Part 16
Cassius fell a-laughing at him; but Brutus thrust him out of the chamber, and called him dog, and counterfeit Cynic. Howbeit his coming in brake their strife at that time, and so they left each other."--Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_.]
[Page 132]
BRUTUS. Get you hence, sirrah; saucy fellow, hence!
CASSIUS. Bear with him, Brutus; 'tis his fashion. 135
BRUTUS. I'll know his humour, when he knows his time: What should the wars do with these jigging fools? Companion, hence!
CASSIUS. Away, away, be gone! [_Exit_ Poet]
BRUTUS. Lucilius and Titinius, bid the commanders Prepare to lodge their companies to-night. 140
CASSIUS. And come yourselves, and bring Messala with you Immediately to us. [_Exeunt_ LUCILIUS _and_ TITINIUS]
BRUTUS. Lucius, a bowl of wine! [_Exit_ LUCIUS]
CASSIUS. I did not think you could have been so angry.
BRUTUS. O Cassius, I am sick of many griefs.
CASSIUS. Of your philosophy you make no use, 145 If you give place to accidental evils.
[Note 139: Scene IV Pope.--Enter Lucil. and Titin. Rowe.]
[Note 142: [_Exeunt_ ...] Rowe | Ff omit.--[_Exit_ Lucius] Capell | Ff omit.]
[Note 137: /jigging:/ moving rhythmically, rhyming. So in the Prologue to Marlowe's _Tamburlaine the Great_:
From jigging veins of rhyming mother wits, And such conceits as clownage keeps in pay.]
[Note 138: 'Companion' was often used contemptuously. Cf. _Coriolanus_, IV, v, 14; V, ii, 65. Cf. the way 'fellow' is often used to-day.]
[Note 145: In his philosophy, Brutus was a mixture of the Stoic and the Platonist. What he says of Portia's death is among the best things in the play, and is in Shakespeare's noblest style. Profound emotion expresses itself with reserve. Deep grief loves not many words.]
[Page 133]
BRUTUS. No man bears sorrow better. Portia is dead.
CASSIUS. Ha! Portia!
BRUTUS. She is dead.
CASSIUS. How 'scaped I killing when I cross'd you so? 150 O insupportable and touching loss! Upon what sickness?
BRUTUS. Impatient of my absence, And grief that young Octavius with Mark Antony Have made themselves so strong,--for with her death That tidings came,--with this she fell distract, 155 And, her attendants absent, swallow'd fire.
CASSIUS. And died so?
BRUTUS. Even so.
CASSIUS. O ye immortal gods!
[Note 152: Strict harmony of construction would require 'impatience' for 'impatient' here, or 'griev'd' for 'grief' in the next line. Shakespeare is not very particular in such niceties. Besides, the broken construction expresses dramatically the deep emotion of the speaker.]
[Note 155: /distract:/ distracted. So in _Hamlet_, IV, v, 2. 'Distraught' is the form in _Romeo and Juliet_, IV, iii, 49. For the dropping of the terminal _-ed_ of the participle in verbs ending in _t_ or _te_, see Abbott, §342.]
[Note 156: It appears something uncertain whether Portia's death was before or after her husband's. Plutarch represents it as occurring before; but Merivale follows those who place it after. "For Portia, Brutus's wife, Nicolaus the philosopher and Valerius Maximus do write, that she determining to kill herself (her parents and friends carefully looking to her to keep her from it) took hot burning coals, and cast them into her mouth, and kept her mouth so close that she choked herself. There was a letter of Brutus found, written to his friends, complaining of their negligence, that, his wife being sick, they would not help her, but suffered her to kill herself, choosing to die rather than to languish in pain."--Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_.]
