Canst thou hold up thy heavy eyes awhile,
And touch thy instrument a strain or two?
Luc. Ay, my lord, an't please you.

Bru.

It does, my boy:

I trouble thee too much, but thou art willing.
Luc. It is my duty, sir.

Bru. I should not urge thy duty past thy might;
I know young bloods 35 look for a time of rest.

Luc. I have slept, my lord, already.

Bru. It was well done; and thou shalt sleep again; I will not hold thee long: if I do live,

I will be good to thee.

[LUCIUS plays and sings till he falls asleep.

This is a sleepy tune. O murderous Slumber,

Lay'st thou thy leaden mace upon my boy,

That plays thee music? 36-Gentle knave, good night;
I will not do thee so much wrong to wake thee:

If thou dost nod, thou breakst 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 !37 — Ha! who comes here?

35 Bloods for persons. So in Much Ado, iii. 3: "How giddily he turns about all the hot bloods between fourteen and five-and-thirty."

36 Mace was formerly used for sceptre. The mace is called leaden, from its causing heaviness in the subject of it.-Slumber has the epithet murderous, because sleep is regarded as the image of death; or, as Shelley puts it, "Death and his brother Sleep."-The boy is spoken of as playing music to Slumber, because the purpose of his music is to soothe the perturbations out of his master's mind, and put him to sleep.

37 The coming of a ghost was believed to make lights burn dimly. So, in Richard the Third, v. 3, when the ghosts appear to Richard, he says, "The lights burn blue."

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 makest my blood cold, and my hair to stare ? 38
Speak to me what thou art.

Ghost. Thy evil spirit, Brutus.

Bru.

Why comest thou?

Ghost. To tell thee thou shalt see me at Philippi.
Bru. Well; then I shall see thee again?
Ghost. Ay, at Philippi.

Bru. Why, I will see thee at Philippi, then.

Now I have taken heart, thou vanishest:39
Ill spirit, I would hold more talk with thee.4 40

[Ghost vanishes.

38 A singular use of stare. Of course it must mean to stick out, or, as it is in Hamlet, to "stand on end, like quills upon the fretful porpentine." We have a similar expression in The Tempest, i. 2: "Ferdinand, with hair upstaring, then like reeds, not hair."

39 This strongly, though quietly, marks the Ghost as subjective: as soon as Brutus recovers his firmness, the illusion 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, as the consequences of his stabbing exploit, naturally awakens

remorse.

40 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, being ready to pass over his army from the city of Abydos to the other coast lying directly against it, slept every night (as his manner was) in his tent; and being yet awake, thinking of his affairs (for by report he was as careful a captain, and lived with as little sleep as ever man did) he 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 him no hurt, but stood at his bed-side and said

Boy! Lucius ! - Varro! Claudius! Sirs, awake!
Claudius!

Luc. The strings, my lord, are false.

Bru. He thinks he still is at his instrument. ·

Lucius, awake!

Luc. My lord?

Bru. Didst thou dream, Lucius, that thou so criedst out?

Luc. My lord, I do not know that I did cry.

Bru. Yes, that thou didst : didst thou see any thing?

Luc. Nothing, my lord.

Bru. Sleep again, Lucius.

Sirrah Claudius !

[To VAR.] Fellow thou, awake!

Var. My lord?

Clau. My lord?

Bru. Why did you so cry out, sirs, in your sleep?

Var.

Clau. }

Bru.

Did we, my lord?

Var. No, my lord, I saw nothing.

Clau.

Ay: saw you any thing?

Nor I, my lord.

Bru. Go and commend me to my brother Cassius; Bid him set on his powers betimes 41 before,

And we will follow.

Var.
Clau.

}

It shall be done, my lord.

[Exeunt.

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." There withal the spirit presently vanished from him. - PLUTARCH.

41 Betimes is early, promptly, or in good time.

ACT V.

SCENE I. The Plains of Philippi.

Enter OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, and their Army.
Oct. 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 2 us at Philippi here,
Answering before we do demand of them.

3

:

Ant. Tut, I am in their bosoms, and I know
Wherefore they do it: they could 3 be content
To visit other places; and come down
With fearful bravery,4 thinking by this face

To fasten in our thoughts that they have courage;

But 'tis not so.

Mess.

Enter a Messenger.

Prepare you, generals:

1 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 co-operating, and acting together as one.

2 To warn for to summon. So in King John: "Who is it that hath warn'd us to the walls?" And in King Richard III.: "And sent to warn them to his royal presence."

3 Could for would. The auxiliaries could, should, and would were often used indiscriminately.-Content, here, means more than in our use, and has the sense of be glad, or prefer.

4 Bravery is bravado or defiance. Often so. The epithet fearful probably means that fear is what thus puts them upon attempting to intimidate by display and brag.

The enemy comes on in gallant show;
Their bloody sign of battle is hung out,
And something to be done immediately.
Ant. Octavius, lead your battle softly on,
Upon the left hand of the even field.

Oct. Upon the right hand I; keep thou the left.
Ant. Why do you cross me in this exigent?

Oct. I do not cross you; but I will do so.5

[March.

Drum. Enter BRUTUS, CASSIUS, and their Army; LUCILIUS, TITINIUS, MESSALA, and Others.

Bru. They stand, and would have parley.

Cass. Stand fast, Titinius: we must out and talk.
Oct. Mark Antony, shall we give sign of battle?
Ant. No, Cæsar, we will answer on their charge.6
Make forth; the generals would have some words.
Oct. Stir not until the signal.

Bru. Words before blows: is it so, countrymen?
Oct. Not that we love words better, as you do.

Bru. Good words are better than bad strokes, Octavius.

5 That is, "I will do as I have said"; not, "I will cross you." -At this time, Octavius was but twenty-one years old, and Antony was old enough to be his father. At the time of Cæsar's death, when Octavius was in his nineteenth year, Antony thought he was going to manage him easily and have it all his own way with him, but he found the youngster as stiff as a crowbar, and could do nothing with him. Cæsar's youngest sister Julia was married to Marcus Atius Balbus, and their daughter Atia, again, was married to Caius Octavius, a nobleman of the Plebeian order. From this marriage sprang the present Octavius, who afterwards became the Emperor Augustus. He was mainly educated by his great-uncle, was advanced to the Patrician order, and was adopted as his son and heir; so that his full and proper designation at this time was Caius Julius Cæsar Octavianus. The text gives a right taste of the man, who always stood firm as a post against Antony, till the latter finally knocked himself to pieces against him, 6 Charge for attack; and answer in the sense of meet in combat.