NOTES. ACT I. Scene I. The title of the play in the first folio is 'The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar.' It is there divided into Acts but not into Scenes, although the first scene of all is marked as 'Actus Primus. Scena Prima.' The list of Dramatis Persone was first given imperfectly by Rowe, and afterwards more completely by Theobald. The locality, 'Rome. A street' is from Capell. Theobald has, 'A street in Rome'; Rowe simply 'Rome.' 6 Enter Flavius, &c. The folio has Enter Flavius, Murellus, and certaine Commoners ouer the Stage.' Theobald corrected Murellus to Marullus from Plutarch. 3. Being mechanical, that is, being mechanics or artisans. We find the word used as a substantive in Midsummer Night's Dream, iii. 2. 9: 'A crew of patches, rude mechanicals.' And in 2 Henry VI, i. 3. 196: 'Base dunghill villain and mechanical.' Ib. you ought not walk. In all other cases in which 'ought' occurs in Shakespeare it is followed by 'to.' Both constructions are found. For instance, in the later Wicliffite version of Genesis xxxiv. 31, 'Symeon and Leuy answeriden, Whether thei ouzten mysuse oure sistir'; where some manuscripts read 'to mysuse.' Again, in Holinshed's Chronicle (ed. 1577), ii. 1006 a: But the Lord Henry Percy L. Marshall, appoynted to make way before the K. with the Duke of Lācaster . . . . came to the knight, and told him, that he ought not come at that time, but whe the K. was at dinner.' The earlier construction appears to have been with 'to.' Dr. Morris (English Accidence, § 303) states that 'owe' as an auxiliary verb first appears in Lazamon's Brut. If this be the case, it is instructive to observe that in the earlier recension of the poem (ed. Madden, i. 262), we find 'and þat heo azen me to zelden,' and that they ought to yield to me; while in the later the line stands thus, and hii þat hahte zelden' and they ought yield that. Again, in the earlier recension (ii. 634), ‘ich ahte to bizeten Rome' = I ought to win Rome, is in the later 'ich hahte ohni Rome' I ought obtain Rome. On the other hand, we find in the earlier recension, when the word is more strictly used as an auxiliary (ii. 276), ‘and swa pu azest Hengest don'= and so thou oughtest do to Hengest. In the last-quoted example 'azest' is the present tense, but 'ought,' though properly past, is used also as a G present, like ‘wot' and 'must.' On this irregularity in the use of the infinitive with or without 'to' after auxiliary or quasi-auxiliary verbs, Dr. Guest remarks (Philological Society's Proceedings, ii. 227), 'Originally the to was prefixed to the gerund but never to the present infinitive; as however the custom gradually prevailed of using the latter in place of the former, the to was more and more frequently prefixed to the infinitive, till it came to be considered as an almost necessary appendage of it. . . . The to is still generally omitted after the auxiliaries and also after certain other verbs, as bid, dare, see, hear, make, &c. But even in these cases there has been great diversity of usage.' The following early instances of the omission of 'to' are taken from Mätzner's Englische Grammatik, and the Wörterbuch which accompanies his Altenglische Sprachproben. 'I oughte ben hyere than she.' Vision of Piers Ploughman (ed. T. Wright), 1. 936. 'Wip here bodies pat azte be so free.' Robert of Gloucester (ed. Hearne), i. p. 12. 'And glader ought his freend ben of his deth.' Chaucer, Cant. Tales, 1. 3053. Milton imitated the construction in Paradise Lost, viii. 73, 74: 'And not divulge His secrets, to be scann'd by them who ought Rather admire.' 4. a labouring day, a working day. Professor Craik points out that 'labouring' is here not a participle but a substantive or verbal noun; labouring day' being not a day that labours but a day for labouring.' 4, 5. without the sign Of your profession. It is more likely that Shakespeare had in his mind a custom of his own time than any sumptuary law of the Romans. 6, 10. First Com. and Sec. Com. The folios have 'Car.,' that is Carpenter'; and Cobl.' for Cobbler.' ་ 7. thy leather apron and thy rule. Compare the description of a Roman mob in Antony and Cleopatra, v. 2. 