To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels?

You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things.
O, you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,
Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft
Have you climb'd up to walls and battlements,
To towers and windows, yea, to chimney tops,
Your infants in your arms, and there have sat
The live-long day, with patient expectation,
To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome :
And when you saw his chariot but appear,
Have you not made an universal shout,
That Tyber trembled underneath her banks,
To hear the replication of your sounds,
Made in her concave shores?

And do you now put on your best attire?
And do you now cull out a holiday?
And do you now strew flowers in his way,
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood?
Begone;

Run to your houses, fall upon your knees,
Pray to the gods to intermit the plague

That needs must light on this ingratitude.

Flav. Go, go, good countrymen, and, for this fault, Assemble all the poor men of your sort;

[Ex. Citizens,

Draw them to Tyber banks, and weep your tears
Into the channel, till the lowest stream
Do kiss the most exalted shores of all.
See, whe'er their basest metal be not mov'd ;
They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness.
Go you down that way towards the Capitol ;
This way will I Disrobe the images,

If

:

you do find them deck'd with ceremonies.' Mar. May we do so?

You know, it is the feast of Lupercal.

Flav. It is no matter; let no images

Be hung with Cæsar's trophies. I'll about,

And drive away the vulgar from the streets :

So do you too, where you perceive them thick.

These growing feathers pluck'd from Cæsar's wing,
Will make him fly an ordinary pitch;

Who else would soar above the view of men,

And keep us all in servile fearfulness.

[Exeunt.

[1] Ceremonies, for religious ornaments. Thus afterwards, he explains them by Cesar's trophies; i. e. such as he had dedicated to the gods. WARBURTON

SCENE II. The same. A public Place. Enter, in procession,
with music, CESAR; ANTONY, for the course; CALPHURNIA,
PORTIA, DECIUS, CICERO, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, and CASCA,
a great Crowd following; among them a Soothsayer.
Cæs. Calphurnia,

Casca. Peace, ho! Cæsar speaks.
Cas. Calphurnia,-

Cal. Here, my

lord.

Cas. Stand you directly in Antonius' way, When he doth run his course.

Ant. Cæsar, my lord.

-Antonius.

Cæs. Forget not, in your speed, Antonius, To touch Calphurnia: for our elders say, The barren, touched in this holy chase, Shake off their steril curse.

Ant. I shall remember:

When Cæsar says, Do this, it is perform'd.

[Music ceases.

Cæs. Set on; and leave no ceremony out. [Music

Sooth. Cæsar.

Cas. Ha! who calls?

Casca. Bid every noise be still :-Peace yet again.

[Music ceases.

Cas. Who is it in the press, that calls on me?
I hear a tongue, sbriller than all the music,
Cry, Cæsar Speak; Cæsar is turn'd to hear.
Sooth. Beware the ides of March.

Cœs. What man is that?

Bru. A soothsayer, bids you beware the ides of March. Cas. Set him before me, let me see his face.

Casca. Fellow, come from the throng. Look upon Cæsar. Cas. 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.

[Sennet. Exeunt all but BRU. and CAS.

Cas. Will you go see the order of the course?

Bru. Not I.

Cas. I pray you, do.

Bru. I am not gamesome: I do lack some part
Of that quick spirit that is in Antony.

Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires;
I'll leave you.

Cas. Brutus, I do observe you now of late :
I have not from your eyes that gentleness,
And show of love, as I was wont to have ⚫

You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand
Över your
friend that loves you.
Bru. Cassius,

Be not deceiv'd: If I have veil'd my look,
I turn the trouble of my countenance
Merely upon myself. Vexed I am,

Of late, with passions of some difference,"
Conceptions only proper to myself,

Which give some soil, perhaps, to my behaviours:
But let not therefore my good friends be griev'd;
(Among which number, Cassius, be you one ;)
Nor construe any further my neglect,

Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,

Forgets the shows of love to other men.

