hold of his Arm. He is then stabbed by several other Conspirators, and at last by MARCUS BRUTUS. Cas. Et tu, Brute 25-Then fall, Cæsar. [Dies. The Senators and People retire in confusion. 4 Doth not Brutus bootless kneel?] I would read: Do not Brutus bootless kneel! Johnson. I cannot subscribe to Dr. Johnson's opinion. Cæsar, as some of the conspirators are pressing round him, answers their importunity properly: See you not my own Brutus kneeling in vain? What success can you expect to your solicitations, when his are ineffectual? This might have put my learned coadjutor in mind of the passage of Homer, which he has so elegantly introduced in his preface. Thou? (said Achilles to his captive) when so great a man as Patroclus has fallen before thee, dost thou complain of the common lot of mortality? Steevens. The editor of the second folio saw this passage in the same light as Dr. Johnson did, and made this improper alteration. By Brutus here Shakspeare certainly meant Marcus Brutus, because he has confounded him with Decimus (or Decius as he calls him); and imagined that Marcus Brutus was the peculiar favourite of Cæsar, calling him "his well-beloved," whereas in fact it was Decimus Brutus that Cæsar was particularly attached to, appointing him by his will his second heir, that is, in remainder after his primary devisees. See p. 8, n. 1. Steevens. Malone. 5 Et tu, Brute?] Suetonius says, that when Cæsar put Metellus Cimber back, he caught hold of Cæsar's gowne at both shoulders, whereupon, as he cried out, This is violence, Cassius came in second full a front, and wounded him a little beneath the throat. Then Cæsar catching Cassius by the arme thrust it through with his stile, or writing punches; and with that being about to leape forward, he was met with another wound and stayed." Being then assailed on all sides, "with three and twenty wounds he was stabbed, during which time he gave but one groan, (without any word uttered) and that was at the first thrust; though some have written, that as Marcus Brutus came running upon him, he said, xaj σú réxvov, and thou, my Holland's translation, 1607. sonne. No mention is here made of the Latin exclamation, which our author has attributed to Cæsar, nor did North furnish him with it, or with English words of the same import, as might naturally have been supposed. Plutarch says, that on receiving his first wound from Casca, "he caught hold of Casca's sword, and held it hard; and they both cried out, Cæsar in Latin, O vile traitor, Casca, what doest thou? and Casca in Greek to his brother, Brother help me."-The conspi Cin. Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead!- Bru. People, and senators! be not affrighted; Dec. Bru. Where's Publius? . And Cassius too. Cin. Here, quite confounded with this mutiny. Met. Stand fast together, lest some friend of Cæsar's Should chance Bru. Talk not of standing;-Publius, good cheer; There is no harm intended to your person, Nor to no Roman else:7 so tell them, Publius. rators then "compassed him on every side with their swordes drawn in their handes, that Cæsar turned him no where but he was stricken by some, and still had naked swords in his face, and was hacked and mangled amongst them as a wild beast taken of hunters.-And then Brutus himself gave him one wound above the privities.-Men report also, that Cæsar did still defend himself against the reste, running every way with his bodie, but when he saw Brutus with his sworde drawen in his hande, then he pulled his gowne over his heade, and made no more resistance." Neither of these writers therefore, we see, furnished Shakspeare with this exclamation. His authority appears to have been a line in the old play, entitled, The true Tragedie of Richarde Duke of Yorke, &c. . printed in 1600, on which he formed his Third Part of King Henry VI: "Et tu, Brute? Wilt thou stab Cæsar too?" This line Shakspeare rejected when he wrote the piece above mentioned, (See Vol. X, p. 406, n. 5.) but it appears it had made an impression on his memory. The same line is also found in Açolaustus his After-witte, a poem by S. Nicholson, printed in 1600: "Et tu, Brute? Wilt thou stab Cæsar too? "Thou art my friend, and wilt not see me wrong'd." So, in Cæsar's Legend, Mirror for Magistrates, 1587: "O this, quoth I, is violence; then Cassius pierc'd my breast; "And Brutus thou, my sonne, quoth I, whom erst I loved best." The Latin words probably appeared originally in Dr. Eedes's play on this subject. See p. 338, n. *. Malone. 