So let high-sighted tyranny range on, To kindle cowards, and to steel with valour Than honesty to honesty engaged, That this shall be, or we will fall for it? Swear priests, and cowards, and make men cautelous, Nor the insuppressive mettle of our spirits, To think, that, or our cause, or our performance, If he do break the smallest particle Of any promise that hath pass'd from him. Cas. But what of Cicero? Shall we sound him? I think, he will stand very strong with us. Casca. Let us not leave him out. Cin. No, by no means. Met. O let us have him; for his silver hairs And buy men's voices to commend our deeds: Till each man drop by lottery.] Perhaps the poet alluded to the custom of decimation, i. e. the selection by lot of every tenth soldier, in a general mutiny, for punishment.-STEEVENS. V • palter?] i. e. Shuffle. Cole, in his Latin dictionary, 1679, renders to palter by tergiversor.-MALONE. W cautelous,] i. e. Wary, circumspect.-MALONE. x The even virtue of our enterprize,] The calm, equable, temperate spirit that actuates us.-MALONE. y opinion,] i. e. Character. Bru. O, name him not; let us not break with him; For he will never follow any thing That other men begin. Cas. Then leave him out. Casca. Indeed, he is not fit. Dec. Shall no man else be touch'd but only Cæsar? Cas. Decius, well urg'd:-I think it is not meet, Mark Antony, so well belov'd of Cæsar, Should outlive Cæsar: We shall find of him Let Antony, and Cæsar, fall together. Bru. Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, Let us be sacrificers, but no butchers, Caius. Cas. Yet I do fear him: For in the ingrafted love he bears to Cæsar,- MALONE. envy,]—is here, as almost always in Shakspeare's plays, malice.— If he love Cæsar, all that he can do Is to himself; take thought, and die for Cæsar: Treb. There is no fear in him; let him not die; Bru. Peace, count the clock. [Clock strikes. The clock hath stricken three. Treb. "Tis time to part. For I can give his humour the true bent; a Take thought,] i. e. Turn melancholy.-JOHNSON. b Quite from the main opinion he held once с Of fantasy, of dreams, and ceremonies:] Main opinion, i. e. general estimation. Fantasy was in our author's time commonly used for imagination. Ceremonies means omens or signs deduced from sacrifices, or other ceremonial rites.-MALONE. e That unicorns may be betray'd with trees, And bears with glasses, elephants with holes.] Unicorns are said to have been taken by one who, running behind a tree, eluded the violent push the animal was making at him, so that his horn spent its force on the trunk, and stuck fast, detaining the beast till he was despatched by the hunter. Bears are reported to have been surprised by means of a mirror, which they would gaze on, affording their pursuers an opportunity of taking the surer aim. Elephants were seduced into pitfalls, lightly covered with hurdles and turf, on which a proper bait to tempt them, was exposed.—STEEVENS. Cas. Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him. Bru. Now, good Metellus, go along by him ;d [Brutus. Cas. The morning comes upon us: We'll leave you, And, friends, disperse yourselves but all remember What you have said, and shew yourselves true Romans. Bru. Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily; Let not our looks put on our purposes; But bear it as our Roman actors do, With untir'd spirits, and formal constancy: [Exeunt all but BRUTUS. Boy! Lucius!--Fast asleep? It is no matter; Por. Enter PORTIA. Brutus, my lord! Bru. Portia, what mean you? Wherefore rise you now? It is not for your health, thus to commit Your weak condition to the raw-cold morning. Por. Nor for yours neither. You have ungently, Brutus, Stole from my bed: And yesternight, at supper, You suddenly arose, and walk'd about, I urg'd you further; then you scratch'd your head, d by him ;] i. e. By his house.-MALONE. Let not our looks put on ] i. e. Let not our faces put on, that is, wear or show our designs.-JOHNSON. Yet I insisted, yet you answer'd not; Bru. I am not well in health, and that is all. Por. Brutus is wise, and, were he not in health, He would embrace the means to come by it. Bru. Why, so I do :-Good Portia, go to bed. Bru. Kneel not, gentle Portia. Por. I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus. Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus, Is it excepted, I should know no secrets That appertain to you? Am I yourself, f condition,] i. e. Temper; the disposition of your mind. |