Part 13
[Note 178-179: Brutus has been talking about "our hearts," and "kind love, good thoughts, and reverence." To Cassius, all that is mere rose-water humbug, and he knows it is so to Antony too. He hastens to put in such motives as he knows will have weight with Antony, as they also have with himself. And it is remarkable that several of these patriots, especially Cassius, the two Brutuses, and Trebonius, afterwards accepted the governorship of fat provinces for which they had been prospectively named by Cæsar.]
[Page 93]
BRUTUS. Only be patient till we have appeas'd 180 The multitude, beside themselves with fear, And then we will deliver you the cause Why I, that did love Cæsar when I struck him, Have thus proceeded.
ANTONY. I doubt not of your wisdom. Let each man render me his bloody hand: 185 First, Marcus Brutus, will I shake with you; Next, Caius Cassius, do I take your hand; Now, Decius Brutus, yours; now yours, Metellus; Yours, Cinna; and, my valiant Casca, yours; Though last, not least in love, yours, good Trebonius. 190 Gentlemen all,--alas, what shall I say? My credit now stands on such slippery ground, That one of two bad ways you must conceit me, Either a coward or a flatterer. That I did love thee, Cæsar, O, 'tis true: 195 If, then, thy spirit look upon us now, Shall it not grieve thee dearer than thy death, To see thy Antony making his peace, Shaking the bloody fingers of thy foes, Most noble! in the presence of thy corse? 200 Had I as many eyes as thou hast wounds, Weeping as fast as they stream forth thy blood, It would become me better than to close In terms of friendship with thine enemies. Pardon me, Julius! Here wast thou bay'd, brave hart; 205 Here didst thou fall, and here thy hunters stand, Sign'd in thy spoil and crimson'd in thy lethe. O world, thou wast the forest to this hart; And this, indeed, O world, the heart of thee. How like a deer, strucken by many princes, 210 Dost thou here lie!
[Note 183: /struck/ | strooke F1 F2 | strook F3 F4.]
[Note 184: /wisdom/ F3 F4 | Wisedome F1 F2.]
[Note 205: /hart/ F1 | Heart F2 F3 F4.]
[Note 207: /lethe/ | Lethe F2 F3 F4 | Lethee F1 | death Pope.]
[Note 209: /heart/ Theobald | hart Ff.]
[Note 210: /strucken/ Steevens | stroken F1 | stricken F2 F3 F4.]
[Note 181: "When Cæsar was slain, the Senate--though Brutus stood in the middest amongst them, as though he would have said something touching this fact--presently ran out of the house, and, flying, filled all the city with marvellous fear and tumult. Insomuch as some did shut to the doors."--Plutarch, _Julius Cæsar_.]
[Note 193: /conceit:/ conceive of, think of. So in I, iii, 162.]
[Note 197: /dearer:/ more intensely. This emphatic or intensive use of 'dear' is very common in Shakespeare, and is used in the expression of strong emotion, either of pleasure or of pain.]
[Note 205: /bay'd:/ brought to bay. The expression connotes being barked at and worried as a deer by hounds. Cf. _A Midsummer Nights Dream_, IV, i, 118. "Cæsar turned him no where but he was stricken at by some ... and was hackled and mangled among them, as a wild beast taken of hunters."--Plutarch, _Julius Cæsar_.]
[Note 207: /Sign'd in thy spoil./ This may have reference to the custom still prevalent in England and Europe of hunters smearing their hands and faces with the blood of the slain deer.--/lethe./ This puzzling term is certainly the reading of the Folios, and may mean either 'violent death' (Lat. _letum_), as 'lethal' means 'deadly,' or, as White interprets the passage, 'the stream which bears to oblivion.']
[Page 94]
CASSIUS. Mark Antony,--
ANTONY. Pardon me, Caius Cassius: The enemies of Cæsar shall say this; Then, in a friend, it is cold modesty.
CASSIUS. I blame you not for praising Cæsar so; 215 But what compact mean you to have with us?
[Note 214: /modesty:/ moderation. So in _Henry VIII_, V, iii, 64. This is the original meaning of the word. See illustrative quotation from Sir T. Elyot's _The Governour_, 1531, in Century.]
[Page 95]
Will you be prick'd in number of our friends, Or shall we on, and not depend on you?
ANTONY. Therefore I took your hands, but was indeed Sway'd from the point by looking down on Cæsar. 220 Friends am I with you all, and love you all, Upon this hope that you shall give me reasons Why and wherein Cæsar was dangerous.
