Imatges de pàgina
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A prize no less in worth: keep this man safe;
Give him all kindness: I had rather have
Such men my friends than enemies. Go on,
And see we'er 1 Brutus be alive or dead;
And bring us word unto Octavius' tent
How everything is chanced.

SCENE V. Another Part of the Field.

[Exeunt.

Enter BRUTUS, DARDANIUS, CLITUS, STRATO, and VOLUMNIUS. Brutus. Come, poor remains of 2 friends, rest on this rock. Clitus. Statilius show'd the torchlight, but, my lord,

He came not back: he is or ta'en or slain.

Brutus. Sit thee down, Clitus: slaying is the word; It is a deed in fashion. Hark thee, Clitus.

Clitus. What, I, my lord?

[Whispers.

No, not for all the world.

[blocks in formation]

Clitus. What ill request did Brutus make to thee?
Dardanius. To kill him, Clitus. Look, he meditates.
Clitus. Now is that noble vessel full of grief,

That it runs over even at his eyes.

Brutus. Come hither, good Volumnius; list a word.
Volumnius. What says my lord?

Brutus.

Why, this, Volumnius:

The ghost of Cæsar hath appear'd to me
Two several times by night; at Sardis once,
And, this last night, here in Philippi fields:
I know my hour is come.

1 Whether.

2

66

Poor remains of," i.e., few surviving.

Not so, my lord.

Volumnius.
Brutus. Nay, I am sure it is, Volumnius.
Thou seest the world, 1 Volumnius, how it goes;

Our enemies have beat us to the pit:

It is more worthy to leap in ourselves,

Than tarry till they push us. Good Volumnius,

[Low alarums.

Thou know'st that we two went to school together:
Even for that our love of old, I prithee,

Hold thou my sword-hilts, whilst I run on it.

Volumnius. That's not an office for a friend, my lord.

[Alarum still.

Clitus. Fly, fly, my lord;

there is no tarrying here.

Brutus. Farewell to you; and you; and you, Volumnius.

Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep;

Farewell to thee too, Strato.

Countrymen,

My heart doth joy that yet in all my life
I found no man but he was true to me.
I shall have glory by this losing day
More than Octavius and Mark Antony
By this vile conquest shall attain unto.

So fare you well at once; for Brutus' tongue

Hath almost ended his life's history:

Night hangs upon mine eyes; my bones would rest,

That have but labor'd to attain this hour.

Clitus. Fly, my lord, fly.

Brutus.

[Alarum. Cry within, "Fly, fly, fly!"

[Exeunt Clitus, Dardanius, and Volumnius.

Hence! I will follow.

I prithee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord:
Thou art a fellow of a good respect;

Thy life hath had some smatch2 of honor in it:
Hold then my sword, and turn away thy face,

While I do run upon it. Wilt thou, Strato?

Strato. Give me your hand first. Fare you well, my lord.

1 That is, our world, i.e., the condition of our affairs.

2 Taste.

Brutus. Farewell, good Strato. [Runs on his sword.]1 Cæsar,

now be still:

I kill'd not thee with half so good a will.

[Dies.

Alarum. Retreat. Enter OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, MESSALA, LUCILIUS, and the army.

Octavius. What man is that?

Messala. My master's man. Strato, where is thy master?
Strato. Free from the bondage you are in, Messala :

The conquerors can but make a fire of him;

For Brutus only overcame himself,

And no man else hath honor by his death.

Lucilius. So Brutus should be found. I thank thee, Brutus,

That thou hast prov'd Lucilius' saying true.

Octavius. All that serv'd Brutus, I will entertain them.2

Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time3 with me?

4

Strato. Ay, if Messala will prefer me to you.

Octavius. Do so, good Messala.

Messala. How died my master, Strato?

Strato. I held the sword, and he did run on it. Messala. Octavius, then take him to follow thee, That did the latest service to my master.

Antony. This was the noblest Roman of them all:
All the conspirators save only he

Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar;
He only, in a general honest thought

And common good to all,5 made one of them.
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!"

1 See Introduction, p. 17.

2 "I will entertain them," i.e., take them into my service.
3"Bestow thy time," etc., i.e., spend thy time as my servant.

4 Recommend.

5 "In a general honest thought," etc., i.e., in a general honest thought and for the common good of all.

Octavius. According to his virtue let us use him,

With all respect and rites of burial.

Within my tent his bones to-night shall lie,
Most like a soldier, order'd honorably.
So call the field to rest; and let's away,
To part1 the glories of this happy day.

1 Share.

[Exeunt.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE STUDY OF

SHAKESPEARE.

THE plays of Shakespeare are, first of all, stories. It is as stories that they enlist our first interest. Neither the flowering of the author's genius into forms of poetic speech, nor his perception of the beauty in nature, nor his philosophical insight into the laws of human life, interests us at the first so much as does the mere movement of events by which he unfolds his conception. It is as a story, there、 fore, that a play of Shakespeare must first be studied.

Every well-told story is arranged in accord with certain laws, whether or not the narrator be conscious of them. So the study of form becomes a necessary means to the full appreciation of this, as of other kinds of art. A story must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. In the form and nature of these, and in their relation to each other; in the proportion and position of the parts of the story; in the maintenance of a proper sequence and dependence; and in the cumulative effect of details properly massed, are seen the evidences of the author's skill in narration. And upon such skill will depend, in part, the effectiveness of the story.

Now the drama is a special form of story. It is obedient to the same laws as prose narration, but in a different way. Explanations, hints of time, of relationship, of character, and of purpose, in the development of the action are differently given. More is left to the constructive imagination of the reader; there is more that he is in danger of overlooking. Hence the need of reading with greater care; the need, also, of more assistance in learning to read a drama. The study of character is also necessary to the appreciation of the drama. Such study must be more than a casual enumeration of characterizing adjectives, more or less accurately selected. It must observe the initial conception of a given character; the means by

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