SCENE III.

Changes to the infide of Brutus's
Tent.

Re-enter Brutus and Caffius.

Caf. (12) That you have wrong'd me doth appear
in this,

You have condemn'd and noted Lucius Pella,
For taking bribes here of the Sardians:
Wherein, my letter (praying on his fide,
Because I knew the man) was flighted of.

Bru. You wrong'd yourself to write in fuch a cafe.
Caf. In fuch a time as this it is not meet

That

(12) That, &c.] I fhall not ufe any apology for quoting this celebrated fcene entire; fince to have taken any particular paffages from it would have spoilt the beauty of the whole: Its excellence is fo generally known, and fo greatly admired, that there remains little to be faid concerning it: There is a famous fcene of the like kind between Agamemnon and Menelaus, in the Iphigenia in Aulis of Euripides, which Mr. Dryden judges inferior to this; the Reader may fee what he fays upon this head in his preface to Troilus and Creffida, in which he himself has introduced a fimilar fcene: Beaumont and Fletcher, charmed, I fuppofe, with the applause our author met with for this fcene, (which we find particularly commended in fome verfes prefix'd to the first folio impreffion of his works,

Or till I hear a fcene more nobly take,

Than what thy half-fword parlying Roman make)

They, I fay, have endeavoured to imitate him with their ufual fuccefs, in the Maid's Tragedy, where " two virtuous perfons, as here and in Euripides, raifed by natural degrees to the extremity of paffion, are conducted to the declination of that paffion, and conclude with the warm renewing of their friendship." See the Maid's Tragedy, Act 3. Mr. Gildon in his remarks on Shakespear's works, at the end of his poems, has tranflated the quarrelling fcene from Euripides, in which, if a good deal of the fpirit has evaporated, the Reader will yet in fome measure be able to judge of its merits. See Shakespear's Poems, Sewel's edit. p. 38%.

That (13) ev'ry nice offence fhould bear its com

ment.

Bru. Yet let me tell you, Caffius, you yourself
Are much condemn'd to have an itching palm;
To fell, and mart your offices for gold,

To undefervers.

Caf. I an itching palm?

You know that you are Brutus that speak this;
Or, by the Gods, this speech were else

your

laft.

Bru. The name of Caffius honours this corruption, And chaftifement doth therefore hide its head.

Caf Chaftifement!

Bru. Remember March, the ides of March remember.

Did not great Julius bleed for justice' fake?
What villain touch'd his body, that did stab,
And not for juftice? What! fhall one of us,
That ftruck the foremost man of all this world,
But for fupporting robbers; fhall we now
Contaminate our fingers with base bribes ?
And fell the mighty space of our large honours
For fo much trafh as may be grafped thus ?
I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon,
Than fuch a Roman.

Caf. Brutus, bay not me,

I'll not endure it; you forget yourself,
To hedge me in; I am a foldier, I,
Older in practice, abler than yourself
To make conditions.

Bru.

(13) Every nice, &c.] This may be well understood and explained by every flight or trifling offence; but I am to imagine the author gave it,

That every offence should bear nice comment.

It was fo eafy for the word nice to have been removed from its proper place: his comment is in the folio, which fhews there is fomething wrong, and the metre by this reading is as perfect, nay more fo, than by the other.

Bru. Go to; you are not, (14) Caffius..
Caf. I am.

Bru. I fay, you are not.

Caf. Urge me no more, I fhall forget myselfHave mind upon your health-tempt me no farther. Bru. Away, flight man.

Caf. Is't poffible?.

Bru. Hear me, for I will speak.

Muft I give way and room to your rash choler?

Shall I be frighted when a madman stares?

Caf. O Gods! ye Gods! muft I endure all this? Bru. All this! ay, more. Fret 'till your proud heart breaks;

Go fhew your flaves how choleric you are,
And make your bondmen tremble. Muft I budge?

