Enter PUBLIUS, BRUTUS, LIGARIUS, METELLUS, And look where Publius is come to fetch me. Pub. Good morrow, Cæsar. Cæs. Bru. Welcome, Publius. What! Brutus, are you stirr'd so early too? Cæsar was ne'er so much your enemy As that same ague which hath made you lean. IIO Cæsar, 'tis strucken eight. 115 Cæs. I thank you for your pains and courtesy. Enter ANTONY. See! Antony, that revels long a-nights, Is notwithstanding up. Ant. So to most noble Cæsar. Cæs. Good morrow, Antony. Bid them prepare within : I am to blame to be thus waited for. 114. a clock] Ff, o'clock Theobald and later editors. 116. a-nights] Ff, o' nights Theobald and later editors. 108. Publius] See III. i. 92, IV. i. 4. The person meant is probably Publius Silicius, who, as Plutarch relates, wept when Brutus was summoned to appear before the judges. He was proscribed by the Triumvirs, and put to death. 113. that same] = Lat. iste, I. Schmidt. 114. a clock] is found in old writers as well as "o'clock," and there is no sufficient reason to alter the "a" into an "o," as is done by most editors. The "a' stands for the preposition "an" (on) or "of." Compare line 116, "a-nights." M. Beljame quotes from 119. to blame] F 3, 4; too blame F 1, 2. Swift's Polite and Ingenious Conversation, a play of words upon the expression a clock," which implies that he regarded "a clock," and not "o'clock," as the proper spelling and pronunciation. Pray, miss, what's a clock." "Why, you must know; 'tis a thing like a bell, and you a fool that can't tell." 114. strucken] See note on i. 192. 116. a-nights] See 1. ii. 190. 118. So] also. See Abbott, sec. 65. 119. to blame] Abbott, sec. 73, suggests that here and in other passages, where the Folio reads "too blame,' "blame" is an adjective, and too دو Now, Cinna; now, Metellus; what, Trebonius! 120 I have an hour's talk in store for you; Remember that you call on me to-day: Be near me, that I may remember you. Treb. Cæsar, I will: and so near will I be, That your best friends shall wish I had been further. 125 Cas. Good friends, go in, and taste some wine with me; And we, like friends, will straightway go together. Bru. [Aside.] That every like is not the same, O Cæsar! The heart of Brutus earns to think upon. [Exeunt. SCENE III-The Same. A Street near the Capitol. Cæsar, beware of Brutus; take heed of 129. earns] Ff, yearns Capell and later editors. means "excessively," as in 1 Henry IV. III. i. 177: "In faith, my lord, you are too wilful-blame." 120. Now, Cinna, etc.] Cæsar recognises and with princely courtesy addresses by name each of his visitors. 125. shall wish I had been further] This is an instance of the double meaning called dramatic irony. Cæsar is intended to understand that his friends will be envious of the favour shown to Trebonius. But the words bear another meaning to the spectators, who know that Cæsar's best friends will have a stronger and more unselfish reason for wishing that Trebonius had not come so near. The remark is treated as an "aside" by most editors. Artemidorus is described by Plutarch as 66 a doctor of rhetoric in the Greek tongue, who by means of his profession was very familiar with certain of Brutus' confederates, and therefore knew the most part of all their practices against Cæsar." Cinna; trust not Trebonius; mark well Metellus The 5 Here will I stand till Cæsar pass along, If thou read this, O Cæsar! thou may'st live; 15 [Exit. SCENE IV.-The Same. Another Part of the Por. I prithee, boy, run to the senate-house; 7, 8. thou... you] This irregularity can hardly be explained. 8. security] here, as generally in Elizabethan writers, means not the absence of danger, but the absence of apprehension, which lays a man open to the attacks of conspirators. Compare Macbeth, III. v. 32: "And you all know security 9. lover] as in III. ii. 13, simply means "friend." 