Sooth. Cæsar! Caes. Ha! who calls? Casca. Bid every noise be still: peace yet again! Cas. Who is it in the press that calls on me? I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music, Cry "Cæsar!" Speak; Cæsar is turn'd to hear. Sooth. Beware the ides of March. Cæs. What man is that? Bru. A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March. Cæs. Set him before me; let me see his face. 20 Cas. Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Cæsar. Caes. What say'st thou to me now? speak once again. Sooth. Beware the ides of March. Cæs. He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass. Cas. I pray you, do. Bru. I am not gamesome: I do lack some part Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires; Cas. Brutus, I do observe you now of late : 18. [ides, i. e. the fifteenth day.] 30 21. [Fellow. Rarely used in contemptuous sense, and probably not here.] 28. [gamesome= sportive.] 34. as I was, etc. that I was, etc. Bru. Cassius, Be not deceiv'd: if I have veil'd my look, Which give some soil perhaps to my behaviour; Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war, 40 Cas. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion; By means whereof this breast of mine hath buried But by reflection, — by some other thing. Cas. 'Tis just: And it is very much lamented, Brutus, That you might see your shadow. I have heard, 50 60 Bru. Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius, That you would have me seek into myself For that which is not in me? Cas. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepar'd to hear: And since you know you cannot see yourself So well as by reflection, I, your glass, That of yourself which you yet know not of. 70 [Flourish, and shout. Bru. What means this shouting? I do fear, the people Choose Cæsar for their king. Cas. Ay, do you fear it? 80 Then must I think you would not have it so. Bru. I would not, Cassius; 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, Set honour in one eye and death i' th' other, And I will look on both indifferently, For let the gods so speed me as I love The name of honour more than I fear death. Cas. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, 90 As well as I do know your outward favour. 71. jealous on me : a use of "on" for " of " hardly obsolete in New England. [Jealous suspicious. See 1. 162 below.] 88. [When we wish one "Godspeed," we wish that God favor him.] 91. [When we say that a boy favors his father, we mean that his face is like his father's; and the favor given in the german has its meaning also in Shakespeare's time of a token of favor. The double meaning is cleverly shown in Love's Labour's Lost, Act V., Sc. 2, 1. 30-33.] Well, honour is the subject of my story. In awe of such a thing as I myself. I was born free as Cæsar; so were you: And swim to yonder point?" Upon the word, And bade him follow; so indeed he did. Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber Did I the tired Cæsar. And this man Is now become a god, and Cassius is A wretched creature and must bend his body, He had a fever when he was in Spain, 100 110 95. [Words are so alive to Shakespeare that he is forever playing with them on very slight pretexts. Lief and live are pronounced alike.] 109. controversy: loosely used for contention, resistance. 110. arrive the point: a use of "arrive " without "at" frequently found in our old writers. And when the fit was on him, I did mark And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world Bru. Another general shout! I do believe that these applauses are 120 130 [Shout. Flourish. For some new honours that are heap'd on Cæsar. Walk under his huge legs and peep about To find ourselves dishonourable graves. Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings. 140 Brutus and Cæsar: what should be in that "Cæsar "? |