Part 14
If ever there was such a line written by Shakespeare, I should fancy it might have its place here, and very humorously in the character of a Plebeian." Craik inserted 'not' after 'Has he.']
[Page 106]
4 CITIZEN. Mark'd ye his words? He would not take the crown; Therefore 'tis certain he was not ambitious.
1 CITIZEN. If it be found so, some will dear abide it.
2 CITIZEN. Poor soul! his eyes are red as fire with weeping.
3 CITIZEN. There's not a nobler man in Rome than Antony. 116
4 CITIZEN. Now mark him; he begins again to speak.
ANTONY. But yesterday the word of Cæsar might Have stood against the world: now lies he there, And none so poor to do him reverence. 120 O masters, if I were dispos'd to stir Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage, I should do Brutus wrong and Cassius wrong, Who, you all know, are honourable men: I will not do them wrong; I rather choose 125 To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you, Than I will wrong such honourable men. But here's a parchment with the seal of Cæsar; I found it in his closet; 'tis his will: Let but the commons hear this testament-- 130 Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read-- And they would go and kiss dead Cæsar's wounds, And dip their napkins in his sacred blood, Yea, beg a hair of him for memory, And, dying, mention it within their wills, 135 Bequeathing it as a rich legacy Unto their issue.
[Note 114: /abide it:/ suffer for it, pay for it. See note, p. 87, l. 95.]
[Note 120: And there are none so humble but that the great Cæsar is now beneath their reverence, or too low for their regard.]
[Note 133: /napkins:/ handkerchiefs. In the third scene of the third act of _Othello_ the two words are used interchangeably.]
[Page 107]
4 CITIZEN. We'll hear the will: read it, Mark Antony.
ALL. The will, the will! we will hear Cæsar's will.
ANTONY. Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it; It is not meet you know how Cæsar lov'd you. 141 You are not wood, you are not stones, but men; And, being men, hearing the will of Cæsar, It will inflame you, it will make you mad. 'T is good you know not that you are his heirs; 145 For if you should, O, what would come of it!
4 CITIZEN. Read the will; we'll hear it, Antony; You shall read us the will, Cæsar's will.
ANTONY. Will you be patient? will you stay awhile? I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it: 150 I fear I wrong the honourable men Whose daggers have stabb'd Cæsar; I do fear it.
4 CITIZEN. They were traitors: honourable men!
ALL. The will! the testament!
2 CITIZEN. They were villains, murderers: the will! read the will. 155
ANTONY. You will compel me, then, to read the will? Then make a ring about the corpse of Cæsar, And let me show you him that made the will. Shall I descend? and will you give me leave?
[Note 150: /o'ershot myself to tell:/ gone too far in telling. Another example of the infinitive used as a gerund. Cf. l. 103 and II, i, 135.]
[Note 152: Antony now sees that he has the people wholly with him, so that he is perfectly safe in stabbing the stabbers with these words.]
[Page 108]
ALL. Come down. 160
2 CITIZEN. Descend.
3 CITIZEN. You shall have leave.
[ANTONY _comes down from the pulpit_]
4 CITIZEN. A ring, stand round.
1 CITIZEN. Stand from the hearse, stand from the body.
2 CITIZEN. Room for Antony, most noble Antony. 165
ANTONY. Nay, press not so upon me: stand far off.
ALL. Stand back; room; bear back!
[Note 162: [ANTONY _comes_ ...] Ff omit.]
[Note 166: /far:/ farther. The old comparative of 'far' is 'farrer' (sometimes 'ferrar') still heard in dialect, and the final _-er_ will naturally tend to be slurred. So _The Winter's Tale_, IV, iv, 441, "Far than Deucalion off." So 'near' for 'nearer' in _Richard II_, III, ii, 64.]
[Page 109]
ANTONY. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. You all do know this mantle: I remember The first time ever Cæsar put it on; 170 'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent, That day he overcame the Nervii. Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through: See what a rent the envious Casca made: Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd; 175 And, as he pluck'd his cursed steel away, Mark how the blood of Cæsar follow'd it, As rushing out of doors, to be resolv'd If Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no; For Brutus, as you know, was Cæsar's angel: 180 Judge, O you gods, how dearly Cæsar lov'd him! This was the most unkindest cut of all; For when the noble Cæsar saw him stab, Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms, Quite vanquish'd him: then burst his mighty heart; 185 And, in his mantle muffling up his face, Even at the base of Pompey's statue, Which all the while ran blood, great Cæsar fell. O, what a fall was there, my countrymen! Then I, and you, and all of us fell down, 190 Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us. O, now you weep; and I perceive you feel The dint of pity: these are gracious drops. Kind souls, what, weep you when you but behold Our Cæsar's vesture wounded? Look you here, 195 Here is himself, marr'd, as you see, with traitors.
