The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Caesar Part 9

[Note 40: /pa.s.sions of some difference:/ conflicting emotions.]

[Note 41: /only proper to myself:/ belonging exclusively to myself.]

[Note 42: /give some soil to:/ to a certain extent tarnish.--/behaviours./ Shakespeare often uses abstract nouns in the plural. This usage is common in Carlyle. Here, however, and elsewhere in Shakespeare, as in _Much Ado about Nothing_, II, iii, 100, the plural 'behaviours' may be regarded as denoting the particular acts which make up what we call 'behavior.' See Clar.]

[Note 48: /mistook./ The _en_ of the termination of the past participle of strong verbs is often dropped, and when the resulting word might be mistaken for the infinitive, the form of the past tense is frequently subst.i.tuted.--/pa.s.sion./ Shakespeare uses 'pa.s.sion' for any feeling, sentiment, or emotion, whether painful or pleasant. So in _Henry V_, II, ii.

132: "Free from gross pa.s.sion or of mirth or anger."]

[Note 49: /By means whereof:/ and because of my mistaking it.

'Means' was sometimes used in the sense of 'cause.']

[Note 53: Except by an image or 'shadow' (l. 68; cf. _Venus and Adonis_, 162) reflected from a mirror, or from water, or some polished surface. Cf. _Troilus and Cressida_, III, iii, 105-111.]

[Page 13]

Ca.s.sIUS. 'Tis just: And it is very much lamented, Brutus, 55 That you have no such mirrors as will turn Your hidden worthiness into your eye, That you might see your shadow. I have heard, Where many of the best respect in Rome, Except immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus, 60 And groaning underneath this age's yoke, Have wish'd that n.o.ble Brutus had his eyes.

BRUTUS. Into what dangers would you lead me, Ca.s.sius, That you would have me seek into myself For that which is not in me? 65

Ca.s.sIUS. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepar'd to hear: And, since you know you cannot see yourself So well as by reflection, I, your gla.s.s, Will modestly discover to yourself That of yourself which you yet know not of. 70 And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus: Were I a common laughter, or did use To stale with ordinary oaths my love To every new protester; if you know That I do fawn on men and hug them hard, 75 And after scandal them; or if you know That I profess myself in banqueting To all the rout, then hold me dangerous. [_Flourish and shout_]

[Note 58: Two lines in Ff.]

[Note 63: Two lines in Ff.--/Ca.s.sius/, Pope Camb Globe Ca.s.sius? Ff.]

[Note 70: /you yet/ F1 F2 yet you F3 F4.]

[Note 72: /laughter/ Laughter Ff laugher Rowe Camb Globe.]

[Note 77: /myself/ my selfe F1 omitted in F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 54: /'Tis just:/ that's so, exactly so. Cf. _All's Well that Ends Well_, II, iii, 21; _As You Like It_, III, ii, 281; _2 Henry IV_, III, ii, 89.]

[Note 59: /Where./ The adverb is here used of occasion, not of place.--/of the best respect:/ held in the highest estimation.]

[Note 60: /Except immortal Caesar./ Keen, double-edged irony.]

[Note 71: /jealous on:/ suspicious of. In Shakespeare we find 'on' and 'of' used indifferently, even in the same sentence, as in _Hamlet_, IV, v, 200. Cf. _Macbeth_, I, iii, 84; _Sonnets_, Lx.x.xIV, 14. See Abbott, -- 181.]

[Note 72: /laughter:/ laughing-stock. Although most modern editors have adopted Rowe's emendation, 'laugher,' the reading of the Folios is perfectly intelligible and thoroughly Shakespearian. Cf. IV, iii, 114.]

[Note 73: /To stale:/ to make common by frequent repet.i.tion, to cheapen. So again in IV, i, 38. Cf. _Antony and Cleopatra_, II, ii, 240.]