[Page 134]
_Re-enter_ LUCIUS, _with wine and taper_
BRUTUS. Speak no more of her. Give me a bowl of wine. In this I bury all unkindness, Cassius. [_Drinks_]
CASSIUS. My heart is thirsty for that noble pledge. 160 Fill Lucius, till the wine o'erswell the cup; I cannot drink too much of Brutus' love. [_Drinks_]
BRUTUS. Come in, Titinius! [_Exit_ LUCIUS]
_Re-enter_ TITINIUS, _with_ MESSALA
Welcome, good Messala. Now sit we close about this taper here, And call in question our necessities. 165
CASSIUS. Portia, art thou gone?
BRUTUS. No more, I pray you. Messala, I have here received letters, That young Octavius and Mark Antony Come down upon us with a mighty power, Bending their expedition toward Philippi. 170
MESSALA. Myself have letters of the selfsame tenour.
BRUTUS. With what addition?
[Note 158: _Re-enter_ LUCIUS, ... _taper_ Camb | Enter Boy ... Tapers Ff.]
[Note 162: [_Drinks_] Capell | Ff omit.]
[Note 163: [_Exit_ LUCIUS] Camb | Ff omit.--Scene V Pope.--_Re-enter_ TITINIUS, _with_ ... Dyce | Enter Titinius and ... Ff (after l. 162)]
[Note 171: /tenour/ Theobald | tenure Ff.]
[Note 173: /outlawry/ F4 | Outlarie F1 | Outlary F2 F3.]
[Note 165: /call in question:/ bring up for discussion. 'Question,' both noun and verb, is constantly found in Shakespeare in the sense of 'talk.' So "in question more" in _Romeo and Juliet_, I, i, 235.]
[Note 170: /Bending their expedition:/ directing their march. Cf. 'expedition' in this sense in _Richard III_, IV, iv, 136.]
[Page 135]
MESSALA. That by proscription and bills of outlawry, Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus, Have put to death an hundred senators. 175
BRUTUS. Therein our letters do not well agree; Mine speak of seventy senators that died By their proscriptions, Cicero being one.
CASSIUS. Cicero one!
MESSALA. Cicero is dead, And by that order of proscription 180 Had you your letters from your wife, my lord?
BRUTUS. No, Messala.
MESSALA. Nor nothing in your letters writ of her?
BRUTUS. Nothing, Messala.
MESSALA. That, methinks, is strange.
BRUTUS. Why ask you? hear you aught of her in yours?
MESSALA. No, my lord. 186
BRUTUS. Now, as you are a Roman, tell me true.
MESSALA. Then like a Roman bear the truth I tell: For certain she is dead, and by strange manner.
[Note 179-180: Cicero is ... proscription | One line in Ff.]
[Note 185: Two lines in Ff.--/aught/ Theobald | ought Ff.]
[Note 179: "These three, Octavius Cæsar, Antonius, and Lepidus, made an agreement between themselves, and by those articles divided the provinces belonging to the empire of Rome among themselves, and did set up bills of proscription and outlawry, condemning two hundred of the noblest men of Rome to suffer death, and among that number Cicero was one."--Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_.]
[Note 183: Both 'nor nothing' and 'writ' survive to-day as vulgarisms.]
[Note 184: /Nothing, Messala./ This may seem inconsistent with what has gone before (see more particularly ll. 154-155), but we are to suppose that Brutus's friends at Rome did not write to him directly of Portia's death, as they feared the news might unnerve him, but wrote to some common friends in the army, directing them to break the news to him, as they should deem it safe and prudent to do so.]
[Page 136]
BRUTUS. Why, farewell, Portia. We must die, Messala: With meditating that she must die once, 191 I have the patience to endure it now.
MESSALA. Even so great men great losses should endure.
CASSIUS. I have as much of this in art as you, But yet my nature could not bear it so. 195
BRUTUS. Well, to our work alive. What do you think Of marching to Philippi presently?
CASSIUS. I do not think it good.
BRUTUS. Your reason?
CASSIUS. This it is: 'Tis better that the enemy seek us: So shall he waste his means, weary his soldiers, 200 Doing himself offence; whilst we, lying still, Are full of rest, defence, and nimbleness.