[Note 187: /statue/ Ff | statua Steevens Globe | statuë Camb.]
[Note 174: /envious:/ malicious. See note on 'envy,' p. 54, l. 164.]
[Note 178: /resolv'd:/ informed, assured. See note, p. 90, l. 132.]
[Note 172: This is the artfullest and most telling stroke in Antony's speech. The Romans prided themselves most of all upon their military virtue and renown: Cæsar was their greatest military hero; and his victory over the Nervii was his most noted military exploit. It occurred during his second campaign in Gaul, in the summer of the year B.C. 57, and is narrated with surpassing vividness in the second book of his _Gallic War_. Plutarch, in his _Julius Cæsar_, gives graphic details of this famous victory and the effect upon the Roman people of the news of Cæsar's personal prowess, when "flying in amongst the barbarous people," he "made a lane through them that fought before him." Of course the matter about the 'mantle' is purely fictitious: Cæsar had on the civic gown, not the military cloak, when killed; and it was, in fact, the mangled toga that Antony displayed on this occasion; but the fiction has the effect of making the allusion to the victory seem perfectly artless and incidental.]
[Note 180: 'Angel' here seems to mean his counterpart, his good genius, or a kind of better and dearer self. See note, p. 47, l. 66.]
[Note 193: 'Dint' (Anglo-Saxon _dynt_; cf. provincial 'dunt') originally means 'blow'; the text has it in the secondary meaning of 'impression' made by a blow. Shakespeare uses the word in both senses.]
[Page 110]
1 CITIZEN. O piteous spectacle!
2 CITIZEN. O noble Cæsar!
3 CITIZEN. O woful day!
4 CITIZEN. O traitors, villains! 200
1 CITIZEN. O most bloody sight!
2 CITIZEN. We will be reveng'd.
ALL. Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay! Let not a traitor live!
ANTONY. Stay, countrymen. 205
1 CITIZEN. Peace there! Hear the noble Antony.
2 CITIZEN. We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll die with him.
ANTONY. Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up To such a sudden flood of mutiny. They that have done this deed are honourable; 210 What private griefs they have, alas, I know not, That made them do it; they are wise and honourable, And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you. I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts: I am no orator, as Brutus is; 215 But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man, That love my friend; and that they know full well That gave me public leave to speak of him: For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
## Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech, 220
To stir men's blood: I only speak right on; I tell you that which you yourselves do know; Show you sweet Cæsar's wounds, poor poor dumb mouths, And bid them speak for me: but were I Brutus, And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony 225 Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue In every wound of Cæsar, that should move The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.
[Note 203-204: ALL Globe Camb (White Delius conj.) | Ff continue to 2 Citizen and print as verse.]
[Note 218: /gave/ F1 | give F2 F3 F4.]
[Note 219: /wit/ F2 F3 F4 | writ F2.]
[Note 207: The Folios give this speech like that in 203-204 to 'Second Citizen,' but it should surely be given to 'All.']
[Note 219: Johnson suggests that the 'writ' of the First Folio may not be a printer's slip but used in the sense of a 'penned or premeditated oration.' Malone adopted and defended the First Folio reading.]
[Page 111]
ALL. We'll mutiny.
1 CITIZEN. We'll burn the house of Brutus. 230
3 CITIZEN. Away, then! come, seek the conspirators.
ANTONY. Yet hear me, countrymen; yet hear me speak.
ALL. Peace, ho! hear Antony, most noble Antony!
ANTONY. Why, friends, you go to do you know not what. Wherein hath Cæsar thus deserv'd your loves? 235 Alas, you know not; I must tell you then: You have forgot the will I told you of.
ALL. Most true. The will! Let's stay and hear the will.
ANTONY. Here is the will, and under Cæsar's seal. To every Roman citizen he gives, 240 To every several man, seventy-five drachmas.