Muft

(14) You are not, Caffius.] See Mr. Warburton's note on the place; upon which Mr. Edwards, in his Canons of Criticism, 1. 93. obferves thus, "If Mr. Warburton had not been giddy with his ideas of bravery, difinterestedness, philofophy, honour, and patriotifm, which have nothing to do here, he would have feen, that Caffius is the vocative cafe, not the nominative; and that Brutus does not mean to fay, you are not an able foldier; but he fays, you are not an abler than I; a poist which it was far from being beneath his character to infist on.

If the words, you are not, Caffius, meant a new imputation en him for degeneracy, his mere denial of it is very flat, and Brutus replying to that denial, by a mere repetition of his former affertion, without adding any reafon for it, is still worse : whereas, if the words mean only a denial of what Caffius had ju faid, it is natural enough for each of them to maintain his ground, by a confident affertion of the truth of his opinion. And that the fuperiority of foldierfhip was the point of the'r difpute, is most manifeftly evident; by Brutus refuming it a little lower,

You fay you are a better foldier, &c,

Upon which Caffius anfwers,

You wrong me ev'ry way; you wrong me, Brutus, faid an elder foldier; not a better,

Did 1 fay better?

Muft I obferve you? must I stand and crouch
Under your tefty humour? by the Gods,
You shall digest the venom of your fpleen,
Tho' it do fplit you. For, from this day forth,
I'll ufe you for my mouth, yea, for my laughter,
When you are waspish.

Caf. Is it come to this?

Bru. You fay, you are a better foldier; Let it appear fo; make your vaunting true, And it fhall please me well.

For mine own part,

I shall be glad to learn of noble men.

Caf. You wrong me every way-you wrong me,

Brutus ;

I faid, an elder foldier, not a better.
Did I fay, better?

I

Bru. If you did, I care not.

Caf. When Cæfar liv'd, he durft not thus have mov'd me.

Bru. Peace, peace, you durft not fo have tempted him.

Caf. I durft not?

Bru. No.

your life you durft not.

Caf. Do not prefume too much upon my love? may do that, I fhall be sorry for.

Bru. You have done that you should be forry for. There is no terror, Caffius, in your

For I am arm'd fo ftrong in honesty,

threats;

That they pass by me, as the idle wind,
Which I refpect not. I did fend to you
For certain fums of gold, which you deny'd me;
For I can raise no money by vile means;
By heaven, I had rather coin my heart,

And drop my blood for drachmas, (15) than to wring

From

15) Than to wring, &c.] This inimitable paffage is not only highly in character, but as Mr. Warburton has observed, is most

happily

From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash,
By any indirection. I did fend

To you for gold to pay my legions,

Which you deny'd me; was that done like Caffius?
Should I have anfwer'd Caius Caffius fo?
When Marcus Brutus grows fo covetous,
To lock fuch rafcal counters from his friends,
Be ready, Gods, with all your thunderbolts,
Dafh him to pieces!

Caf. I deny'd you not.

Bru. You did.

Caf. I did not-he was but a fool, That brought my anfwer back.

my heart.

-Brutus hath riv'd

A friend should bear a friend's infirmities,
But Brutus makes mine greater than they are.
Bru. I do not, 'till you practise them on me.
Caf. You love me not.

Bru. I do not like your faults.

Caf. A friendly eye could never fee fuch faults.
For Caffius is a weary of the world:

Hated by one he loves; brav'd by his brother;
Check'd like a bondman: all his faults obferv'd;
Set in a note-book, learn'd and con'd by rote,
To caft into my teeth. O I could weep
My spirit from mine eyes-There is my dagger,
And here my naked breast-within, a heart
Dearer than Plutus's mine, richer than gold;
If that thou beeft a Roman, take it forth.
I that deny'd thee gold, will give my heart;
Strike as thou didít at Cæfar; for I know,

When thou didst hate him worst, thou lov'dft him better

Than ever thou lov'dit Caffius.

Bru.

happily expreffed. "To wring implies both to get unjustly, and to ufe force in getting: and hard hands fignify both the peasants great labour and pains in acquiring, and his great unwillingness to quit his hold."