My heart is in the coffin there with Cæfar,
And I muft paufe 'till it come back to me.

1 Pleb. Methinks, there is much reafon in his fayings, If thou confider rightly of the matter,

8 Cæfar has had great wrong.

3 Pleb. Has he, masters? I fear there will a worfe Come in his place.

4

Pleb. Mark'd

ye

the crown;

his words? he would not take

Therefore, 'tis certain, he was not ambitious.

1 Pleb. If it be found fo, fome will dear abide it. 2 Pleb. Poor foul! his eyes are red as fire with

3

weeping.

Pleb. There's not a nobler man in Rome than

Antony.

4 Pleb. Now mark him, he begins to fpeak. Ant. But yesterday the word of Cæfar might Have stood against the world: now lies he there, , And none fo poor to do him reverence. O mafters! if I were difpos'd to stir

Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,

Cafar has had great wrong.] 3 Pleb. Cæfar had never wrong but with just caufe. If ever there was fuch a line written by Shakefpeare, I should fancy it might have its place here, and very humourously in the character of a plebeian. One might believe Ben Johnson's remark was made upon no better credit than fome blunder of an actor in fpeaking that verfe near the beginning of the third act,

Know, Cafar doth not wrong; nor without caufe
Will he be fatisfied

But the verse, as cited by Ben Johnson, does not connect with,
Will be be fatisfied. Perhaps this play was never printed in Ben
Johnfon's time, and fo he had nothing to judge by, but as the ac-
tor pleased to speak it.

РОРЕ.

I have inferted this note, because it is Pope's, for it is otherwise of no value. It is ftrange that he fhould fo much forget the date of the copy before him, as to think it not printed in Jonson's time.

And none fo poor. reverence to Cæfar.

JOHNSON. -] The meaneft man is now too high to do JOHNSON.

I fhould do Brutus wrong, and Caffius wrong,
Who, you all know, are honourable men.
I will not do them wrong; I rather chuse
To wrong the dead, to wrong myfelf and you,
Than I will wrong fuch honourable men.
But here's a parchment, with the feal of Cæfar,
I found it in his clofet, 'tis his will:

Let but the commons hear this teftament,
(Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read)
And they would go and kifs dead Cæfar's wounds,
And dip their napkins in his facred blood;
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,

And, dying, mention it within their wills,
Bequeathing it, as a rich legacy,

Unto their iffue.

4 Pleb. We'll hear the will: Read it, Mark Antony. All. The will, the will:-We will hear Calar's

will.

Ant. Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it;

It is not meet you know how Cæfar lov'd you.
You are not wood, you are not ftones, but men;
And, being men, hearing the will of Cæfar,
It will inflame you, it will make you mad.
Tis good you know not, that you are his heirs ;
For if you should, O what would come of it!

4 Pleb. Read the will; we will hear it, Antony; You fhall read us the will; Cæfar's will.

Ant. Will you be patient? Will you ftay a while? I have o'er hot myself, to tell you of it. fear, I wrong the honourable men,

Whofe daggers have ftabb'd Cæfar: I do fear it. 4 Pleb. They were traitors: Honourable men! All. The will! the teftament !

2 Pleb. They were villains, murderers: The will! read the will!

Ant. You will compel me then to read the will ! Then make a ring about the corpfe of Cæfar, And let me fhew you him that made the will. Shall I defcend? And will you give me leave? All. Come down.

2 Pleb. Defcend.

3

[He comes down from the pulpit.

Pleb. You fhall have leave.

4 Pleb. A ring; ftand round.

Pleb. Stand from the hearse, stand from the body. 2 Pleb. Room for Antony-most noble Antony. Ant. Nay, prefs not fo upon me; stand far off. All. Stand back! room! bear back!