[Note 239: "For first of all, when Cæsar's testament was openly read among them, whereby it appeared that he bequeathed unto every citizen of Rome seventy-five drachmas a man; and that he left his gardens and arbors unto the people, which he had on this side of the river Tiber, in the place where now the temple of Fortune is built: the people then loved him, and were marvellous sorry for him."--Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_.]
[Note 241: The drachma (lit. 'what can be grasped in the hand') was the principal silver coin of the ancient Greeks, and while the nominal value of it was about that of the modern drachma (by law of the same value as the French franc) its purchasing power was much greater. Cæsar left to each citizen three hundred sesterces; Plutarch gives seventy-five drachmas as the Greek equivalent.]
[Page 112]
2 CITIZEN. Most noble Cæsar! We'll revenge his death.
3 CITIZEN. O royal Cæsar!
ANTONY. Hear me with patience.
ALL. Peace, ho! 245
ANTONY. Moreover, he hath left you all his walks, His private arbours and new-planted orchards, On this side Tiber; he hath left them you, And to your heirs for ever; common pleasures, To walk abroad and recreate yourselves. 250 Here was a Cæsar! when comes such another?
1 CITIZEN. Never, never. Come, away, away! We'll burn his body in the holy place, And with the brands fire the traitors' houses. Take up the body. 255
[Note 254: /the/ F1 | all the F2 F3 F4.]
[Note 248: As this scene lies in the Forum, near the Capitol, Cæsar's gardens are, in fact, on the other side of the Tiber. But Shakespeare wrote as he read in Plutarch. See quotation, p. 111, l. 239.]
[Note 252: "Therewithal the people fell presently into such a rage and mutiny, that there was no more order kept amongst the common people. For some of them cried out 'Kill the murderers'; others plucked up forms, tables, and stalls about the market-place, as they had done before at the funerals of Clodius, and having laid them all on a heap together, they set them on fire, and thereupon did put the body of Cæsar, and burnt it in the midst of the most holy places. When the fire was throughly kindled, some took burning firebrands, and ran with them to the murderers' houses that killed him, to set them on fire."--Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_.]
[Note 254: /fire./ Cf. III, i, 172. Monosyllables ending in 'r' or 're,' preceded by a long vowel or diphthong, are often pronounced as dissyllabic.]
[Page 113]
2 CITIZEN. Go fetch fire.
3 CITIZEN. Pluck down benches.
4 CITIZEN. Pluck down forms, windows, any thing.
[_Exeunt_ CITIZENS _with the body_]
ANTONY. Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot, Take thou what course thou wilt!
_Enter a_ Servant
How now, fellow! 260
SERVANT. Sir, Octavius is already come to Rome.
ANTONY. Where is he?
SERVANT. He and Lepidus are at Cæsar's house.
ANTONY. And thither will I straight to visit him: He comes upon a wish. Fortune is merry, 265 And in this mood will give us any thing.
SERVANT. I heard him say, Brutus and Cassius Are rid like madmen through the gates of Rome.
ANTONY. Belike they had some notice of the people 269 How I had mov'd them. Bring me to Octavius. [_Exeunt_]
[Note 258: [_Exeunt_ Citizens...] | Exit Plebeians Ff.]
[Note 258: /forms:/ benches. The word used in preceding quotation from Plutarch. The Old Fr. _forme_, mediæval Lat. _forma_, was sometimes applied to choir-stalls, with back, and book-rest. "For the origin of this use of the word, cf. Old French _s'asseoir en forme_, to sit in a row or in fixed order."--Murray. Nowhere in literature is there a more realistic study and interpretation of the temper of a mob (a word that has come into use since Shakespeare's time) than in this scene and the short one which follows. Here is the true mob-spirit, fickle, inflammable, to be worked on by any demagogue with promises in his mouth.]
[Note 265: /upon a wish:/ as soon as wished for. Cf. I, ii, 104.]
[Note 268: /rid:/ ridden. So 'writ' for 'written,' IV, iii, 183.]
[Page 114]
## SCENE III. _A street_
_Enter_ CINNA _the poet_
CINNA. I dreamt to-night that I did feast with Cæsar, And things unluckily charge my fantasy: I have no will to wander forth of doors, Yet something leads me forth.
