If I myself, there is no hour fo fit

As Cæfar's death's hour; nor no inftrument
Of half that worth as thofe your fwords, made rich
With the most noble blood of all this world.

I do beseech ye, if ye bear me hard,

Now, whilft your purpled hands do reek and fmoke, Fulfil your pleasure. Live a thousand

I fhall not find myself so apt to die :

years,

No place will please me fo, no mean of death,
As here by Cæfar, and by you cut off,
The choice and mafter fpirits of this age.

Bru. O Antony! beg not your death of us.
Though now we must appear bloody and cruel,
As, by our hands, and this our present act,
You fee, we do; yet fee you but our hands,
And this the bleeding bufinefs they have done :
Our hearts you see not, they are pitiful;
And pity to the general wrong of Rome
(As fire drives out fire, fo pity, pity)

Hath done this deed on Cæfar. For your part,
To you our swords have leaden points, Mark
Antony :

* Our arms in strength of malice, and our hearts,
Of brother's temper, do receive you in
With all kind love, good thoughts, and reverence.

Our arms exempt from malice,] This is the reading only of the modern editions, yet perhaps the true reading. The old copy has, Our arms in ftrength of malice. JOHNSON.

The old reading I believe to have been what the author meant, and the last editor feems to have given a fanction to the alteration of his predeceffors without confidering the context.

To you, (lays Brutus) our words have leaden points; our arms, frong in the deed of malice they have just performed, and our hearts united like thofe of brothers in the action, are yet open to re.eive you with all poffible affection. The fuppofition that Brutus meant, their hearts were of brothers temper in respect of Antony, feems to have mifled those who have confidered this paffage before. I have replaced the old reading. Mr. Pope firft fubftituted the words exempt from, in its place. STEEVENS.

Caf.

Caf. Your voice shall be as ftrong as any man's In the difpofing of new dignities.

Bru. Only be patient, till we have appeas'd
The multitude, befide themselves with fear;
And then we will deliver you the cause,
Why I, that did love Cæfar when I ftrook him,
Proceeded thus.

Ant. I doubt not of your wisdom.

Let each man render me his bloody hand.
First, Marcus Brutus, will I fhake with you ;-
Next, Caius Caffius, do I take your hand ;—
Now, Decius Brutus, yours;-now yours, Me-
tellus ;-

Yours, Cinna ;-and, my valiant Casca, your's ;—
Tho' laft, not least in love, yours, good Trebonius.
Gentlemen all,-alas, what fhall I fay?

My credit now ftands on fuch flippery ground,
That one of two bad ways you must conceit me,
Either a coward or a flatterer.-

That I did love thee, Cæfar, oh, 'tis true:
If then thy fpirit look upon us now,
Shall it not grieve thee, dearer than thy death,
To fee thy Antony making his peace,
Shaking the bloody fingers of thy foes,
Most noble! in the prefence of thy corfe?
Had I as many eyes, as thou haft wounds,
Weeping as fast as they stream forth thy blood,
It would become me better, than to close
In terms of friendship with thine enemies.

Pardon me, Julius!-Here waft thou bay'd, brave hart;

Here didft thou fall, and here thy hunters stand
Sign'd in thy spoil, and crimfon'd in thy lethe.

2

2-crimson'd in thy lethe.] Mr. Theobald fays, The dictionaries acknowledge no fuch word as lethe; yet he is not without fuppofition,

that

O world

thou waft the foreft to this hart;

And this, indeed, O world, the heart of thee.
How like a deer, ftricken by many princes,
Doft thou here lie?

Caf. Mark Antony

Ant. Pardon me, Caius Caffius: The enemies of Cæfar fhall fay this; Then, in a friend, it is cold modefty.

Caf. I blame you not for praifing Cæfar fo; But what compact mean you to have with us? Will you be prick'd in number of our friends? Or fhall we on, and not depend on you?