6 Go to the pulpit, Brutus.] We have now taken leave of Casca. Shakspeare for once knew that he had a sufficient number of heroes on his hands, and was glad to lose an individual in the crowd. It may be added, that the singularity of Casca's manners would have appeared to little advantage amidst the succeeding varieties of tumult and war. Steevens: Cas. And leave us, Publius; lest that the people, Rushing on us, should do your age some mischief. Bru. Do so;-and let no man abide this deed, But we the doers. Re-enter TREBONIUS. Cas. Where's Antony? Tre. Fled to his house amaz'd: Men, wives, and children, stare, cry out, and run, As it were doomsday. Bru. Fates! we will know your pleasures :That we shall die, we know; 'tis but the time, And drawing days out, that men stand upon. Cas. Why, he that cuts off twenty years of life, Bru. Grant that, and then is death a benefit: Cas. Stoop then, and wash.1-How many ages hence, Shall this our lofty scene be acted over, In states unborn, and accents yet unknown? 7 Nor to no Roman else:] This use of two negatives, not to make an affirmative, but to deny more strongly, is common to Chaucer, Spenser, and other of our ancient writers. Dr. Hickes observes, that in the Saxon, even four negatives are sometimes conjoined, and still preserve a negative signification. Steevens. 8 Cas.] Both the folios give this speech to Casca. Reed. 9 •Stoop, Romans, stoop,] Plutarch, in The Life of Casar, says, "Brutus and his followers, being yet hot with the murder, marched in a body from the senate-house to the Capitol, with their drawn swords, with an air of confidence and assurance." And in The Life of Brutus: -"Brutus and his party betook themselves to the Capitol, and in their way, showing their hands all bloody, and their naked swords, proclaimed liberty to the people." Theobald. 1 Stoop then, and wash.] To wash does not mean here to cleanse, but to wash over, as we say, washed with gold; for Cassius means that they should steep their hands in the blood of Cæsar. M. Mason. 2 In states unborn,] The first folio has-state; very properly corrected in the second folio-states. Mr. Malone admits the first of these readings, which he thus explains-In theatrick pomp yet undisplayed. Bru. How many times shall Cæsar bleed in sport, That now on Pompey's basis lies along, No worthier than the dust? Cas. So oft as that shall be,3 So often shall the knot of us be call'd Cas. Enter a Servant. Bru. Soft, who comes here? A friend of Antony's. Say, I fear'd Cæsar, honour'd him, and lov'd him. Tell him, so please him come unto this place, Depart untouch’d. Serv. I'll fetch him presently. [Exit Serv. Bru. I know, that we shall have him well to friend. Cas. I wish, we may: but yet have I a mind, But surely, by unborn states, our author must have meant-communities which as yet have no existence. Steevens. 3 So oft as that shall be.] The words-shall be, which render this verse too long by a foot, may be justly considered as interpolations, the sense of the passage being obvious without a supplement. As oft as that, in elliptical phrase, will signify-as oft as that shall happen. There are too many instances of similar ellipsis destroyed by the player editors, at the expense of metre. Steevens. That fears him much; and my misgiving still Re-enter ANTONY. Bru. But here comes Antony-Welcome, Mark An tony. Ant. O mighty Cæsar! Dost thou lie so low? As Cæsar's death's hour; nor no instrument I do beseech ye, if you bear me hard, Now, whilst your purpled hands do reek and smokė, No place will please me so, no mean of death, Bru. O Antony! beg not your death of us. 4 who else is rank:] Who else may be supposed to have overtopped his equals, and grown too high for the public safety. Johnson I rather believe the meaning is, who else is too replete with blood? So, in our author's Venus and Adonis: "Rain added to a river that is rank, "Perforce will force it overflow the bank." See Vol. VII, p. 411, n. 1. Malone. In The Tempest we have 66 whom to trash "For overtopping." I conceive Dr. Johnson's explanation therefore to be the true one. The epithet rank is employed, on a similar occasion in King Henry VIII: "Ha! what, so rank?" and without allusion to a plethora. Steeds |