[Note 191: /once/: at some time or other. So in _The Merry Wives of Windsor_, III, iv, 103:
I thank thee; and I pray thee, once to-night Give my sweet Nan this ring.]
[Note 194: /art:/ theory. This speech may be paraphrased, I am as much a Stoic by profession and theory as you are, but my natural strength is weak when it comes to putting the doctrines into practice.]
[Note 196: /work alive:/ work in which we have to do with the living.]
[Note 197: /presently:/ at once. See note, p. 82, l. 28.]
[Page 137]
BRUTUS. Good reasons must of force give place to better. The people 'twixt Philippi and this ground Do stand but in a forc'd affection, 205 For they have grudg'd us contribution: The enemy, marching along by them, By them shall make a fuller number up, Come on refresh'd, new-added, and encourag'd; From which advantage shall we cut him off 210 If at Philippi we do face him there, These people at our back.
CASSIUS. Hear me, good brother.
BRUTUS. Under your pardon. You must note beside, That we have tried the utmost of our friends, Our legions are brim-full, our cause is ripe: 215 The enemy increaseth every day; We, at the height, are ready to decline. There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life 220 Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat; And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures.
[Note 209: /new-added/ | new added Ff.]
[Note 224: /lose/ Rowe | loose Ff.]
[Note 203: /of force:/ of necessity, necessarily. Plutarch represents this talk as occurring at Philippi just before the battle: "Cassius was of opinion not to try this war at one battle, but rather to delay time, and to draw it out in length, considering that they were the stronger in money, and the weaker in men and armour. But Brutus, in contrary manner, did alway before, and at that time also, desire nothing more than to put all to the hazard of battle, as soon as might be possible; to the end he might either quickly restore his country to her former liberty, or rid him forthwith of this miserable world."--_Marcus Brutus._]
[Note 209: /new-added:/ reënforced. Singer suggested 'new aided.']
[Note 218-221: Cf. _Troilus and Cressida_, V, i, 90; _The Tempest_, I, ii, 181-184. Dr. Wright (Clar) quotes from Bacon a parallel passage: "In the third place I set down reputation, because of the peremptory tides and currents it hath; which, if they be not taken in their due time, are seldom recovered, it being extreme hard to play an after game of reputation."--_The Advancement of Learning_, II, xxiii, 38.]
[Note 224: /ventures:/ what is risked, adventured. The figure of a ship is kept up, and 'venture' denotes whatever is put on board in hope of profit, and exposed to "the perils of waters, winds, and rocks." Cf. _The Merchant of Venice_, I, i, 15, 42; III, ii, 270.]
[Page 138]
CASSIUS. Then, with your will, go on; We'll along ourselves, and meet them at Philippi. 225
BRUTUS. The deep of night is crept upon our talk, And nature must obey necessity; Which we will niggard with a little rest. There is no more to say?
CASSIUS. No more. Good night: Early to-morrow will we rise, and hence. 230
BRUTUS. Lucius! [_Re-enter_ LUCIUS] My gown. [_Exit_ LUCIUS]. Farewell, good Messala: Good night, Titinius: noble, noble Cassius, Good night, and good repose.
CASSIUS. O my dear brother! This was an ill beginning of the night: Never come such division 'tween our souls! 235 Let it not, Brutus.
BRUTUS. Every thing is well.
CASSIUS. Good night, my lord.
BRUTUS. Good night, good brother.
TITINIUS.} Good night, Lord Brutus. MESSALA. }
BRUTUS. Farewell, every one. [_Exeunt_ CASSIUS, TITINIUS, _and_ MESSALA]
[Note 231: BRUTUS. /Lucius!/ [_Re-enter_ LUCIUS] My Camb | _Enter Lucius_ Bru. Lucius my Ff.]
[Note 231: [_Exit_ LUCIUS] Ff omit.]
[Note 238: [_Exeunt_ CASSIUS ...] Capell | Exeunt Ff.]
