appear; the presence of their armies is made manifest by the tumult on all sides.

24.

33.

"On their charge" means when they charge.

"Posture " means direction. What mistake in grammar is there in the line?

34. Hybla was a town in Sicily, where the honey was excellent. 45-47. To what does Cassius refer?

48-49. Express in your own words, without the figure.

50. Why so short a line?

52. Explain "goes up."

53. A mistake. Plutarch says twenty-three.

59. What is the meaning of "strain"?

In what ways does this quarrel differ from that of Brutus and Cassius? Is it possible to tell which speaker is the most bitter? Do the speakers tell the truth of each other? What are their looks and actions? 68. Express in your own words, "All is on the hazard."

74. Is there any significance in the fact that Cassius compares himself, in this emergency, to Pompey?

76. When Brutus told Cassius that the spirit of Cæsar had appeared to him, Cassius tried to comfort him with the doctrine of the followers of Epicurus, who maintained that ghosts were not real things, but only the creatures of excited minds; they did not, therefore, believe in signs and portents. Cassius now changes his mind. The incident of the eagles is given in Plutarch.

79. "Former" means foremost.

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84. Ravens, crows, and kites" feed on dead bodies.

92. Explain even so, Lucilius."

93-94. This contradicts what Cassius has said to Messala. What is Cassius's motive?

100. The speech of Brutus beginning in this line and that beginning in line 110, have been much discussed. Cato had killed himself after the battle of Thapsus, because he knew Cæsar would defeat him at Utica. Brutus says he thinks the deed of Cato was cowardly, and that he prefers to live and endure what the gods may afflict him with. But when Cassius asks him whether he is willing to be led captive through the streets of Rome, he changes his mind, and resolves upon self-slaughHis philosophy could not stand the test of experience.

ter.

104, 105. "To prevent the time of life" means to kill himself before he has lived the natural time of life.

112-113. What purpose had Shakespeare in writing this sentence? What is its effect on the audience?

120-121. What is the effect of this repetition? Contrast the tones and looks of the two men in this and the quarrel scene.

122-123. If some supernatural power had offered to tell Brutus "the end of this day's business," would he have accepted the offer? Do we mortals really want to know our futures?

General Questions.-1. What speeches in this scene foreshadow the end of the play? 2. Do they indicate whether Brutus and Cassius shall be victorious? 3. Do they show a belief in Fate? 4. Do they have any doubt of the justice of killing Cæsar? 5. Do they lose courage?

Scene Ii.

The scene remains the same throughout the whole act; the different people come on the stage, make their speeches in the tumult of the battle, and go, without the curtain being once lowered.

3. The "ensign" is the standard bearer, but "it" in the next line refers to the standard itself.

1-8, Note here what big effects grow from little causes; what calamities come from merest chance.

12. Why will Cassius go no farther?

20. Pindarus goes up the hill that is at the right of the stage.

21. "Thick means dim.

23-25. Why does Cassius lose hope? Is the cause anything more than the defeat? Did not Cassius know that many battles are won after they are lost?

Notice the action. The scene begins with the wildest noise and fury of battle on all sides; Cassius and Titinius enter running; Pindarus enters running, and in the greatest excitement; Cassius shouts to them in a great voice, and they rush away; then in a little pause in the sound of battle, Cassius pronounces these lines in a low, regretful tone.

33-35. Notice the resemblance between Shakespeare and Plutarch in this passage,-"Desiring too much to live, I have lived to see one of my best friends taken, for my sake, before my face."

45, 46. In this speech, does Cassius admit that he did wrong in killing Cæsar? In what way does the speech foreshadow the end of the play?

The following is from Plutarch's Life of Cæsar :—

"Furthermore, of all the chances that happen unto men upon the earth, that which came to Cassius above all other, is most to be wondered at. For he being overcome in battle at the journey of Philippi, slew himself with the same sword, with which he strake Cæsar."

51. "It is but change" means fortune is even; what we have lost on one side we have gained on another.

57, 58. What is the action here?

59. What is the emphatic word? Express in your own words all the speech beginning in this line, leaving out the figures, and note the difference between your way of expressing the thought and Shakespeare's.

65. Is Cassius's mistake clear at this point in the scene? 67-69. Does not Messala recognize the hand of Nemesis?

74. Why is the word "thrusting" used instead of some more ordinary one, as speaking? Notice that Shakespeare explains, in the rest of the speech, why the word was selected.