BRUTUS. Or else were this a savage spectacle: Our reasons are so full of good regard 225 That, were you, Antony, the son of Cæsar, You should be satisfied.
ANTONY. That's all I seek: And am moreover suitor that I may Produce his body to the market-place; And in the pulpit, as becomes a friend, 230 Speak in the order of his funeral.
[Note 226: /you, Antony/ Theobald | you Antony Ff.]
[Note 217. /prick'd/: marked on the list. The image is of a list of names written out, and some of them having holes pricked in the paper against them. Cf. IV, i, 1. See Century under 'pricking for sheriffs.']
[Note 225: /full of good regard/: the result of noble considerations.]
[Note 229: 'Produce' here implies 'motion towards'--the original Latin sense. Hence the preposition 'to.'--/market-place/. Here, and elsewhere in the play, 'the market-place' is the Forum, and the _rostra_ provided there for the purposes of public speaking Shakespeare calls 'pulpits.' In this, as in so much else, he followed North.]
[Note 231: /the order of his funeral:/ the course of the funeral ceremonies. "Then Antonius, thinking good ... that his body should be honourably buried, and not in hugger-mugger,[A] lest the people might thereby take occasion to be worse offended if they did otherwise: Cassius stoutly spake against it. But Brutus went with the motion, and agreed unto it."--Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_.]
[Note A: i.e. in secrecy. Ascham has the form 'huddermother' and Skelton 'hoder-moder.' Cf. "In hugger-mugger to inter him," _Hamlet_, IV, v, 84.]
[Page 96]
BRUTUS. You shall, Mark Antony.
CASSIUS. Brutus, a word with you. [_Aside to_ BRUTUS] You know not what you do; do not consent That Antony speak in his funeral: Know you how much the people may be mov'd 235 By that which he will utter?
BRUTUS. By your pardon: I will myself into the pulpit first, And show the reason of our Cæsar's death: What Antony shall speak, I will protest He speaks by leave and by permission, 240 And that we are contented Cæsar shall Have all true rites and lawful ceremonies. It shall advantage more than do us wrong.
CASSIUS. I know not what may fall; I like it not.
BRUTUS. Mark Antony, here, take you Cæsar's body. 245 You shall not in your funeral speech blame us, But speak all good you can devise of Cæsar, And say you do 't by our permission; Else shall you not have any hand at all About his funeral: and you shall speak 250 In the same pulpit whereto I am going, After my speech is ended.
[Note 233: [_Aside to_ BRUTUS] Ff omit.]
[Note 243: /wrong:/ harm. Cf. l. 47. Note the high self-appreciation of Brutus here, in supposing that if he can but have a chance to speak to the people, and to air his wisdom before them, all will go right. Here, again, he overbears Cassius, who now begins to find the effects of having stuffed him with flatteries, and served as a mirror to "turn his hidden worthiness into his eye" (I, ii, 57-58).]
[Page 97]
ANTONY. Be it so; I do desire no more.
BRUTUS. Prepare the body, then, and follow us.
[_Exeunt all but_ ANTONY]
ANTONY. O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, 255 That I am meek and gentle with these butchers! Thou art the ruins of the noblest man That ever lived in the tide of times. Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood! Over thy wounds now do I prophesy, 260 Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips, To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue, A curse shall light upon the limbs of men; Domestic fury and fierce civil strife Shall cumber all the parts of Italy; 265 Blood and destruction shall be so in use, And dreadful objects so familiar, That mothers shall but smile when they behold Their infants quartered with the hands of war; All pity chok'd with custom of fell deeds: 270 And Cæsar's spirit, ranging for revenge, With Ate by his side come hot from hell, Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth 275 With carrion men, groaning for burial.
[Note 254: [_Exeunt_ ...] Capell | Exeunt. Manet Antony Ff.]
[Note 255: Scene IV Pope.]
[Note 263: /limbs/ F3 F4 | limbes F1 F2.]
[Note 257-258: Cf. Antony's eulogy of Brutus, V, v, 68-75.]