[Note 228: /niggard:/ supply sparingly. In _Sonnets_, I, 12, occurs 'niggarding'. In Elizabethan English "almost any part of speech can be used as any other part of speech. Any noun, adjective, or neuter verb can be used as an active verb."--Abbott.]
[Page 139]
_Re-enter_ LUCIUS, _with the gown_
Give me the gown. Where is thy instrument?
LUCIUS. Here in the tent.
BRUTUS. What, thou speak'st drowsily? Poor knave, I blame thee not; thou art o'er-watch'd. 241 Call Claudius and some other of my men; I'll have them sleep on cushions in my tent.
LUCIUS. Varro and Claudius!
_Enter_ VARRO _and_ CLAUDIUS
VARRO. Calls my lord? 245
BRUTUS. I pray you, sirs, lie in my tent and sleep; It may be I shall raise you by-and-by On business to my brother Cassius.
VARRO. So please you, we will stand and watch your pleasure.
BRUTUS. I will not have it so: lie down, good sirs; 250 It may be I shall otherwise bethink me. Look, Lucius, here's the book I sought for so; I put it in the pocket of my gown.
[VARRO _and_ CLAUDIUS _lie down_]
[Note: _Re-enter_ LUCIUS, ... Capell | Enter Lucius ... Ff (after Brutus, l. 236).]
[Note 242, 244, etc.: /Claudius/ Rowe | Claudio Ff.]
[Note 244, 289: /Varro/ Rowe | Varrus Ff.]
[Note 245: Scene VI Pope.--_Enter_ VARRO _and_ CLAUDIUS Rowe | Enter Varrus and Claudio Ff.]
[Note 253: [VARRO _and_ ...] Ff omit.]
[Note 241: /Poor knave./ Cf. 'Gentle knave,' l. 269. The word 'knave' is here used in the literal sense of 'boy.' It was used as a term of endearment, or of loving familiarity with those of lower rank. So in _King Lear_, I, iv, 107.--/o'er-watch'd:/ worn out with keeping awake. So in _King Lear_, II, ii, 177. Cf. 'o'ershot' in III, ii, 150.]
[Note 252-253: These two simple lines, with the answer of Lucius, "I was sure your lordship did not give it me," are among the best things in the play. Consider how much is implied in them, and what a picture they give of the earnest, thoughtful, book-loving Brutus. And indeed all his noblest traits of character come out, "in simple and pure soul," in this exquisite scene with Lucius, which is hardly surpassed by anything in Shakespeare. Who could be troubled by the anachronism in the book being of modern shape? "Brutus was a careful man, and slept very little, both for that his diet was moderate, as also because he was continually occupied. He never slept in the day-time, and in the night no longer than the time he was driven to be alone, and when everybody else took their rest. But now whilst he was in war, and his head ever busily occupied to think of his affairs and what would happen, after he had slumbered a little after supper, he spent all the rest of the night in dispatching of his weightiest causes, and after he had taken order for them, if he had any leisure left him, he would read some book till the third watch of the night, at what time the captains, petty captains, and colonels, did use to come to him."--Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_.]
[Page 140]
LUCIUS. I was sure your lordship did not give it me.
BRUTUS. Bear with me, good boy, I am much forgetful. Canst thou hold up thy heavy eyes awhile, 256 And touch thy instrument a strain or two?
LUCIUS. Ay, my lord, an 't please you.
BRUTUS. It does, my boy: I trouble thee too much, but thou art willing.
LUCIUS. It is my duty, sir. 260
BRUTUS. I should not urge thy duty past thy might; I know young bloods look for a time of rest.
LUCIUS. I have slept, my lord, already.
[Note 262: /bloods./ So in _Much Ado about Nothing_, III, iii, 141: "How giddily a' turns about all the hot bloods between fourteen and five-and-thirty?" Cf. I, ii, 151: "the breed of noble bloods."]
