in the right concerning Antony. Antony now suddenly develops astonishing powers of action, and consummate tact in managing the populace. Having in the play hitherto spoken in all some halfdozen lines, he now shows himself an orator, and makes long and notable speeches which accomplish their object. He overwhelms the conspirators at home and pursues them into distant lands. The story of the fourth act may be entitled, Antony triumphant.

141. So please him come; please is subjunctive, and come infinitive, subject of please. In our expressions, if you please, if he pleases, the verb please has departed from its original and true meaning. The corresponding verbs in German and French adhere to their primitive sense: wenn es ihm gefällt; s'il lui plaît.

146-147. In spite of the conciliatory message just delivered by the servant, Cassius still has misgivings as to Antony's intention. 153. rank. See Sonnet cxviii, 12; 2 Henry IV, iii, 1, 39.

159. The fiction that hands stained with fresh blood reek and smoke is a commonplace with the poets.

160. Live is subjunctive conditional, with ellipsis of subject. 172. The first fire is dissyllabic. See Abbott, Shak. Gram. 475, 480.

175. in strength of malice. The difficulty of making sense of this passage has led to various alterations of the text. Pope reads, exempt from malice; Hudson, in strength of amity.

207. lethe, -two syllables. The only instance of the word in Shakespeare. Do not confound it with lethe, Ham. i, 5, 33; T. Night, iv, 1, 66, and elsewhere.

217. pricked. See dictionary. So used again below, iv, 1, 1

and 16.

274. "havoc." Look up the derivation. See K. John, ii, 1, 357; Coriol. iii, 1, 275; Ham. v, 2, 375.

Scene 2.

The scene of the famous speeches to the citizens. Brutus speaks with studied plainness of manner, disdaining rhetorical artifice, presenting his case with fewest possible words, as though his cause were manifestly right and needed no setting

out. He tries to seem to have brought no passion to his deed as assassin. As he had refused to include Antony as a victim, together with Cæsar, so now he makes another mistake in allowing Antony to speak after himself. Antony uses all the tricks of the demagogue. He is overwhelmed with grief and apologizes for his emotion. It is the rhetorician, of course, who succeeds, for the audience is a mob.

Consider the poet's art in casting Brutus's speech in the form of prose. See note to i, 1, 33.

1. satisfied, in the sense of fully informed, convinced. So above, iii, 1, 48, 141, 226; Rom. and Jul. ii, 5, 37.

16. censure, in the sense, usual in Shakespeare, of judge. See 2 Henry VI, iii, 1, 275.

Had, the principal

22. Had you rather Cæsar were, etc. verb, is subjunctive, as is also were in the object clause; die is infinitive. After the than the conjunction that is inserted, though in the former clause it was naturally omitted.

38. enforced is obviously the opposite of extenuated.

42. a place in the commonwealth; i.e., citizenship in the republic, whose existence was threatened by Cæsar's ambition.

65. beholding, a corruption of the other participle, beholden, and in the sense of the latter.

73. "When Cæsar's body was brought into the market place, Antonius making his funeral oration in praise of the dead, according to the ancient custome of Rome, and perceiving that his words moved the common people to compassion: he framed his eloquence to make their harts yern the more, and taking Cæsar's gowne all bloudy in his hand, he laid it open to the sight of them all, showing what a number of cuts and holes it had upon it. Therewithall the people fell presently into such a rage and mutinie, that there was no more order kept amongst the common people." Plut., Brutus.

77. So let it be with Cæsar. Antony pretends to agree with the assassins of Cæsar, assuming that to justify their deed they will naturally dwell on the evil that Cæsar has done. So in line 125, "I rather choose to wrong the dead," etc.

82, 83. These lines must not be pronounced in an ironical tone. In the successive repetitions of this sentiment, in almost the same words, throughout the speech, the tone of irony may be gradually introduced and at last employed without restraint.

91. When that. See Abbott, Shak. Gram. 287.

132-137. Recur to Decius's interpretation of Calpurnia's dream. 153. honorable men! Here, of course, we want the ironical

inflection to the full.