Cas. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion ;

By means whereof, this breast of mine hath buried

Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.

Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?
Bru. No, Cassius: for the eye sees not itself,
But by reflection, by some other things.
Cas. 'Tis just :

And it is very much lamented, Brutus,
That you have no such mirrors, as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye,

That you might see your shadow. I have heard,
Where many of the best respect in Rome,
(Except immortal Cæsar,) speaking of Brutus,
And groaning underneath this age's yoke,

Have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes.

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,

Will modestly discover to yourself

That of yourself which you yet know not of.
And be not jealous of me, gentle Brutus :
Were I a common laugher, or did use
To stale with ordinary oaths my love
To every new protestor ;3 if you know

That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard,

JOHNSON.

[2] With a fluctuation of discordant opinions and desires. To invite every new protestor to my affection by the stale or allurement of customary oaths. JOHNSON.

And after scandal them; or if you know
That I profess myself in banqueting

To all the rout, then hold me dangerous. [Flourish & shout. Bru. What means this shouting? I do fear, the people Choose Cæsar for their king.

Cas. Ay, do you fear it?

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'the 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,
As well as I do know your outward favour.
Well, honour is the subject of my story.-
I cannot tell, what you and other men
Think of this life; but, for my single self,
I had as lief not be, as live to be

In awe of such a thing as I myself.)

I was born free as Cæsar; so were you :
We both have fed as well; and we can both
Endure the winter's cold, as well as he.
For once, upon a raw and gusty day,
The troubled Tyber chafing with her shores,
Cæsar said to me, Dar'st thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,
And swim to yonder point?-Upon the word,
Accouter'd as I was, I plunged in,

And bade him follow: so, indeed, he did.
The torrent roar'd; and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews; throwing it aside
And stemming it with hearts of controversy.
But ere we could arrive the point propos'd,
Cæsar cry'd, Help me, Cassius, or I sink.

I, as Æneas, our great ancestor,

Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder

The old Anchises bear, so, from the waves of Tyber

Did I the tired Cæsar: And this man

Is now become a god; and Cassius is

A wretched creature, and must bend his body,

If Cæsar carelessly but nod on him.

He had a fever when he was in Spain,
And, when the fit was on him, I did mark
How he did shake: 'tis true, this god did shake :
His coward lips did from their colour fly ;

And that same eye, whose bend doth awe the world,
Did lose his lustre : I did hear him groan :

Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans
Mark him, and write his speeches in their books,
Alas! it cried, Give me some drink, Titinius,
As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me,
A man of such a feeble temper should
So get the start of the majestic world,'
And bear the palm alone.

Bru. Another general shout!

I do believe, that these applauses are

[Shout. Flourish

For some new honours that are heap'd on Cæsar.
Cas. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus; and we petty men

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.

Brutus, and Cæsar: What should be in that Cæsar?
Why should that name be sounded more than your's?
Write them together, yours is as fair a name ;
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;
Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure them,
Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Cæsar.
Now in the names of all the gods at once,
Upon what meat deth this our Cæsar feed,

That he is grown so great? Age, thou art sham'd:
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!
When went there by an age, since the great flood,
But it was fam'd with more than with one man?
When could they say, till now, that talk'd of Rome,
That her wide walks encompass'd but one man?

[Shout.

[5] A plain man would have said the colour fled from his lips. But the false expression was for the sake of as false a piece of wit: a poor quibble, alluding to a coward flying from his colours. WARBURTON. STEEVENS.

That is, temperament, constitution.

This image is extremely noble; it is taken from the Olympic games. The majestic world is a fine periphrasis for the Roman Empire; their citizens set themselves on a footing with kings, and they called their dominion Orbis Romanus. But the particular allusion seems to be to the known story of Cæsar's great pattern, Alexander, who being asked, Whether he would run the course at the Olympic games, replied, "Yes, if the racers were kings." WARBURTON.