upon his like again. Hor. My Lord, I think I saw him yesternight. Hor. My Lord, the King your father. Ham. The King my father! Hor. Season your admiration but a while With an attent ear, till I may deliver, Upon the witness of these gentlemen, This marvel to you. Ham. For Heav'n's love let me hear. Hor. Two nights together had these gentlemen, In the dead vasts and middle of the night, Been thus encounter'd. A figure like your father, Appears before them, and in solemn march Within his truncheon's length; whilst they, distill'd Stand dumb and speak not to him. This to me And I with them the third night kept the watch; 1 He tries to assume the tone of their university companionship. 2 "For direst, most dreadful and dangerous. "-Johnson. It seems rather to mean the foe in whose punishment I felt the deepest and most eager interest. This exclamation is very natural in the state of Horatio's mind. "Eye."-Holt. 5 Waist" is another reading. "Act" applies to voluntary, "power" to involuntary agents; but act is applied popularly to both.-Johnson. ? Used here passively, not in the common meaning of causing dread: in the same manner, fearful in the Tempest, Act I. Sc 2. "He's gentle and not fearful;" i. e. afraid. By a similar exchange of sense, fear is used actively for terrify: "He shall not go: I but fear the knave."-B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour. Where, as they had deliver'd, both in time, These hands are not more like. Ham. But where was this? Mar. My Lord, upon the platform where we watch'd. Hor. My Lord, I did, But answer made it none; yet once, methought, It lifted up its head, and did address Itself to motion, like as it would speak: But even then the morning cock crew loud; And at the sound it shrunk in haste away, And vanish'd from our sight. Ham. 'Tis very strange. Hor. As I do live, my honour'd Lord, 'tis true; To let you know of it. Ham. Indeed, indeed, Sirs, but this troubles me. Hold you the watch to-night? Both. We do, my Lord. Ham. Arm'd, say you?1 Both. Arm'd, my Lord. Ham. From top to toe ?2 Both. My Lord, from head to foot. Ham. Then saw you not his face? Hor. Oh, yes, my Lord, he wore his beaver up.s Ham. What, look'd he frowningly? Hor. A count'nance more in sorrow than in anger. Hor. Nay, very pale. Ham. And fix'd his eyes upon you? Hor. Most constantly. Ham. I would I had been there! Hor. It would have much amaz'd you. Ham. Very like. 5-Staid it long? Hor. While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred. Both. Longer, longer. Hor. Not when I saw't. Ham. His beard was grisly? Hor. It was, as I have seen it in his life, A sable silver'd. Ham. I'll watch to-night; perchance 'twill walk again. 1 These words, and those under notes 2 and 5, seem to be uttered mechanically while his mind is absorbed by Horatio's intelligence. 2 See note 1. 4 But Horatio in See note 1. See note 4, p. 58. the first scene mentions specially the ghost's frown ;- He smote the sledded Polack on the ice. |