In whom in peace the elements all lay So mix'd, as none could sovereignty impute: That't seem'd, when Heaven his model first began, In him it show'd perfection in a man. Here we have a striking resemblance to what Antony says of Brutus in the play: His life was gentle; and the elements So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up And say to all the world, This was a man! Collier's theory is, that Drayton, before recasting his poem, had either seen the play in manuscript or heard it at the theatre, and so caught and copied the language of Shakespeare. I confess there does not seem to me any great strength in this argument; for the idea and even the language of the resembling lines was so much a commonplace in the Poet's time, that no one could claim any special right of authorship in it. Nevertheless it is now pretty certain that the play was written as early as 1601, Mr. Halliwell having lately produced the following from Weever's Mirror of Martyrs, which was printed that year: The many-headed multitude were drawn By Brutus' speech, that Cæsar was ambitious: His virtues, who but Brutus then was vicious? As there is nothing in the history that could have suggested this, we can only ascribe it to some acquaintance with the play: so that the passage may be justly regarded as decisive of the question. The style alone of the drama led me to rest in about the same conclusion long ago. For it seems to me that in Julius Cæsar the diction is more gliding and continuous, and the imagery more round and amplified, than in the dramas known to have been of the Poet's latest period But these distinctive notes are of a nature to be more easily felt than described; and to make them felt examples will best serve. Take, then, a sentence from the soliloquy of Brutus just after he has pledged himself to the conspiracy: 'Tis a common proof, That lowliness is young ambition's ladder, Whereto the climber-upward turns his face; Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees Here we have a full, rounded period in which all the elements seem to have been adjusted, and the whole expression set in order, before any part of it was written down. The beginning foresees the end, the end remembers the beginning, and the thought and image are evolved together in an even continuous flow. The thing is indeed perfect in its way, still it is not in Shakespeare's latest and highest style. Now compare with this a passage from The Winter's Tale: When you speak, sweet, I'd have you do it ever : when you sing, I'd have you buy and sell so; so give alms; Pray so; and for the ordering your affairs, To sing them too: when you do dance, I wish you Nothing but that; move still, still so, and own Here the workmanship seems to make and shape itself as it goes along, thought kindling thought, and image prompting image, and each part neither concerning itself with what has gone before, nor what is coming after. The very sweetness has a certain piercing quality, and we taste it from clause to clause, almost from word to word, as so many keen darts of poetic rapture shot forth in rapid succession. Yet the passage, notwithstanding its swift changes of imagery and motion, is perfect in unity and continuity. Such is, I believe, a fair illustration of what has long been familiar to me as the supreme excellence of Shakespeare's ripest, strongest, and most idiomatic style. Antony and Cleopatra is pre-eminently rich in this quality; but there is enough of it in The Tempest, The Winter's Tale, Coriolanus, and Cymbeline, to identify them as belonging to the same stage and period of authorship. But I can find hardly so much as an earnest of it in Julius Cæsar; and nothing short of very strong positive evi dence would induce me to class this drama with those, as regards the time of writing. The historic materials of the play were drawn from The Life of Julius Cæsar, The Life of Marcus Brutus, and The Life of Marcus Antonius, as set forth in Sir Thomas North's translation of Plutarch. This work, aptly described by Warton as 66 Shakespeare's storehouse of learned history," was first printed in 1579, and reprinted in 1595, 1603, and 1612, not to mention several later editions. The translation was avowedly made, not directly from the Greek, but from the French version of Jaques Amiot, Bishop of Auxerre. The book is among our richest and freshest literary monuments of that age; and, apart from the use made of it by Shakespeare, is in itself an invaluable repertory of honest, manly, idiomatic English. In most of the leading incidents of the play, the charming old Greek is minutely followed; though in divers cases those incidents are worked out with surpassing fertility of invention and art. But, besides this, in many places the Plutarchian form and order of thought, and also the very words of North's racy and delectable old English, are retained. It may be well to add, that on the 13th of February, B.C. 44, the feast of Lupercalia was held, when the crown was offered to Cæsar by Antony. On the 15th of March following, Cæsar was slain. In November, B.C. 43, the Triumvirs, Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus, met on a small island near Bononia, and there made up their bloody proscription. The overthrow of Brutus and Cassius, near Philippi, took place in the Fall of the next year. So that the events of the drama cover a period of something over two years and a half. JULIUS CÆSAR. JULIUS CÆSAR. PERSONS REPRESENTED. Triumvirs, af ter his Death. FLAVIUS and MARULLUS, Tribunes. CINNA, a Poet. Another Poet. CICERO, PUBLIUS, POPILIUS LENA, LUCILIUS, TITINIUS, MESSALA, Senators, Citizens, Guards, Attendants, &c. SCENE. - During a great part of the Play, at Rome; afterwards at Sardis; and near Philippi. ACT I. SCENE I. - Rome. A Street. Enter FLAVIUS, MARULLUS, and a throng of Citizens. Flav. Hence! home, you idle creatures, get you home : Is this a holiday? what! know you not, Being mechanical,1 you ought not walk 1 Shakespeare often uses adjectives with the sense of plural substantives; as mechanical here for mechanics or artizans. The sense in the text is, "" Know ye not that, being mechanics, you ought not," &c. Upon a labouring-day without the sign Of your profession? 2- Speak, what trade art thou? Mar. Where is thy leather apron and thy rule? What dost thou with thy best apparel on? You, sir, what trade are you? 2 Cit. Truly, sir, in respect of 3 a fine workman, I am would say, a cobbler. but, as you Mar. But what trade art thou? answer me directly.4 2 Cit. A trade, sir, that I hope I may use with a safe conscience; which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles. Mar. What trade, thou knave? thou naughty knave, what trade? 2 Cit. Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me: yet, if you be out, sir, I can mend you.5 Mar. What mean'st thou by that? mend me, thou saucy fellow ! 2 Cit. Why, sir, cobble you. Flav. Thou art a cobbler, art thou? 2 Cit. Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the awl: I meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's matters, but with awl. I am, indeed, sir, a surgeon to old shoes; when they are in great danger, I re-cover them. As proper 6 2 The Poet here transfers to Rome the English customs and usages of his own time; representing men in the several mechanic trades as having their guilds, with appropriate regulations and badges. 3 Here, as often, in respect of is equivalent to in comparison with. 4 Cobbler, it seems, was used of a coarse workman, or a botcher, in any mechanical trade. So that the Cobbler's answer does not give the information required. - Directly here has the sense of the Latin directus; in a straightforward manner, or without evasion. 5 Of course there is a play upon the two senses of out here. To be out with a man is to be at odds with him; to be out at the toes is to need a mending of one's shoes. 6 Proper for handsome, goodly, or fine. Commonly so in Shakespeare; at least when used of persons. |