[Note 74: 'To protest' is used by Shakespeare in the sense of 'to profess,' 'to declare,' 'to vow,' as in _All's Well that Ends Well_, IV, ii, 28, and _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, I, i, 89. The best commentary on ll. 72-74 is _Hamlet_, I, iii, 64-65: "But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade."]

[Page 14]

BRUTUS. What means this shouting? I do fear, the people Choose Caesar for their king.

Ca.s.sIUS. Ay, do you fear it? 80 Then must I think you would not have it so.

BRUTUS. I would not, Ca.s.sius; yet I love him well.

But wherefore do you hold me here so long?

What is it that you would impart to me?

If it be aught toward the general good, 85 Set honour in one eye and death i' the other, And I will look on both indifferently; For let the G.o.ds so speed me as I love The name of honour more than I fear death.

[Note 79-80: Three irregular lines in Ff.]

[Note 85: /aught/ Theobald ought Ff.]

[Note 87: /both/ Ff death Theobald (Warburton).]

[Note 76-78: If you know that, when banqueting, I make professions of friendship to all the crowd.]

[Note 87: "Warburton would read 'death' for 'both'; but I prefer the old text. There are here three things, the public good, the individual Brutus' honour, and his death. The latter two so balanced each other, that he could decide for the first by equipoise; nay--the thought growing--that honour had more weight than death."--Coleridge.--/indifferently:/ without emotion. 'Impartially.'--Clar.]

[Note 88: /speed:/ prosper, bless. So in II, iv, 41. "The notion of 'haste' which now belongs to the word is apparently a derived sense. It is thus curiously parallel to the Latin _expedio_, with which some would connect it etymologically....

The proverb 'more haste, worse speed' shows that haste and speed are not the same."--Clar.]

[Page 15-17]

Ca.s.sIUS. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, 90 As well as I do know your outward favour.

Well, honour is the subject of my story.

I cannot tell what you and other men Think of this life; but, for my single self, I had as lief not be as live to be 95 In awe of such a thing as I myself.

I was born free as Caesar; so 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 gusty day, 100 The troubled Tiber chafing with her sh.o.r.es, Caesar said to me, 'Dar'st thou, Ca.s.sius, now Leap in with me into this angry flood, And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word, Accoutred as I was, I plunged in, 105 And bade him follow: so indeed he did.

The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it With l.u.s.ty sinews, throwing it aside And stemming it with hearts of controversy; But ere we could arrive the point propos'd, 110 Caesar cried, 'Help me, Ca.s.sius, or I sink!'

I, as aeneas, our great ancestor, Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber Did I the tired Caesar: and this man 115 Is now become a G.o.d, and Ca.s.sius is A wretched creature, and must bend his body If Caesar carelessly but nod on him.

He had a fever when he was in Spain; And, when the fit was on him, I did mark 120 How he did shake: 't is true, this G.o.d did shake: His coward lips did from their colour fly; And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world Did lose his l.u.s.tre. I did hear him groan: Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans 125 Mark him and write his speeches in their books, Alas, it cried, 'Give me some drink, t.i.tinius,'

As a sick girl. Ye G.o.ds, it doth amaze me A man of such a feeble temper should So get the start of the majestic world 130 And bear the palm alone. [_Shout. Flourish_]

BRUTUS. Another general shout!

I do believe that these applauses are For some new honours that are heap'd on Caesar.

[Note 94: /for/ F1 omitted in F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 101: /chafing/ F1 F4 chasing F2 F3.]

[Note 102: /said/ saide F1 saies F2 F3.]

[Note 105: /Accoutred/ F1 Accounted F2.]

[Note 124: /lose/ loose F1.]

[Note 125: /bade/ Theobald bad Ff.]

[Note 91: /favour:/ appearance. The word has often this meaning in Shakespeare. Cf. 'well-favored,' 'ill-favored,' and such a provincial expression as 'the child favors his father.']

[Note 95: /lief:/ readily. The p.r.o.nunciation of the _f_ as _v_ brings out the quibble. From the Anglo-Saxon _leof_, 'dear.'