[Note 263: /limbs/. Thirteen different words ('kind,' 'line,' 'lives,' 'loins,' 'tombs,' 'sons,' 'times,' etc.) have been offered by editors as substitutes for the plain, direct 'limbs' of the Folios. One of Johnson's suggestions was "these lymmes," taking 'lymmes' in the sense of 'lime-hounds,' i.e. 'leash-hounds.' 'Lym' is on the list of dogs in _King Lear_, III, vi, 72. In defence of the Folio text Dr. Wright quotes Timon's curse on the senators of Athens and says, "Lear's curses were certainly levelled at his daughter's limbs."]
[Note 269: /with/: by. So in III, ii, 196. See Abbott, § 193.]
[Note 272: Ate was the Greek goddess of vengeance, discord, and mischief. Shakespeare refers to her in _King John_, II, i, 63, as "stirring to blood and strife." In _Love's Labour's Lost_, V, ii, 694, and _Much Ado about Nothing_, II, i, 263, the references to her are humorous.]
[Note 274: 'Havoc' was anciently the word of signal for giving no quarter in a battle. It was a high crime for any one to give the signal without authority from the general in chief; hence the peculiar force of 'monarch's voice.'--To 'let slip' a dog was a term of the chase, for releasing the hounds from the 'slip' or leash of leather whereby they were held in hand till it was time to let them pursue the animal.--The 'dogs of war' are fire, sword, and famine. So in _King Henry V_, First Chorus, 6-8:
at his heels, Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire, Crouch for employment.]
[Page 98]
_Enter a_ Servant
You serve Octavius Cæsar, do you not?
SERVANT. I do, Mark Antony.
ANTONY. Cæsar did write for him to come to Rome.
SERVANT. He did receive his letters, and is coming; 280 And bid me say to you by word of mouth-- O Cæsar! [_Seeing the body_]
ANTONY. Thy heart is big; get thee apart and weep. Passion, I see, is catching; for mine eyes,
[Note 277: _Enter_ ... | Enter Octavio's Servant Ff.]
[Note 282: [_Seeing the body_] Rowe | Ff omit.]
[Note 284: /catching/; for F2 F3 F4 | catching from F1.]
[Page 99]
Seeing those beads of sorrow stand in thine, 285 Began to water. Is thy master coming?
SERVANT. He lies to-night within seven leagues of Rome.
ANTONY. Post back with speed, and tell him what hath chanc'd. Here is a mourning Rome, a dangerous Rome, No Rome of safety for Octavius yet; 290 Hie hence, and tell him so. Yet stay awhile; Thou shalt not back till I have borne this corse Into the market-place: there shall I try, In my oration, how the people take The cruel issue of these bloody men; 295 According to the which, thou shalt discourse To young Octavius of the state of things. Lend me your hand. [_Exeunt with_ CÆSAR'S _body_]
## SCENE II. _The Forum_
_Enter_ BRUTUS _and_ CASSIUS, _and a throng of_ Citizens
CITIZENS. We will be satisfied; let us be satisfied.
BRUTUS. Then follow me, and give me audience, friends. Cassius, go you into the other street, And part the numbers. Those that will hear me speak, let 'em stay here; 5 Those that will follow Cassius, go with him; And public reasons shall be rendered Of Cæsar's death.
[Note 291: /awhile/ F4 | a-while F1 F2.]
[Note 292: /corse/ Pope | course F1 F2 | coarse F3 F4.]
[Note 298: [_Exeunt_ ...] _Exeunt._ Ff.]
[Note: SCENE II Rowe | Scene V Pope.--_The Forum_ Rowe | Ff omit.]
[Note: _Enter_ BRUTUS ... Citizens Malone | Enter Brutus and goes into the Pulpit, and Cassius, with the Plebeians Ff.]
[Note 1: CITIZENS Capell | Ple. (Plebeians) Ff.]
[Note 7, 10: /rendered/ Pope | rendred Ff.]
[Note 290: A pun may lurk in this 'Rome.' See note, p. 19, l. 156.]
[Page 100]
1 CITIZEN. I will hear Brutus speak.
2 CITIZEN. I will hear Cassius; and compare their reasons, When severally we hear them rendered. 10
[_Exit_ CASSIUS, _with some of the_ Citizens. BRUTUS _goes into the pulpit_]
3 CITIZEN. The noble Brutus is ascended: silence!
[Note 10: [_Exit ... pulpit_] Ff omit.]
