Mar. But what trade art thou? answer me directly.
Cob. 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?

Cob. Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with

me; yet, if you be out, sir, I can mend you. Mar. What mean'st thou by that? Mend me, thou saucy fellow!

Cob. Why, sir, cobble you.

Flav. Thou art a cobbler, art thou?

Cob. 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 men as ever trod upon neat's-leather 2 have gone upon my handiwork.

Flav. But wherefore art not in thy shop to-day?

Why dost thou lead these men about the streets? Cob. Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get

myself into more work. But indeed, sir, we
make holiday, to see Cæsar and to rejoice in
his triumph.

Mar. Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings
he home? 3

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30

1 How many puns, good, bad, and indifferent, can you find in this scene? A pun is a word with a double meaning, one expressed and the other implied.

2 Look up the word neat (noun) in the dictionary.

After several speeches in prose Shakespeare returns to verse in this speech of Marullus. How many syllables in each line? Do the accents come regularly, or fairly so? On what syllables do they fall? Do you observe any rhyme?

What tributaries follow him to Rome,

To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels?
You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless
things!

O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,
Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft
Have you climb'd up to walls and battlements,
To towers and windows, yea, to chimney-tops,
Your infants in your arms, and there have sat
The live-long day with patient expectation
To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome;
And when you saw his chariot but appear,
Have you not made an universal shout,
That Tiber trembled underneath her banks
To hear the replication of your sounds
Made in her concave shores?°

And do you now put on your best attire?
And do you now cull out a holiday?
And do you now strew flowers in his way
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood? 2
Be gone!

40

50

60

Run to your houses, fall upon your knees, Pray to the gods to intermit the plague That needs must light on this ingratitude. Flav. Go, go, good countrymen, and, for this fault, Assemble all the poor men of your sort;

Draw them to Tiber 3 banks and weep your tears

1 See INTRODUCTION, The Julius Cæsar of History, p. xxxviii, for a brief account of Pompey.

2 What was the occasion of Cæsar's "triumph"? See INTRODUCTION, p. xl. Read the entire section dealing with the life of Cæsar.

3 What and where was the Tiber?

Into the channel, till the lowest stream
Do kiss the most exalted shores of all.°

Exeunt all the Commoners.

See, whether their basest metal1 be not moved;
They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness.
Go you down that way towards the Capitol;
This way will I. Disrobe the images,"

If you do find them deck'd with ceremonies. 70 Mar. May we do so?

You know it is the feast of Lupercal.2

Flav. It is no matter; let no images

Be hung with Cæsar's trophies.3 I'll about,4
And drive away the vulgar° from the streets.
So do you too, where you perceive them thick.
These growing feathers pluck'd from Cæsar's wing
Will make him fly an ordinary pitch,°

Who else would soar above the view of men
And keep us all in servile fearfulness.

80

Exeunt.5

1 The basest metal was lead. What do we call such a figure of speech?

2 The Feast of Lupercal was celebrated on the 15th of February, whereas the "triumph" occurred in October. What advantage does Shakespeare gain by making both events take place on the same day?

The following selection from North's translation of Plutarch's Life of Casar shows where Shakespeare got his information: "After that there were set up images of Cæsar in the city, with diadems upon their heads like kings. Those the two tribunes, Flavius and Marullus, went and pulled down. . . . Cæsar was so offended withal that he deprived Marullus and Flavius of their tribuneships."

4 Sometimes the verb is omitted.

Exeunt is the plural form of the Latin verb; exit the singular. Do they both go out the same door? See lines 68-9. Where does the crowd go out? Read the section in the INTRODUCTION dealing with the Elizabethan stage, if you have not already done so. It is very necessary to a correct understanding of the play.

[SCENE II]

A public place. 1

[Flourish.] Enter CÆSAR; ANTONY, for the course;° CALPURNIA, PORTIA, DECIUS, CICERO, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, and CASCA; [a great crowd following, among them] a SOOTHSAYER, and after them MARULLUS and FLAVIUS.

Cæs. Calpurnia!

Peace, ho! Cæsar speaks.

Casca.

Cæs.

Cal. Here, my lord.

Cæs. Stand you directly in Antonius' way,

When he doth run his course.

Ant. Cæsar, my lord?

Calpurnia!

Antonius!

Cas. Forget not, in your speed, Antonius,
To touch Calpurnia; for our elders say,

The barren, touchèd in this holy chase,2

Is the first scene supposed to take place during the day or at night? Try to locate it a little more closely with respect to time. Call this the first day of the play.

Why does the opening scene introduce a mob on the stage? Re-read the paragraph in the INTRODUCTION dealing with the Elizabethan audience, p. xxviii.

Why introduce secondary characters like the tribunes first? Why not the more important characters, Cæsar, Brutus, and Cassius?

What do you learn from this scene of the feeling in Rome toward Cæsar?

1 Do you think the audience will discover from the spoken lines that the place has been changed? And that the time is later? How much later?

2 "At that time the feast Lupercalia was celebrated, the which in old time men say was the feast of shepherds or herdmen. That day there are divers noblemen's sons, young men (and some of them magistrates themselves that govern them), which run naked through the city, striking in sport them they meet in

Ant.

Shake off their sterile curse.°

I shall remember.

When Cæsar says 'do this,' it is perform'd. Cas. Set on, and leave no ceremony out.

Sooth. Cæsar!

Cas. Ha! who calls?

ΙΟ

[Flourish.]

Casca. Bid every noise be still. Peace yet again! Cas. Who is it in the press that calls on me?

I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music, Cry 'Cæsar.' Speak; Cæsar is turn'd to hear.1 Sooth. Beware the ides of March.°

Cæs.
What man is that?
Bru. A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.
Cas. Set him before me; let me see his face.
Cassius. Fellow, come from the throng; look upon

Cæsar.

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Cæs. What say'st thou to me now? speak once again. Sooth. Beware the ides of March.2

Cæs. He is a dreamer; let us leave him. Pass.

Sennet. Exeunt. BRUTUS and CASSIUS remain.3 Cas. Will you go see the order of the course? Bru. Not I.

Cas. I pray you, do.

their way with leather thongs, hair and all on, to make them give place. And many noblewomen and gentlewomen also go of purpose to stand in their way, and do put forth their hands to be stricken, as scholars hold them out to the schoolmaster to be stricken with the ferula: persuading themselves that, being barren, it will make them conceive with child. . . . Cæsar sat to behold that sport upon the pulpit for orations, in a chair of gold, apparelled in triumphant manner. Antonius, who was Consul at that time, was one of them that ran this holy course.' Plutarch, Life of Cæsar. (North's translation.)

1 What trait of Cæsar's character is here shown?

2 Why does the Soothsayer repeat his warning?

3 Why must Cæsar leave the stage while Brutus and Cassius remain?