14. Out of the teeth of emulation] unassailed by envy. Spenser gives envy "cankred teeth" in F. Q. 1. i. xxx. 16. contrive] plot. Compare i. 158. Scene IV. Is mortal's chiefest enemy"; 2. thee] All through this scene and Massinger's Very Woman, i. I: Portia is speaking to inferiors. She "To doubt is safer than to be therefore addresses them in the secure." singular, and is addressed by them in 8. gives way to] leaves the path the plural. See note on I. i. 12. open for. 3.] Steevens compares Catesby's Luc. To know thy errand, madam. Por. I would have had thee there, and here again, Luc. Ere I can tell thee what thou should'st do there. 5 Set a huge mountain 'tween my heart and tongue; How hard it is for women to keep counsel ! Madam, what should I do? Run to the Capitol, and nothing else? And so return to you, and nothing else? Por. Yes, bring me word, boy, if thy lord look well, Luc. I hear none, madam. Por. Prithee, listen well; I heard a bustling rumour, like a fray, 18. bustling] Rowe and later editors, bussling Ff. answer to a similar question put by Richard III. :— "First, mighty liege, tell me your highness' pleasure, What from your grace I shall deliver to him.' Compare also Lear, v. iii. 248. وو 6. constancy] See note on II. i. 299. 7. Set a huge mountain] It appears from this scene that Brutus has yielded to her prayer, and told her his secret, although we are not told when he did so. 18. bustling rumour] The spelling of the Folios is "bussling" rumour. In all subsequent editions it is assumed that the second "s" is a misprint for "t." As, however, "buzzing" is spelt "bussing" in 2 Henry IV. III. i. II in the first and second ΙΟ 15 Folios, it is at least equally possible that an "1" has been wrongly inserted in the word by the printers, as in IV. iii. 267, where the first and second Folios read "slumbler." Compare also "alablaster" for "alabaster," in Othello, v. ii. 5. "Bustling" rather expresses hurried movement than indistinct noise. "Buzzing" seems a more natural word to express the indistinct murmurs of a multitude as in the passage quoted in Johnson's Dictionary from Hayward: "Herewith arose a buzzing noise among. them, as if it had been the rustling sound of the sea afar off." Nevertheless, out of deference to the consensus of all previous editors, I have not ventured to alter the received text. Whether we read " 'buzzing And the wind brings it from the Capitol. Luc. Sooth, madam, I hear nothing. Enter the Soothsayer. Por. Come hither, fellow: which way hast thou been? Sooth. At mine own house, good lady. Por. What is 't a clock? Sooth. 20 About the ninth hour, lady. 25 Por. Is Cæsar yet gone to the Capitol? Sooth. Madam, not yet: I go to take my stand, To see him pass on to the Capitol. Por. Thou hast some suit to Cæsar, hast thou not? To be so good to Cæsar as to hear me: I shall beseech him to befriend himself. 30 Por. Why, know'st thou any harm's intended towards him? Sooth. None that I know will be, much that I fear may chance. 23. a clock] Ff, o'clock Theobald and later editors. 28, 29. lady, if... me:] Ff, lady. If... me, Johnson and later editors. rumour or "bustling rumour," what Portia means to express is the noise of an excited multitude heard indistinctly in the distance as "the noise and rumour of the field," King John, v. iv. 45. In both passages the poet has chosen words the sound of which is echo to the sense. 20. nothing] there was really nothing to hear, as Cæsar had not yet gone to the Capitol. 23. a clock] See note on ii. 114. 28. That I have] Nevertheless in -he next scene he makes no attempt to present or pretend to present a suit to Cæsar. It is Artemidorus who does So, in accordance with his resolve expressed in iii, 12, This gives some plausibility to Tyrwhitt's substitution of Artemidorus for the soothsayer in this scene. On the other hand, Artemidorus, who wished to warn Cæsar expressly against Brutus, would not be likely to reveal so plainly to the wife of Brutus his intention of warning Cæsar. 28-30.] Most editors alter the punctuation, so that there may be a true consequent to the conditional clause. The reading of the Folio may, however, be retained, as the irregularity it involves is common in Shakespeare (see note on i. 318, 319) and in ordinary conversation. 31. harm's intended] harm that is intended. Compare ii. 16. |