[Page 141]
BRUTUS. It was well done; and thou shalt sleep again; I will not hold thee long: if I do live, 265 I will be good to thee. [_Music, and a song_] This is a sleepy tune. O murderous slumber, Lay'st thou thy leaden mace upon my boy, That plays thee music? Gentle knave, good night; I will not do thee so much wrong to wake thee: 270 If thou dost nod, thou break'st thy instrument; I'll take it from thee; and, good boy, good night. Let me see, let me see; is not the leaf turn'd down Where I left reading? Here it is, I think.
_Enter the_ Ghost _of_ CÆSAR
How ill this taper burns! Ha! who comes here? 275 I think it is the weakness of mine eyes That shapes this monstrous apparition. It comes upon me. Art thou any thing? Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil, That mak'st my blood cold, and my hair to stare? 280 Speak to me what thou art.
[Note 267: /murderous slumber/ | Murd'rous slumbler F1.]
[Note 274: [Sits down] Camb.]
[Note 275: Scene VII Pope.]
[Note 267: /murderous slumber./ The epithet probably has reference to sleep being regarded as the image of death; or, as Shelley put it, "Death and his brother Sleep." Cf. _Cymbeline_, II, ii, 31.]
[Note 268: /thy leaden mace./ Upton quotes from Spenser, _The Faerie Queene_, I, iv, 44:
But whenas Morpheus had with leaden mace Arrested all that courtly company.
Shakespeare uses 'mace' both as 'scepter,' _Henry V_, IV, i, 278, and as 'a staff of office,' _2 Henry VI_, IV, vii, 144.]
[Note 269: The boy is spoken of as playing music to slumber because he plays to soothe the agitations of his master's mind, and put him to sleep. Bacon held that music "hindereth sleep."]
[Note 275: The presence of a ghost was believed to make lights burn blue or dimly. So in _Richard III_, V, iii, 180, when the ghosts appear to Richard, he says: "The lights burn blue. It is now dead midnight. Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh."]
[Note 277: /this monstrous apparition./ "Above all, the ghost that appeared unto Brutus shewed plainly that the gods were offended with the murder of Cæsar. The vision was thus: Brutus ... thought he heard a noise at his tent-door, and, looking towards the light of the lamp that waxed very dim, he saw a horrible vision of a man, of a wonderful greatness and dreadful look, which at the first made him marvellously afraid. But when he saw that it did no hurt, but stood at his bedside and said nothing; at length he asked him what he was. The image answered him: 'I am thy ill angel, Brutus, and thou shalt see me by the city of Philippes.' Then Brutus replied again, and said, 'Well, I shall see thee then.' Therewithal the spirit presently vanished from him."--Plutarch, _Julius Cæsar_.]
[Note 280: /stare:/ stand on end. 'To be stiff, rigid, fixed' is the primary idea. Cf. _The Tempest_, I, ii, 213; _Hamlet_, I, v, 16-20.]
[Page 142]
GHOST. Thy evil spirit, Brutus.
BRUTUS. Why com'st thou?
GHOST. To tell thee thou shalt see me at Philippi.
BRUTUS. Well; then I shall see thee again?
GHOST. Ay, at Philippi. 285
BRUTUS. Why, I will see thee at Philippi then.
[_Exit_ Ghost]
Now I have taken heart thou vanishest: Ill spirit, I would hold more talk with thee. Boy, Lucius! Varro! Claudius! Sirs, awake! Claudius! 290
[Note 286: [_Exit_ Ghost] Ff omit.]
[Note 287: This strongly, though quietly, marks the Ghost as subjective; as soon as Brutus recovers his firmness, the illusion is broken. The order of things is highly judicious here, in bringing the "horrible vision" upon Brutus just after he has heard of Portia's shocking death. With that great sorrow weighing upon him, he might well see ghosts. The thickening of calamities upon him, growing out of the assassination of Cæsar, naturally awakens remorse.]
[Page 143]
LUCIUS. The strings, my lord, are false.
BRUTUS. He thinks he still is at his instrument. Lucius, awake!
LUCIUS. My lord?