Ant. Therefore I took your hands; but was, indeed,

Sway'd from the point, by looking down on Cæfar.
Friends am I with you all, and love you all;
Upon this hope, that you fhall give me reasons,
Why, and wherein Cæfar was dangerous.
Bru. Orelfe this were a favage fpectacle.
Our reafons are fo full of good regard,
That were you, Antony, the fon of Cæfar,
You should be fatisfied.

Ant. That's all I feek:

And am moreover fuitor, that I may
Produce his body to the market-place;
And in the pulpit, as becomes a friend,
Speak in the order of his funeral.

Bru. You fhall, Mark Antony.
Caf. Brutus, a word with you.

You know not what you do, do not confent, [Afide.
That Antony speak in his funeral:

that Shakespear coin'd the word; and yet, for all that, the 】 might be a d imperfectly wrote, therefore he will have death inftead of it. After all this pother, letbe was a common French word, fignifying death or deftruction, from the Latin lethum.

WARB.

Lethe is ufed by many of the old tranflators of novels, for death. STEEVENS.

Know

Know you, how much the people may be mov'd
By that which he will utter?

Bru. By your pardon,

I will myself into the pulpit first,

And fhew the reafon of our Cæfar's death,
What Antony shall speak, I will protest
He speaks by leave, and by permiffion;
And that we are contented Cæfar fhall
Have all due rites, and lawful ceremonies :
It fhall advantage more than do us wrong.

Caf. I know not what may fall: I like it not. Bru. Mark Antony, here, take you Cæfar's body. You fhall not in your funeral speech blame us, But speak all good you can devife of Cæfar; And fay, you do't by our permission, Elfe fhall you not have any hand at all About his funeral. And you fhall speak In the fame pulpit whereto I am going, After my fpeech is ended.

Ant. Be it fo;

I do defire no more.

Bru. Prepare the body then, and follow us.

[Exeunt Confpirators:

Manet Antony.

Ant. O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, That I am meek and gentle with thefe butchers. Thou art the ruins of the nobleft man,

That ever lived in the tide of times.

Woe to the hand that shed this coftly blood!
Over thy wounds now do I prophefy,-

Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips,
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue ;-

3-in the tide of times.] That is, in the courfe of times. JOHN'S.

A curfe

A curfe fhall light upon the limbs of men;
Domestick fury, and fierce civil strife,
Shall cumber all the various parts of Italy:
Blood and deftruction shall be so in use,
And dreadful objects fo familiar,

That mothers fhall but fmile, when they behold
Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war;
All pity choak'd with cuftom of fell deeds :
And Cæfar's fpirit ranging for revenge,
With Até by his fide, come hot from hell,
Shall in thefe confines, with a monarch's voice,
5 Cry Havock, and let flip the dogs of war ;

+-upon the LIMBS of men; ] We should read,

—LINE of men ;

i, e. human race.

unless we read,

That

WARB.

The uncommonnefs of the
JOHNSON.

thefe lymms of then; That is, thefe bloodbounds of men. word lymm eafily made the change. I think the old reading may very well ftand. Antony means. only, that a future curfe fhall commence in diftempers feizing on the limbs of men, and be fucceeded by commotion, cruelty, and defolation over all Italy. STEEVENS.

5 Cry Havock,-] A learned correfpondent has informed me, that, in the military operations of old times, bavock was the word by which declaration was made, that no quarter fhould be given.

In a tract intitled, The Office of the Coneftable & Marefchall in the Tyme of Werre, contained in the Black Book of the Admiralty, there is the following chapter:

"The peyne of hym that crieth havock and of them that fol "loweth hym. etit. v."

Item Si quis inventus fuerit qui clamorem inceperit qui vo

"catur Havok."

"Alfo that no man be fo hardy to crye Havok upon peyne that "he that is begynner fhal be deede therefore: & the remanent "that doo the fame or folow fhall lose their horse & harneis : "and the perfones of fuch as foloweth & efcrien shal be under ar

"reft