210: 10. in respect of, in comparison with, compared to. So in Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2.639: 'Hector was but a Troyan in respect of this.' And As You Like It, iii. 2.68: Thou worms-meat, in respect of a good piece of flesh indeed!' II. a cobbler, a botcher, a bungling workman. 12. directly, straightforwardly, without evasion. So Lady Percy says to Hotspur in I Henry IV, ii. 3. 89: 14. soles. In order that the play of words may not be lost the folio spells it soules.' The same pun is found in The Merchant of Venice, iv. 1. 123: 'Not on thy soale, but on thy soule harsh Iew Thou mak'st thy knife keene,' as it is printed in the first folio. 15. Mar. So Capell. In the folios this speech is given to Flavius and printed as prose, but it evidently belongs to Marullus, as appears from the cobbler's reply and the following speech of Marullus, which must belong to the same speaker as this. Theobald assigns both to Flavius. 16. be not out with me, do not quarrel with me. We still used to 'fall out' in the same sense. Compare The Merchant of Venice, iii. 5. 34: 'Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo: Launcelot and I are out'; that is, have quarrelled. 17. if you be out, that is, out at heels. 6 22. with the awl. Rowe omitted with.' 23, 24. I meddle with. but with awl. The first folio has, 'I meddle with no Tradesmans matters, nor womens matters; but withal I am indeed,' &c. Dr. Farmer suggested, 'I meddle with no trade,-man's matters, nor woman's matters, but with awl.' Staunton modified this by reading 'trades' for 'trade'; and Capell by reading 'but with all.' Perhaps the latter is right, but it is difficult to know how Shakespeare's equivoques should be represented in print. 23. women's. iii. 4. 135, 136: Windsor, v. 5. 60: 25. recover. Delius understands 'tradeswomen's.' Compare King Lear, The wall newt and the water'; and Merry Wives of 'Search Windsor Castle, elves, within and out.' Of course a quibble upon re-cover,' to cover again, and ' recover' in the sense of to restore to health. For the latter meaning of the word, which is now obsolete, compare The Tempest, ii. 2. 79; ‘If I can recover him, and keep him tame, I will not take too much for him'; and again, 1. 97: 'If all the wine in my bottle will recover him, I will help his ague.' Also, Twelfth Night, ii. 1. 39: 'If you will not undo what you have done, that is, kill him whom you have recovered, desire it not.' Ib. proper, fine, handsome. Compare The Tempest, ii. 2. 63: As proper a man as ever went on four legs cannot make him give ground.' 26. as ever trod upon neat's leather. So in The Tempest, ii. 2. 73: 'He's a present for any emperor that ever trod on neat's leather.' The Anglo-Saxon neát is especially used of cattle, though it properly denotes any beast; and in Suffolk still a cowhouse is called a 'neathouse.' In the Promptorium Parvulorum (ed. Way) we find 'Neet, beest. Bos. Neet breydare. Reciarius. Neet dryvare. Armentarius. Neet hyrde. Bubulcus. Neet howse. Boscar.' See Winter's Tale, i. 2. 125: And yet the steer, the heifer, and the calf, Are all call'd neat.' 27. handiwork, workmanship. The A.S. hand-geweorc shows that the word is hand-iwork' or 'hand-ywork,' and not 'handy-work.' 28. art not. The omission of the pronoun is frequent, especially in peremptory and familiar questions. See King Lear, ii. 1.91: 'How dost, my lord?' and iv. 1. 31: 'Fellow, where goest?' In 1. 19 Steevens omits 'thou' and reads the line as verse. 30, 31. Truly, sir, . . . But, indeed, &c. Delius calls attention to the apparent distinction which the cobbler makes between these adverbs. But I think he had no more meaning in using them than Master Slender had, and that certainly is not much. Shakespeare frequently puts such petty expletives into the mouth of his uneducated characters. See the Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 2. 322-326: 'Slen. Truly, I will not go first; truly, la! I will not do you that wrong. Anne. I pray you, sir. Slen. I'll rather be unmannerly than troublesome. You do yourself wrong, indeed, la!' 32. to see Cæsar, who had returned from Spain, where he had defeated the sons of Pompey at the battle of Munda, 17 March, B. c. 45. 