Ant. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. You all do know this mantle: I remember

The first time ever Cæfar put it on;

'Twas on a fummer's evening, in his tent,
That day he overcame the Nervii.—

Look! in this place, ran Caffius' dagger through:
See, what a rent the envious Cafca made:
Through this, the well-beloved Brutus ftabb'd;
And, as he pluck'd his curfed steel away,
Mark, how the blood of Cæfar follow'd it;
As rushing out of doors, to be refolv'd,
If Brutus fo unkindly knock'd, or no;

For Brutus, as you know, was Cæfar's angel':
Judge, O you Gods! how dearly Cæfar lov'd him!
This was the most unkindeft cut of all:

For when the noble Cæfar faw him ftab,
Ingratitude, more ftrong than traitors' arms,

2

Quite vanquifh'd him: then burft his mighty heart : And, in his mantle muffling up his face,

Even

For Brutus, as you know, was CESAR'S ANGEL :] This title of endearment is more than once introduced in Sidney's Arcadia.

2 And, in his mantle, &c.] Read the lines thus,

And, in his mantle muffling up his face,

Which all the while ran blood, great Cæfar fell,
Even at the bafe of Pompey's ftatue.

STEEVENS.

Plu

Even at the base of Pompey's ftatue,

Which all the while ran blood, great Cæfar fell.
O, what a fall was there, my countrymen !
Then I, and you, and all of us fell down,
Whilft bloody treafon flourish'd over us.
O now you weep; and, I perceive, you feel
The dint of pity: thefe are gracious drops.
Kind fouls, what, weep you, when you but behold
Our Cæfar's vefture wounded? Look you here!
Here is himself, marr'd, as you fee, by traitors.
1 Pleb. O piteous fpectacle!

2 Pleb. O noble Cæfar!

3 Pleb. O woful day!

4 Pleb. O traitors, villains!
i Pleb. O moft bloody fight!

2 Pleb. We will be reveng'd: revenge: about,— seek,--burn,--fire,--kill,--flay !--let not a traitor live.

Plutarch tells us, that Cæfar received many wounds in the face on this occafion, fo that it might be faid to run blood. But, inftead of that, the ftatue, in this reading, and not the face, is faid to do fo; it is plain thefe two lines fhould be transposed: And then the reflection, which follows,

O what a fall was there

is natural, lamenting the difgrace of being at laft fubdued in that quarrel in which he had been compleat victor. WARB. The image feems to be, that the blood of Cæfar flew upon the fatue, and trickled down it. And the exclamation,

O what a fall was there -

follows better after

-great Cæfar fill,

than with a line interpofed.

JOHNSON.

Perhaps Shakespeare meant that the very ftatue of Pompey lamented the fate of Cæfar in tears of blood Such poetical hyperboles are not uncommon. Pope, in his Eloifa, talks of

-pitying faints, whofe ftatues learn to aweep.

Shakespeare has enumerated dews of blood among the prodigies on the preceding day, and, as I have fince difcovered, took thefe very words from Sir Thomas North's Tranflation of Plutarch: "against the very bafe whereon Pompey's image ftood, which ran all a gore blood, till he was flain "

3 The dint of pity is the impreffion of pity.

F 3

STEEVENS.
STEEVENS.

Ant.

Ant. Stay, countrymen,

1 Pleb. Peace there :-Hear the noble Antony. 2 Pleb. We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll die with him.

Ant. Good friends, fweet friends, let me not stir you up

To fuch a fudden flood of mutiny.

They, that have done this deed, are honourable : What private griefs they have, alas, I know not, That made them do it; they are wife, and honour

able,

And will, no doubt, with reafons answer you.
I come not, friends, to fteal away your hearts;
I am no orator, as Brutus is:

But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man,
That love my friend; and that they know full well
That give me publick leave to speak of him.
4 For I have neither writ, nor words, nor worth,
Action nor utterance, nor the power of speech,
To ftir men's blood: I only fpeak right on:
I tell you that, which you yourselves do know;
Shew you fweet Cæfar's wounds, poor, poor, dumb

mouths!

And bid them fpeak for me.

But were I Brutus,

And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony
Would ruffle up your fpirits, and put a tongue
In every wound of Cæfar, that fhould move
The ftones of Rome to rife and mutiny.

All. We'll mutiny

1 Pleb. We'll burn the house of Brutus.

3 Pleb. Away then, come, feek the confpirators, Ant. Yet hear me, countrymen; yet hear me speak.

4 For I have neither wit, -] The old copy reads,

For I have neither writ, nor words,

which may mean, I have no penned and premeditated oration.

I have inferted the old reading.

JOHNSON. STEEVENS.

All.