[Note 11: "The rest followed in troupe, but Brutus went foremost, very honourably compassed in round about with the noblest men of the city, which brought him from the Capitol, through the market-place, to the pulpit for orations. When the people saw him in the pulpit, although they were a multitude of rakehels of all sorts, and had a good will to make some stir; yet, being ashamed to do it, for the reverence they bare unto Brutus, they kept silence to hear what he would say. When Brutus began to speak, they gave him quiet audience: howbeit, immediately after, they shewed that they were not all contented with the murther."--Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_.]
[Page 101]
BRUTUS. Be patient till the last. Romans, countrymen, and lovers! hear me for my cause, and be silent, that you may hear: believe me for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour, that you may believe: censure me in your wisdom, and awake your senses, that you may the better judge. If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Cæsar's, to him I say that Brutus' love to Cæsar was no less than his. If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Cæsar, this is my answer: Not that I lov'd Cæsar less, but that I lov'd Rome more. Had you rather Cæsar were living, and die all slaves, than that Cæsar were dead, to live all free-men? As Cæsar lov'd me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honour him: but as he was ambitious, I slew him. There is tears for his love; joy for his fortune; honour for his valour; and death for his ambition. Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so vile that will not love his country? If any, speak; for him have I offended. I pause for a reply. 33
ALL. None, Brutus, none.
BRUTUS. Then none have I offended. I have done no more to Cæsar than you shall do to Brutus. The question of his death is enroll'd in the Capitol; his glory not extenuated, wherein he was worthy, nor his offences enforc'd, for which he suffer'd death. 39
[Note 26: /is/ Ff | are Pope.]
[Note 13: /lovers/. Pope changed this to 'friends.' But in the sixteenth century 'lover' and 'friend' were synonymous. In l. 44 Brutus speaks of Cæsar as 'my best lover.' So 'Thy lover' in II, iii, 8.]
[Note 16: /censure/: judge. The word may have been chosen for the euphuistic jingle it makes here with 'senses.']
[Note 26: /There is tears/. So in I, iii, 138. See Abbott, § 335.]
[Note 36-39: The reason of his death is made a matter of solemn official record in the books of the Senate, as showing that the act of killing him was done for public ends, and not from private hate. His fame is not lessened or whittled down in those points wherein he was worthy. 'Enforc'd' is in antithesis to 'extenuated.' Exactly the same antithesis is found in _Antony and Cleopatra_, V, ii, 125.]
[Page 102]
_Enter_ ANTONY _and others, with_ CÆSAR'S _body_
Here comes his body, mourn'd by Mark Antony; who, though he had no hand in his death, shall receive the benefit of his dying, a place in the commonwealth; as which of you shall not? With this I depart,--that, as I slew my best lover for the good of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself, when it shall please my country to need my death. 46
ALL. Live, Brutus! live, live!
1 CITIZEN. Bring him with triumph home unto his house.
2 CITIZEN. Give him a statue with his ancestors.
3 CITIZEN. Let him be Cæsar.
4 CITIZEN. Cæsar's better parts 50 Shall be crown'd in Brutus.
1 CITIZEN. We'll bring him to his house with shouts and clamours.
BRUTUS. My countrymen,--
2 CITIZEN. Peace! silence! Brutus speaks.
1 CITIZEN. Peace, ho!
[Note 40: _Enter_ ANTONY ... _body_ Malone | Enter Mark Antony with Cæsar's body Ff.]
[Note 47, 72, etc.: ALL Ff | Cit. (Citizens) Capell.]
[Note 48, 49, etc.: CITIZEN | Ff omit.]
[Note 52: Two lines in Ff.]
[Note 43-46: In this speech Shakespeare seems to have aimed at imitating the manner actually ascribed to Brutus. "In some of his Epistles, he counterfeited that brief compendious manner of speech of the Lacedæmonians."--Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_. Shakespeare's idea is sustained by the _Dialogus de Oratoribus_, ascribed to Tacitus, wherein it is said that Brutus's style of eloquence was censured as _otiosum et disjunctum_. Verplanck remarks, "the _disjunctum_, the broken-up style, without oratorical continuity, is precisely that assumed by the dramatist." Gollancz finds a probable original of this speech in Belleforest's _Histoires Tragiques_ (_Hamlet_); Dowden thinks Shakespeare received hints from the English version (1578) of Appian's _Roman Wars_.]