194. dint. Dint and dent, originally forms of the same word, have become distinct in meaning.

256. fire; two syllables.

Scene 3.

Consider the dramatic purpose of this brief scene, and compare it with the first scene of the play. The incident is related by Plutarch.

12. you were best; where we should say, you had better. See Abbott, Shak. Gram. 230 and 352.

18. You'll bear me a bang. Not, you will give me a blow, but, you will get a blow from me; me, in the passage, being the ethical dative. See Note on i, 2, 264.

ACT IV.

After the first scene the entire act is devoted to the unfolding of the character of Brutus, whom we see placed in the most interesting and moving situations, - the quarrel and reconciliation with Cassius, the reception of the news of Portia's death, the night-scene with the boy Lucius, the interview with the ghost. Every detail is meant to exalt our estimate of the nobility of Brutus.

Scene 1.

The triumvirs, having placed themselves at the head of the Roman state, have now to settle which of them shall stand at

the head of the triumvirate. Lepidus goes on an errand: evidently it will not be he. Antony, who has sent Lepidus away so easily, sets forth in large speech to Octavius the subservient character of their absent colleague, while Octavius keeps his counsel: evidently it will not be Antony.

9. Recur to Antony's publication of Cæsar's will.

13. Meet a word of very frequent occurrence in Shakespeare and the Bible, but now, unhappily, falling out of use. The adjective meet is connected, not with the verb of the same spelling, but with mete.

37. abjects: things thrown away, refuse matter. dictionary.

On orts see

a tool.

40. property: a thing owned and to be used, 44. Metrically, a defective line, but usually so printed because so given in the first folio, the most authoritative text. All the subsequent folios have the line thus,

"Our best friends made, and our best means stretched out."

48, 49. See 2 Henry VI, v, 1, 144; Mac. v, 7, 1; Lear, iii, 7, 54.

Scene 2.

The scene serves as an introduction to the next.

10. satisfied. See note on iii, 2, 1.

14. resolved.

See Tempest, v, 1, 248. We no longer use the

word quite in this sense.

23. hot at hand: i.e., " fiery as long as they are led by the hand, not mounted and managed with the rein and spur." Schmidt, Shakespeare Lexicon.

Scene 3.

The quarrel and reconciliation, like the speeches in Act iii, are mentioned with meagre detail in Plutarch; but like those speeches, the quarrel scene is essentially Shakespeare's. For

the foundation of fact the poet is indebted to the biographer; but the life, the color, the movement, all that makes the story profoundly interesting, is the poet's.

8. nice, as in Richard III, iii, 7, 175.

10. condemned to have: charged with having. See Abbott, Shak. Gram. 356.

44. budge. See M. of V. ii, 2, 20; Rom. and Jul. iii, 1, 58. 72, 73. coin. . . drop . . . to wring. Note the three infinitives,two 66 pure," and one, in form, gerundial, but all equally infinitives, and objects of had. See i, 2, 173, this play, and also iii, 2, 22; Othello, i, 3, 191. Consult Abbott, Shak. Gram. 350.

136. companion: used contemptuously, as in Coriolanus, iv, 5, 14; v, 2, 65, and many other passages.

153. tidings: never used without the final s, but regarded indiscriminately as either singular or plural. See this play, v, 3,

54.

163.

call in question: i.e., discuss, as in As You Like It, v, 2, 6. So, use question, M. of V. iv, 1, 73.

226. we will niggard. Discuss other uses of the word niggard, as in Mac. iv, 3, 180, and Hamlet iii, 1, 13.

240. some other of my men. Adjectives becoming nouns or pronouns do not, regularly, take the plural s. Thus we say, rich and poor alike, many, all, some, etc. Yet we say, our betters, and we now always say others, though, as we see, Shakespeare was apt to use the regular form.

271. The words let me see constitute in each case a foot. Here three words, in rapid utterance, are compressed metrically to occupy the time normally given to two syllables. See a case where a word of one syllable is made to count for two in consequence of slow, deliberate utterance, ii, 1, 55.

278. stare the only instance in Shakespeare of this word applied to the hair.