_Enter_ CITIZENS
1 CITIZEN. What is your name?
2 CITIZEN. Whither are you going?
3 CITIZEN. Where do you dwell?
4 CITIZEN. Are you a married man or a bachelor?
2 CITIZEN. Answer every man directly.
[Note: SCENE III | Scene VII Pope.]
[Note: _Enter_ ... | Ff add _and after him the Plebeians_.]
[Note 5: _Enter_ CITIZENS | Ff omit.]
[Note 6, 13: Whither F3 F4 | Whether F1 F2.]
[Note 1: "There was one of Cæsar's friends called Cinna, that had a marvellous strange and terrible dream the night before. He dreamed that Cæsar bad him to supper, and that he refused and would not go: then that Cæsar took him by the hand, and led him against his will. Now Cinna, hearing at that time that they burnt Cæsar's body in the market-place, notwithstanding that he feared his dream, and had an ague on him besides, he went into the market-place to honour his funerals. When he came thither, one of the mean sort asked him what his name was? He was straight called by his name. The first man told it to another, and that other unto another, so that it ran straight through them all, that he was one of them that murthered Cæsar: (for indeed one of the traitors to Cæsar was also called Cinna as himself) wherefore taking him for Cinna the murtherer, they fell upon him with such fury that they presently dispatched him in the market-place."--Plutarch, _Julius Cæsar_.--/to-night:/ last night. So in II, ii, 76, and _The Merchant of Venice_, II, v, 18.]
[Note 2: Things that forbode evil fortune burden my imagination.]
[Page 115]
1 CITIZEN. Ay, and briefly. 10
4 CITIZEN. Ay, and wisely.
3 CITIZEN. Ay, and truly, you were best.
CINNA. What is my name? Whither am I going? Where do I dwell? Am I a married man or a bachelor? Then, to answer every man directly and briefly, wisely and truly: wisely I say, I am a bachelor. 16
2 CITIZEN. That's as much as to say, they are fools that marry: you'll bear me a bang for that, I fear. Proceed; directly.
CINNA. Directly, I am going to Cæsar's funeral. 20
1 CITIZEN. As a friend or an enemy?
CINNA. As a friend.
2 CITIZEN. That matter is answered directly.
4 CITIZEN. For your dwelling, briefly.
CINNA. Briefly, I dwell by the Capitol. 25
3 CITIZEN. Your name, sir, truly.
CINNA. Truly, my name is Cinna.
1 CITIZEN. Tear him to pieces; he's a conspirator.
CINNA. I am Cinna the poet, I am Cinna the poet. 29
4 CITIZEN. Tear him for his bad verses, tear him for his bad verses.
CINNA. I am not Cinna the conspirator.
4 CITIZEN. It is no matter, his name's Cinna; pluck but his name out of his heart, and turn him going. 34
3 CITIZEN. Tear him, tear him! Come, brands, ho! firebrands! to Brutus', to Cassius'; burn all: some to Decius' house, and some to Casca's; some to Ligarius': away, go! [_Exeunt_]
[Note 12: /you were best/: it were best for you. See Abbott, § 230.]
[Note 18: /you'll bear me/: I'll give you. For 'me' see note, p. 26, l. 263.]
[Page 116]
## ACT IV
## SCENE I. _Rome._ _A room in_ ANTONY'S _house_
ANTONY, OCTAVIUS, _and_ LEPIDUS, _seated at a table_
ANTONY. These many then shall die; their names are prick'd.
OCTAVIUS. Your brother too must die; consent you, Lepidus?
[Note: _Rome._ _A room ... house_ Ff omit.--ANTONY, OCTAVIUS ... _table_ Malone | Enter Antony, Octawius, and Lepidus. Ff.]