[Page 103]
BRUTUS. Good countrymen, let me depart alone, 55 And, for my sake, stay here with Antony: Do grace to Cæsar's corpse, and grace his speech Tending to Cæsar's glories; which Mark Antony, By our permission, is allow'd to make. I do entreat you, not a man depart, 60 Save I alone, till Antony have spoke. [_Exit_]
1 CITIZEN. Stay, ho! and let us hear Mark Antony.
3 CITIZEN. Let him go up into the public chair; We'll hear him. Noble Antony, go up.
ANTONY. For Brutus' sake, I am beholding to you. 65
4 CITIZEN. What does he say of Brutus?
3 CITIZEN. He says, for Brutus' sake, He finds himself beholding to us all.
4 CITIZEN. 'Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here.
1 CITIZEN. This Cæsar was a tyrant.
3 CITIZEN. Nay, that's certain: We are blest that Rome is rid of him. 70
2 CITIZEN. Peace! let us hear what Antony can say.
ANTONY. You gentle Romans,--
ALL. Peace, ho! Let us hear him.
[Note 62: Scene VI Pope.]
[Note 70: /blest/ F1 | glad F2 F3 F4.]
[Note 65: /beholding./ This Elizabethan corruption of 'beholden' occurs constantly in the Folios of 1623, 1632, and 1664. The Fourth Folio usually has 'beholden.' Here Camb has 'Goes into the pulpit.']
[Note 72: "Afterwards when Cæsar's body was brought into the market-place, Antonius making his funeral oration in praise of the dead, according to the ancient custom of Rome, and perceiving that his words moved the common people to compassion, he framed his eloquence to make their hearts yearn the more; and taking Cæsar's gown all bloody in his hand, he laid it open to the sight of them all, shewing what a number of cuts and holes it had upon it. Therewithal the people fell presently into such a rage and mutiny, that there was no more order kept amongst the common people."--Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_.[A] How Shakespeare elaborates this!]
[Note A: There is a similar passage in Plutarch, _Marcus Antonius_.]
[Page 104]
ANTONY. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears: I come to bury Cæsar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them: 75 The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Cæsar. The noble Brutus Hath told you Cæsar was ambitious: If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath Cæsar answer'd it. 80 Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest,-- For Brutus is an honourable man; So are they all, all honourable men,-- Come I to speak in Cæsar's funeral. He was my friend, faithful and just to me: 85 But Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man. He hath brought many captives home to Rome, Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: Did this in Cæsar seem ambitious? 90 When that the poor have cried, Cæsar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff: Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man. You all did see that on the Lupercal 95 I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And, sure, he is an honourable man. I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, 100 But here I am to speak what I do know. You all did love him once, not without cause: What cause withholds you then to mourn for him? O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason. Bear with me; 105 My heart is in the coffin there with Cæsar, And I must pause till it come back to me.
[Note 74: /bury./ A characteristic anachronism. Cf. 'coffin' in l. 106.]
[Note 104: /art/ F2 F3 F4 | are F1.]
[Note 75-76: So in _Henry VIII_, IV, ii, 45: "Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues We write in water."]
[Note 89: Cæsar's campaigns in Gaul put vast sums of money into his hands, a large part of which he kept to his own use, as he might have kept it all; but he did also, in fact, make over much of it to the public treasury. This was a very popular act, as it lightened the taxation of the city.]
[Note 95: /on the Lupercal:/ at the festival of the Lupercal.]
[Note 99: These repetitions of 'honourable man' are intensely ironical; and for that very reason the irony should be studiously kept out of the voice in pronouncing them. Speakers and readers utterly spoil the effect of the speech by specially emphasizing the irony. For, from the extreme delicacy of his position, Antony is obliged to proceed with the utmost caution, until he gets the audience thoroughly in his power. The consummate adroitness which he uses to this end is one of the greatest charms of this oration.]
[Note 103: /to mourn:/ from mourning. The gerundive use of the infinitive.]
[Note 104: 'Brutish' is by no means tautological here, the antithetic sense of human brutes being most artfully implied.]
[Page 105]
1 CITIZEN. Methinks there is much reason in his sayings.
2 CITIZEN. If thou consider rightly of the matter, Cæsar has had great wrong.
3 CITIZEN. Has he, masters? 110 I fear there will a worse come in his place.
[Note 110: /Has he/, | Ha's hee F1.]
[Note 110: It was here, as the first words of the reply of the Third Citizen, that Pope would have inserted the quotation preserved in Jonson's _Discoveries_, discussed in note, p. 83, ll. 47-48. Pope's note is:
"Cæsar has had great wrong.
3 PLEB. Cæsar had never wrong, but with just cause.