80. What is the action here? Where in the play have we seen something like it? Is this also the hand of Fate? This speech makes clear, if it was not clear before, the mistake Cassius made. Plutarch gives it thus (Brutus): —

"So Cassius himself was at length compelled to fly, with a few about him, unto a little hill, from whence they might easily see what was done in all the plain: how beit Cassius himself saw nothing, for his sight was very bad, saving that he saw (and yet with much ado) how the enemies spoiled his camp before his eyes. He saw also a great troop of horsemen, whom Brutus sent to aid him, and thought that they were his enemies that followed him: but yet he sent Titinius, one of them that was with him, to go and know what they were. Brutus's horsemen saw him coming afar off, whom when they knew that he was one of Cassius's chiefest friends, they shouted out for joy: and they that were familiarly acquainted with him, lighted from their horses, and went and embraced him. The rest compassed him in round about a-horse-back, with songs of victory and great rushing of their harness, so that they made all the field ring again for joy.'

91. In what manner does Brutus enter?

94. Does Brutus admit that he did wrong in killing Cæsar?.

96. "Proper" means own, and it emphasizes the word before it;

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as very" does in our expression, our very own.

104. Thasos is an island in the Ægean Sea.

106. "Discomfort" means to cause disorder.

109. Did the Romans say "o'clock"?

In this last speech Brutus makes a decided change of manner. Explain.

General Questions. 1. Show two or three places in the scene where Chance, or Fate, shows her hand in a remarkable manner. 2. Quote a line from the scene to show whether Brutus regarded Chance and Fate as the same thing. 3. In the discussion of the play, should we use the word Chance? 4. Why does the suicide of Titinius strengthen the dramatic effect? 5. Where is the climax of the scene? 6. What evidences of the approaching end of the play are to be seen? 7. What part of the scene holds the interest over to the next?

Scene IV.

2. This means, What person is so low born that he does not?

9. According to Plutarch, young Cato was slain in the battle, and fell among many whom he had himself killed.

14. This trick of Lucilius is taken from Plutarch, the only noteworthy change being that Lucilius was taken to Antony, while in the play, Antony is made to enter at the opportune moment. The purpose

of the deception is perhaps not so plain in the play as in the history, where it is stated that Lucilius's purpose was to delay the soldiers so that Brutus might escape.

28, 29. What is it in the character of Lucilius that Antony admires? General Questions. 1. It was Cæsar's misfortune to be betrayed by those whom he considered his friends: has Fate inflicted this misfortune upon Brutus and Cassius (see previous scene) also?

Scene V.

1. What does the expression, "poor remains of friends," imply as to the bodily condition of Brutus and his friends? What of the state of the battle? The fight is still roaring around them as they whisper.

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2. "Torch-light" shows, of course, that night is coming on. Statilius had taken a torch and had gone out over the field to see how many of their men were slain.

5. Why are these very short sentences suitable in this place? 7. Why is this short sentence of Clitus very effective?

17-20. In what tone does Brutus speak this speech?

Notice Brutus's intense faith in omens, and the effect it would have on him.

22-25. Observe the strength of the character of Brutus, even in this hour of death; his life has been a failure, but he will not yield to his enemies. In line 23, what is the effect of the stage direction, "low alarums"? These sounds, of course, are supposed to be heard in the distance -the sound of charging arms, of shouting soldiers, of galloping horses, and in a lower tone than these, the moans of the dying.

30. Up to this time comparative quiet has reigned — the quiet of exhaustion and despair; what change now begins?

31-42. What line in this speech answers a question asked concerning Scene IV? What is there to indicate whether Brutus still believed in the justice of killing Cæsar? What line is the most poetical? What lines have the most feeling? This is a good speech to commit to memory.

46. "Smatch" means taste.

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49. Why does this hand-shaking make the scene more pathetic? 50. Would it be right to say that the sentence, 'Cæsar, now be still," is the proper end of the play, and that the rest, to use a musical term, is a coda?

55. The Romans sometimes burned dead bodies.

59. To what does Lucilius refer?

60. "Entertain" here means take into service.

61. "Bestow" means spend.

62. "Prefer" means recommend.

68-72. Plutarch says that Antony frequently made this remark. There is no record, however, of his having done so at this time. Antony sent the ashes of Brutus's body to the latter's mother, Servilia. 68-75. This speech should be committed to memory.

Explain the thought in lines 71 and 72.

General Questions. 1. What in the scene shows that Brutus believed in Fate? 2. Did he in his own case, identify Fate with Nemesis, the goddess who punished crimes, and who was usually identified with