'But the triumph he made into Rome for the same, did as much offend the Romaines, and more, then any thing that euer he had done before: because he had not ouercome Captaines that were strangers, nor barbarous kings, but had destroyed the sonnes of the noblest man of Rome, whom fortune had ouerthrowne. And because he had plucked vp his race by the roots, men did not thinke it meete for him to triumph so for the calamities of his country, reioycing at a thing for the which he had but one excuse to alledge in his defence, vnto the gods and men, that he was compelled to do that he did.' North's Plutarch, Julius Cæsar (ed. 1631, p. 736; ed. Skeat, p. 81). This triumph took place in the beginning of October, B. C. 45, and as it was for a victory over Pompey's sons it makes the reproaches of Marullus more pointed. Shakespeare not caring for dates has placed the triumph at the time of the Lupercalia, which were held 15 February, B. C. 44. 38. Knew... oft. The line is printed thus in the first folio: 'Knew you not Pompey many a time and oft?' The punctuation was corrected by Rowe. For the emphatic expression 'many a time and oft' see The Merchant of Venice, i. 3. 107: 'Signior Antonio, many a time and oft In the Rialto you have rated me About my moneys and my usances.' Compare Timon of Athens, iii. 1. 25: 'Many a time and often I ha' dined with him.' And 2 Henry VI, ii. 1. 93: 'Most true, forsooth; and many time and oft Myself have heard a voice to call him so.' This last form is paralleled by 'many one,' which is found in the Prayer Book Version of Psalm iii. 2. Many a time and often' is the rendering of saepius in Holland's Pliny, ii. 53: 'Moreover, L. Piso (a writer of good credit) reporteth in his first booke of Annales, that Numa before him practised the same feat many a time and often.' 43. pass, pass through or along. So in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, iv. 3. 24: 'And, for the ways are dangerous to pass, I do desire thy worthy company.' See also Gosson's School of Abuse (ed. Arber), p. 36: 'Beeing so knowen that they are the bywoorde of euery mans mouth, and pointed at commonly as they passe the streetes.' 46. her banks. In accordance with a frequent English idiom Shakespeare makes the river feminine when personified. Elsewhere it is neuter, as in King John, iii. 1. 23: 'Like a proud river peering o'er his bounds.' And 2 Henry IV, iv. 4. 127. In Drayton's Polyolbion, as Malone has remarked, the rivers are mostly feminine. But in the seventeenth song the Thames, the king of rivers, is masculine, as he is to this day; and Spenser's description of the marriage of the Thames and Medway (F. Q. iv. 11), the Medway being the bride, shews that in this respect the usage is not uniform. 47. the replication, the echo, reverberation, which replies to the sound. In its legal sense of 'answer' the word occurs in Hamlet, iv. 2. 13: 'What replication should be made by the son of a king?' 50. cull out a holiday, pick out this day for a holiday. 58. of your sort, of your rank or condition in life. Compare As You Like It, i. I. 174: Of all sorts enchantingly beloved.' 6 59. Weep your tears, shed your tears. This transitive use of 'weep' is not common. See Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 3. 33: Thou shinest in every tear that I do weep.' 60. till the lowest stream, &c., till the river even at its lowest may be augmented by your tears so that it reaches to the highest banks. 62. whether, a monosyllable, and as such spelt where' in the folios. So in v. 4. 30 the folios read: And see where Brutus be alive or dead.' See also The Tempest, v. I. III, and Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar, § 466. No distinction is uniformly made between the two senses of the word, which is spelt indifferently in the first folio mettall' and 'mettle,' whether it is used literally or metaphorically. 65. disrobe the images. According to North's Plutarch these were images |