Enter CASSIUS, CASCA, DECIUS, CINNA, METELLUS CIMBER, and TREBONIUS. Cas. I think we are too bold upon your rest: Good morrow, Brutus ; Do we trouble you? Bru. I have been up this hour; awake, all night. Cas. Yes, every man of them; and no man here, Which every noble Roman bears of you. Bru. He is welcome hither. He is welcome too. Cas. This, Decius Brutus. Cas. This, Casca; this, Cinna; And this, Metellus Cimber. Bru. What watchful cares do interpose themselves Betwixt your eyes and night? They are all welcome. [They whisper. Cas. Shall I entreat a word? Dec. Here lies the cast: Doth not the day break here? Casca. No. Cin. O, pardon, sir, it doth; and yon grey lines, That fret the clouds, are messengers of day. Casca. You shall confess, that you are both deceiv'd. Here, as I point my sword, the sun arises; Which is a great way growing on the south, Bru. Give me your hands all over, one by one. Bru. No, not an oath: If not the face of men', 1 No, not an oath : If not the face of men, &c.] Dr. Warburton would read fate of men; but his elaborate emendation is, I think, The sufferance of our souls, the time's abuse,- That this shall be, or we will fall for it? Swear priests, and cowards, and men cautelous ', Nor the insuppressive mettle of our spirits, If he do break the smallest particle erroneous. The face of men is the countenance, the regard, the esteem of the publick; in other terms, honour and reputation; or the face of men may mean the dejected look of the people. JOHNSON. 2 Till each man drop by lottery.] Perhaps the poet alluded to the custom of decimation, i. e. the selection by lot of every tenth soldier, in a general mutiny, for punishment. 3 And will not palter?] And will not shuffle or fly from his engagements. cautelous,] Is here cautious, sometimes insidious. 5 The even virtue of our enterprize,] The calm, equitable, temperate spirit that actuates us. Cas. But what of Cicero? Shall we sound him? I think, he will stand very strong with us. Casca. Let us not leave him out. Cin. No, by no means. And buy men's voices to commend our deeds: Bru. O, name him not; let us not break with him ; For he will never follow any thing That other men begin. Cas. Then leave him out. Casca. Indeed, he is not fit. Dec. Shall no man else be touch'd but only Cæsar? Cas. Decius, well urg'd:-I think it is not meet, Mark Antony, so well belov'd of Cæsar, Should outlive Cæsar: We shall find of him Let Antony, and Cæsar, fall together. Bru. Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, Let us be sacrificers, but no butchers, Caius. Cæsar must bleed for it! And, gentle friends, 6 7 opinion,] i. e. character. and envy afterwards:] Envy is here, as almost always in Shakspeare's plays, malice. Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods, Cas. Is to himself; take thought, and die for Cæsar: Treb. There is no fear in him; let him not die; For he will live, and laugh at this hereafter. Bru. Peace, count the clock. [Clock strikes. The clock hath stricken three. But it is doubtful yet, Treb. 'Tis time to part. 8 9 take thought,] That is, turn melancholy. company.] Company is here used in a disreputable sense. Main opinion, is 1 Quite from the main opinion he held once Of fantasy, of dreams, and ceremonies :] nothing more than leading, fixed, predominant opinion. Fantasy was in our author's time commonly used for imagination. Ceremonies means omens or signs deduced from sacrifices, or other ceremonial rites. And the persuasion of his augurers, Dec. Never fear that: If he be so resolv'd, For I can give his humour the true bent; Cas. Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him. Bru. Now, good Metellus, go along by him3; Cas. The morning comes upon us: We'll leave you, Brutus: And, friends, disperse yourselves: but all remember What you have said, and show yourselves true Romans. Bru. Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily; Let not our looks put on our purposes; 2 That unicorns may be betray'd with trees, And bears with glasses, elephants with holes,] Unicorns are said to have been taken by one who, running behind a tree, eluded the violent push the animal was making at him, so that his horn spent its force on the trunk, and stuck fast, detaining the beast till he was despatched by the hunter. Bears are reported to have been surprised by means of a mirror, which they would gaze on, affording their pursuers an opportunity of taking the surer aim. Elephants were seduced into pitfalls, lightly covered with hurdles and turf, on which a proper bait to tempt them was exposed. 3 by him;] That is, by his house. 4 Let not our looks-] Let not our faces put on, that is, wear or show our designs. |