his friend, whose anger has but a short life, and whose amends for it are generous and full. "Hath Cassius lived To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus, When grief and blood ill-tempered, vexeth him? Brutus. When I spoke that, I was ill-tempered too. Cassius. Do you confess so much? Give me your hand. ¡ Brutus. And my heart too." But when the Poet breaks in to reconcile the generals, it is Brutus who is nervously impatient of his interference, Cassius who says, "Bear with him." When Brutus has called for wine, that he may pledge Cassius, and gain perhaps some artificial strength to restrain utterances of his tortured spirit, Cassius says:- "I did not think, you could have been so angry. Brutus. No man bears sorrows better.-Portia is Cassius. How 'scaped I killing when I crossed you 80?" In the following Council of War the character of Brutus secures assent to his plan of marching at once to Philippi, though again the policy of Cassius is the more astute. After the Council has broken up, the tenderness in the soul of Brutus takes new forms. “Brutus. Lucius, my gown-Farewell, good Messala : Good night, Titinius.-Noble, noble Cassius, Good night, and good repose. Cassius. O, my dear brother, This was an ill beginning of the night: Never come such division 'tween our souls! Let it not, Brutus. Brutus. Everything is well. Good night, good brother.” Cassius. Good night, my lord. Then follows a delicate dramatic touch by which Shakespeare puts into the hand of Brutus the book he is to be reading when Cæsar's ghost appears to him. He takes his gown from the hands of Lucius, gently observes upon his drowsiness, and when Varro and Claudius are called, that they may be at hand for sending messages, his overflowing tenderness for others requires that they shall sleep on cushions in his tent. "Varro. So please you, we will stand, and watch your pleasure. Brutus. I will not have it so; lie down, good sirs; It may be, I shall otherwise bethink me. Look, Lucius, here's the book I sought for so; I put it in the pocket of my gown. Lucius. I was sure your lordship did not give it me. Brutus. Bear with me, good boy, I am much forgetful. Canst thou hold up thy heavy eyes awhile, Brutus. It does, my boy : I trouble thee too much, but thou art willing. Brutus. I should not urge thy duty past thy might; I know, young bloods look for a time of rest. Lucius. I have slept, my lord, already. Brutus. It was well done, and thou shalt sleep again; I will not hold thee long ;", and then from the heart quivering with tenderness, "if I do live, I will be good to thee." When the boy falls asleep, Brutus takes thought even to remove his instrument lest it should fall and break, and then he sits to his book, the whole beauty of his character revealed to us, and brought home to our hearts. Yet even he, of purest character with purest aim, has erred in seeking good: through evil. Brutus sees his evil spirit in the ghost of Cæsar, whom he will again see at Philippi, as he faces the last ruin of his vain hope, to win a public right through moral wrong by doing as a patriot what he would shrink from doing as a man. In the Fifth Act of Shakespeare's play the opposing forces meet on the plains of Philippi. It is in their choice of commands that Shakespeare shows Octavius and Antony equal now under press of danger, but with an element of discord in the imperial ambition of Octavius. "Ant. Octavius, lead your battle softly on, Upon the left hand of the even field. Oct. Upon the right hand I; keep thou the left. Oct. I do not cross you, but I will do so." Portents again suggest the presence of the gods Even Cassius is disheartened in the affairs of men. by the omens ; and in the farewell between Cassius and Brutus, should they never meet again, there is the passage, to which I have already referred, in which Brutus blames self-murder and finds it "cowardly and vile, For fear of what might fall, so to prevent The term of life;" he will arm himself with patience, "to stay the Providence of those high powers that govern us below;" but swerves from the voice of his own reason when it is suggested that he may be led in triumph through the streets of Rome. excess of passion in him, overrules his judgment in his own case as it did in Cæsar's. The one When Cassius bids Titinius spur towards troops on the field, and bring word to him whether they are friends or enemies (for all are Romans), friendly reception is interpreted as hostile capture. Cassius bids his slave, whom he sets free, hold the' sword on which he is resolved to die. "Guide thou the sword-Cæsar, thou art revenged, Revenged also by death inflicted on the prompting of a blind mistrust. "Mistrust of good success hath done this deed," says Messala, and adds a comment designed also to apply to the whole tale of the conspiracy. “O, hateful Error, Melancholy's child ! Why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men But kill'st the mother that engendered thee !" And Titinius adds like comment, as he bends over his master's body before dying by his side :" Alas, thou hast misconstrued everything." From Brutus, the comment is, "O, Julius Cæsar, thou art mighty yet! Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords Shall we ask now where the wit lay under the wigs of critics who wondered why Shakespeare did not end the play of Julius Cæsar with the scene of his assassination? |