BRUTUS. Didst thou dream, Lucius, that thou so criedst out? 295
LUCIUS. My lord, I do not know that I did cry.
BRUTUS. Yes, that thou didst: didst thou see any thing?
LUCIUS. Nothing, my lord.
BRUTUS. Sleep again, Lucius. Sirrah Claudius! [_To_ VARRO] Fellow thou, awake! 300
VARRO. My lord?
CLAUDIUS. My lord?
BRUTUS. Why did you so cry out, sirs, in your sleep?
VARRO. } CLAUDIUS.} Did we, my lord?
BRUTUS. Ay: saw you any thing?
VARRO. No, my lord, I saw nothing.
CLAUDIUS. Nor I, my lord. 305
BRUTUS. Go and commend me to my brother Cassius; Bid him set on his powers betimes before, 307 And we will follow.
VARRO. } CLAUDIUS.} It shall be done, my lord. [_Exeunt_]
[Note 300: [_To_ VARRO] Globe Camb | Ff omit.]
[Note 304, 308: VARRO, CLAUDIUS | Both Ff.]
[Note 291: /false:/ out of tune. A charming touch in this boy study.]
[Note 306: /commend me to:/ greet from me, remember me kindly to.]
[Note 307: /set on:/ cause to advance.--/betimes:/ early. Formerly 'betime'; "the final 's' is due to the habit of adding '-s' or '-es' to form adverbs; cf. 'whiles' (afterwards 'whilst') from 'while.'"--Skeat.]
[Page 144]
## ACT V
## SCENE I. _The plains of Philippi_
_Enter_ OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, _and their_ Army
OCTAVIUS. Now, Antony, our hopes are answered: You said the enemy would not come down, But keep the hills and upper regions. It proves not so: their battles are at hand; They mean to warn us at Philippi here, 5 Answering before we do demand of them.
ANTONY. Tut, I am in their bosoms, and I know Wherefore they do it: they could be content To visit other places, and come down With fearful bravery, thinking by this face 10 To fasten in our thoughts that they have courage; But 'tis not so.
[Note _The plains of Philippi_: Capell | The Fields of Philippi, with the two Camps Rowe | Ff omit.]
[Note 4: /battles:/ troops, battalions. 'Battle' was used for an 'army,' especially an army embattled, or ordered in battle array. The plural is here used with historical correctness, as Brutus and Cassius had each an army; the two armies of course coöperating, and acting together as one. Cf. 'battle' in l. 16 and 'battles' in V, iii, 108.]
[Note 5: /warn:/ summon to fight. Cf. _King John_, II, i, 201. In _Richard III_, I, iii, 39, we have "warn them to his royal presence."]
[Note 7: /am in their bosoms:/ am familiar with their intention.]
[Note 10: /bravery:/ bravado, defiance. The epithet 'fearful' probably means that fear is behind the attempt to intimidate by display and brag. Dr. Wright interprets 'bravery' as 'ostentation,' 'display.']
[Page 145]
_Enter a_ Messenger
MESSENGER. Prepare you, generals: The enemy comes on in gallant show; Their bloody sign of battle is hung out, And something to be done immediately. 15
ANTONY. Octavius, lead your battle softly on, Upon the left hand of the even field.
OCTAVIUS. Upon the right hand I; keep thou the left.
ANTONY. Why do you cross me in this exigent? 19
OCTAVIUS. I do not cross you; but I will do so. [_March_]
[Note 14: /bloody sign./ "The next morning, by break of day, the signal of battle was set out in Brutus' and Cassius' camp, which was an arming scarlet coat."--Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_.]
[Note 17: Plutarch tells that Cassius, though the more experienced soldier, allowed Brutus to lead the right wing. "Shakespeare made use of this incident, but transferred to the opposite camp, in order to bring out the character of Octavius which made Antony yield. Octavius really commanded the left wing."--Clar.]
[Note 19: /exigent:/ exigency. So in _Antony and Cleopatra_, IV, xiv, 63.]