That this foul deed shall smell above the earth

With carrion men, groaning for burial.

Enter a Servant.

You serve Octavius Cæsar, do you not?

Serv. I do, Mark Antony.

Ant. Cæsar did write for him to come to Rome.

Serv. He did receive his letters, and is coming;

And bid me say to you by word of mouth, [Seeing the body.] O Cæsar!

Ant. Thy heart is big, get thee apart and weep.

Passion, I see, is catching; for mine eyes,

Seeing those beads of sorrow stand in thine,

Begin to water. Is thy master coming?

Serv. He lies to-night within seven leagues of Rome.
Ant. Post back with speed, and tell him what hath chanced.

Here is a mourning Rome, a dangerous Rome,

No Rome of safety 44 for Octavius yet;

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 ;

According to the which, thou shalt discourse
To young Octavius of the state of things.
Lend me your hand.

[Exeunt with Cæsar's body.

let slip a dog was a term of the chase, for releasing the hounds from the leash or slip 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: "At his heels, leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire, crouch for employment."

44 Another play on Rome and room. See page 53, note 38.

SCENE II. - The Same. The Forum.

Enter BRUTUS and CASSIUS, with a Throng of Citizens

Citizens. We will be satisfied; let us be satisfied.

Bru. 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;
Those that will follow Cassius, go with him;

And public reason shall be rendered

Of Cæsar's death.

I Cit.

I will hear Brutus speak.

2 Cit. I will hear Cassius; and compare their reasons, When severally we hear them rendered.

[Exit CASSIUS, with some of the Citizens. BRUTU goes into the Rostrum

3 Cit. The noble Brutus is ascended: silence ! Bru. 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 : censure2 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 loved Cæsar less, but that I loved Rome more.

Had

1 Lover and friend were used as synonymous in the Poet's time. Brutus afterwards speaks of Cæsar as "my best lover."

2 Censure is here, as often, judge; probably used for the jingle it makes with senses.

you rather Cæsar were living, and die all slaves, than that Cæsar were dead, to live all freemen? As Cæsar loved 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.

Citizens. None, Brutus, none.

Bru. 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; 3 his glory not extenuated, wherein he was worthy; nor his offences enforced,1 for which he suffered death.

Enter ANTONY and Others, with CESAR'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.5

3 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.

4 His fame is not lessened or whittled down in those points wherein he was worthy. Enforced is in antithesis to extenuated, meaning that his faults are not magnified or forced out of just measure.

5 A great number of men being assembled together, Brutus made an

Citizens. Live, Brutus ! live, live!

1 Cit. Bring him with triumph home unto his house. 2 Cit. Give him a statue with his ancestors.

3 Cit. Let him be Cæsar.

4 Cit.

Cæsar's better parts

Shall now be crown'd in Brutus.

1 Cit. We'll bring him to his house with shouts and clam

Bru. Good countrymen, let me depart alone,
And, for my sake, stay here with Antony:

Do grace to Cæsar's corpse, and grace his speech
Tending to Cæsar's glory; which Mark Antony,
By our permission, is allow'd to make.

I do entreat you, not a man depart,
Save I alone, till Antony have spoke.

I Cit. Stay, ho! and let us hear Mark Antony.

[Exit.

oration unto them, to win the favour of the people, and to justify that they had done. All those that were by said they had done well, and cried unto them that they should boldly come down from the Capitol; whereupon Brutus and his companions came boldly down into the market-place. The rest followed in troop, 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 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 him that they were not all contented with the murder. For when another, called Cinna, would have spoken, and began to accuse Cæsar, they fell into a great uproar among them, and marvellously reviled him; insomuch that the conspirators returned again into the Capitol.- PLUTARCH.

3 Cit. Let him go up into the public chair;

We'll hear him. Noble Antony, go up.

Ant. For Brutus' sake, I am beholding to you. [Goes up. 4 Cit. What does he say of Brutus? 3 Cit.

He says, for Brutus' sake,

He finds himself beholding to us all.

4 Cit. 'Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here. I Cit. This Cæsar was a tyrant.

3 Cit.

Nay, that's certain :

We're bless'd, that Rome is rid of him.

2 Cit. Peace! let us hear what Antony can say.
Ant. You gentle Romans, ·
Citizens.

Peace, ho! let us hear him.

Ant. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me you ears; I come to bury Cæsar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interrèd with their bones:7 So let it be with Cæsar. The noble Brutus Hath told you Cæsar was ambitious: 8 If it were so, it was a grievous fault; And grievously hath Cæsar answer'd it. Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest, For Brutus is an honourable man;

So are they all, all honourable men,

6 Shakespeare always uses beholding, the active form, for beholden, the passive. Here, as elsewhere, it means obliged, of course.

7 We have the same thought in Henry the Eighth, iv. 2: "Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water."

8 In Shakespeare's time, the ending -tious, and various others like it, when occurring at the end of a verse, was often pronounced as two syllables. The same was the case with -tion, -sion, and divers others. Many instances of the latter have already occurred in this play; as in the preceding scene: 'And say you do't by our permission." Also in a former scene: "Out of the teeth of emulation." The usage occurs continually in Spenser.