[Note: SCENE I. The Folios give no indication of place, but that Shakespeare intended the scene to be in Rome is clear from ll. 10, 11, where Lepidus is sent to Cæsar's house and told that he will find his confederates "or here, or at the Capitol." In fact, however, the triumvirs, Octavius, Antonius, and Lepidus, met in November, B.C. 43, some nineteen months after the assassination of Cæsar, on a small island in the river Rhenus (now the Reno), near Bononia (Bologna). "All three met together in an island environed round about with a little river, and there remained three days together. Now, as touching all other matters they were easily agreed, and did divide all the empire of Rome between them, as if it had been their own inheritance. But yet they could hardly agree whom they would put to death: for every one of them would kill their enemies, and save their kinsmen and friends. Yet, at length, giving place to their greedy desire to be revenged of their enemies, they spurned all reverence of blood and holiness of friendship at their feet. For Cæsar left Cicero to Antonius's will; Antonius also forsook Lucius Cæsar, who was his uncle by his mother; and both of them together suffered Lepidus to kill his own brother Paulus. Yet some writers affirm that Cæsar and Antonius requested Paulus might be slain, and that Lepidus was contented with it."--Plutarch, _Marcus Antonius_.]
[Note 1: /prick'd./ So in III, i. 217. See note, p. 95, l. 217.]
[Page 117]
LEPIDUS. I do consent--
OCTAVIUS. Prick him down, Antony.
LEPIDUS. Upon condition Publius shall not live, Who is your sister's son, Mark Antony. 5
ANTONY. He shall not live; look, with a spot I damn him. But, Lepidus, go you to Cæsar's house; Fetch the will hither, and we shall determine How to cut off some charge in legacies.
LEPIDUS. What, shall I find you here? 10
OCTAVIUS. Or here, or at the Capitol. [_Exit_ LEPIDUS]
ANTONY. This is a slight unmeritable man, Meet to be sent on errands: is it fit, The three-fold world divided, he should stand One of the three to share it?
OCTAVIUS. So you thought him; 15 And took his voice who should be prick'd to die, In our black sentence and proscription.
ANTONY. Octavius, I have seen more days than you: And though we lay these honours on this man, To ease ourselves of divers slanderous loads, 20 He shall but bear them as the ass bears gold, To groan and sweat under the business, Either led or driven, as we point the way; And having brought our treasure where we will, Then take we down his load and turn him off, 25 Like to the empty ass, to shake his ears And graze in commons.
[Note 10: /What/, Johnson | What? Ff.]
[Note 23: /point/ F1 | print F2 F3 F4.]
[Note 4-5: According to Plutarch, as quoted above, this was Lucius Cæsar, not Publius; nor was he Antony's nephew, but his uncle by the mother's side. His name in full was Antonius Lucius Cæsar.]
[Note 6: /with a spot I damn him:/ with a mark I condemn him.]
[Note 12: /slight unmeritable:/ insignificant, undeserving. In Shakespeare many adjectives, especially those ending in _-ful_, _-less_, _-ble_, and _-ive_, have both an active and a passive meaning. See Abbott, § 3.]
[Note 27: /commons./ This is a thoroughly English allusion to such pasture-lands as are not owned by individuals, but occupied by a given neighborhood in common. In 1614 Shakespeare protested against the inclosure of such 'common fields' at Stratford-on-Avon.]
[Page 118]
OCTAVIUS. You may do your will; But he's a tried and valiant soldier.
ANTONY. So is my horse, Octavius; and for that I do appoint him store of provender: 30 It is a creature that I teach to fight, To wind, to stop, to run directly on, His corporal motion govern'd by my spirit. And, in some taste, is Lepidus but so; He must be taught, and train'd, and bid go forth: 35 A barren-spirited fellow; one that feeds On objects, arts, and imitations, Which, out of use and stal'd by other men, Begin his fashion: do not talk of him But as a property. And now, Octavius, 40 Listen great things: Brutus and Cassius Are levying powers: we must straight make head: Therefore let our alliance be combin'd, Our best friends made, and our best means stretch'd out; And let us presently go sit in council, 45 How covert matters may be best disclos'd, And open perils surest answered.
[Note 37: /objects, arts/ | Objects, Arts Ff | abject orts Theobald | abjects, orts Staunton Camb Globe.--/imitations/, Rowe | Imitations. Ff.]
[Note 38: /stal'd/ F3 | stal'de F1 F2 | stall'd F4.]
[Note 44: /and our best means (meanes) stretch'd out/ F2 F3 F4 | our meanes stretch't F1 | our best means strecht Johnson.]
[Note 32: /wind:/ wheel, turn. We have 'wind' as an active verb in _1 Henry IV_, IV, i, 109: "To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus."]
[Note 34: /in some taste:/ to some small extent. This meaning comes from 'taste' in the sense of 'a small portion given as a sample.']