When the most mighty gods by tokens send
Such dreadful heralds to astonish us.

CASSIUS.

You are dull, Casca; and those sparks of life,
That should be in a Roman, you do want,

Or else you use not. You look pale,

and gaze

And put on fear, and cast yourself in wonder 1),
To see the strange impatience of the heavens;
But if you would consider the true cause,

Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts 2);
Why birds and beasts from quality and kind 3);
Why old men fools, and children calculate 4);
Why all these things change from their ordinance,
Their natures, and pre-formed faculties,

To monstrous quality; why, you shall find,

1) Naast put on fear (waar to put on den zin heeft van: aantrekken, zich met een kleed of met iets als met een kleed omhullen, gelijk Shakespeare ook zegt: put on the dauntless spirit of resolution) staat cast yourself in wonder nog al vreemd. De gissing van case komt mij dan ook vrij aannemelijk voor.

2) To glide is, change of step."

naar Johnson's juiste verklaring, to pass on without Ook Dryden schrijft in zijn Aeneid: "Ye gliding ghosts, permit me to relate

The mystic wonders of your silent state."

3) Het werkwoord ontbreekt, evenals bij why old men fools in den volgenden regel. De zin is: waarom vogels en dieren (men denke aan den nachtuil en den leeuw) zoo geheel anders zijn dan hun gewone natuur is.

4) d. i. waarom oude menschen dwazen zijn, en kinderen daarentegen doen wat men alleen van oude menschen verwacht, nl. calculate. De beteekenis van dit woord is, sints Warburton, zeer goed verklaard door foretell or prophesy. Het is eigenlijk het berekenen van den stand der planeten op een bepaalden tijd, waarop dan een voorspelling van de toekomst gebouwd wordt. Zoo spreekt Shakespeare elders van calculate my birth en Bentley van calculate their nativities, terwijl Steevens uit een stuk van het jaar 1576 deze plaats aanhaalt, waar het woord, evenals hier, absoluut staat:

"Thei calculate, thei chaunt, thei charme,
To conquere us that meane no harme."

That heaven hath infus'd them with these spirits,
To make them instruments of fear and warning
Unto some monstrous state 1).

Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man

Most like this dreadful night;

That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars
As doth the lion in the Capitol,

A man no mightier than thyself or me

In personal action; yet prodigious 2) grown,
And fearful, as these strange eruptions are 3).

CASCA.

'T is Cæsar that you mean: is it not, Cassius?

CASSIUS.

Let it be who it is: for Romans now

Have thewes 4) and limbs like to their ancestors;
But, woe the while 5)! our fathers' minds are dead,
And we are govern'd with our mothers' spirits;
Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish.

CASCA.

Indeed, they say the senators to-morrow

Mean to establish Cæsar as a king:

And he shall wear his crown by sea and land,
In every place, save here in Italy.

CASSIUS.

I know where I will wear this dagger, then ;
Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius:

1) A monstrous stute is een staat, een maatschappij, waarin het onnatuurlijk toegaat.

2) Prodigious is in het algemeen: verbazend, onrustbarend, en mag in het verband van onze plaats in den zin van portentous worden opgevat. 3) The eruptions zijn de losbarstingen van het weder, het noodweêr. 4) Thewes, dat driemaal bij Shakespeare voorkomt, schijnt de beteekenis van Sinews te hebben gehad.

5) Woe the while beteekent Ah, woful time! Alas for this woful time!

Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong;
Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat.

Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass,
Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron,
Can be retentive to the strength of spirit;
But life, being weary of these worldly bars,
Never lacks power to dismiss itself.

If I know this, know all the world besides,
That part of tyranny, that I do bear,
I can shake off at pleasure.

[Thunder still.

CASCA.

So can I:

So every bondman in his own hand bears
The power to cancel his captivity.

CASSIUS.

And why should Cæsar be a tyrant, then?
Poor man! I know he would not be a wolf,
But that he sees the Romans are but sheep;
He were no lion, were not Romans hinds.
Those that with haste will make a mighty fire,
Begin it with weak straws: what trash is Rome,
What rubbish, and what offal, when it serves
For the base matter to illuminate

So vile a thing as Cæsar! But, O grief!
Where hast thou led me? I, perhaps, speak this
Before a willing bondman: then I know
My answer must be made; but I am arm'd,
And dangers are to me indifferent.

CASCA.

You speak to Casca; and to such a man
That is no fleering tell-tale. Hold, my hand:
Be factious 1) for redress of all these griefs,
And I will set this foot of mine as far
As who goes farthest.

1) d. i. wees partijman, werf een partij.

CASSIUS.

There's a bargain made 1).
Now know you, Casca, I have mov'd already
Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans,
To undergo with me an enterprise

Of honourable-dangerous consequence;
And I do know, by this 2) they stay for me
In Pompey's porch: for now, this fearful night,
There is no stir or walking in the streets;
And the complexion of the element 3)

In favour's like the work we have in hand,
Most bloody-fiery and most terrible 4).

Enter CINNA.

CASCA.

Stand close awhile, for here comes one in haste.

CASSIUS.

'T is Cinna, I do know him by his gait:

To find out you. Who's that? Metellus Cimber?

CASSIUS.

No, it is Casca; one incorporate

To our attempt. Am I not stay'd for, Cinna?

1) Cassius neemt Casca's hand aan, en verklaart nu de overeenkomst tusschen hen als bij handslag voltrokken. Want men denke bij de woorden there's a bargain made niet aan de samenzwering met certain of the noblest-minded Romans. Van deze toch spreekt Cassius eerst in de volgende verzen.

2) By this is op dit oogenblik.

3) In het enkelvoud gebruikt, beteekent the element de lucht.

4) Dat bloody-fiery als één begrip moet worden verstaan, van een vurige kleur als bloedrood, volgt dunkt mij Idaaruit, dat most twee

en niet drie malen in dezen versregel voorkomt.

CINNA.

I am glad on 't. What a fearful night is this!
There's two or three of us have seen strange sights.

Be you content, good Cinna; take this paper,
And look you lay it in the prætor's chair,
Where Brutus may but find it 1); and throw this
In at his window; set this up with wax
Upon old Brutus' statue: all this done,
Repair to Pompey's porch, where you shall find us.
Is Decius Brutus and Trebonius there?

CINNA.

All but Metellus Cimber; and he's gone

To seek you at your house. Well, I will hie,
And so bestow these papers as you bade me.

CASSIUS.

That done, repair to Pompey's theatre.
Come, Casca, you and I will yet, ere day,
See Brutus at his house: three parts of him
Is ours already; and the man entire,
Upon the next encounter, yields him ours.

CASCA.

O! he sits high in all the people's hearts;

[Exit CINNA

1) d. i. zoo, dat Brutus het in ieder geval moet vinden. Dat is hier de zin van but, dat niet in best behoeft te worden veranderd.