And men have lost their reason.

-Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Cæsar,
And I must pause 'till it come back to me.

*

But yesterday the word of Cæsar might
Have stood against the world ; now lies he there,
And none so poor to do him reverence.
O masters ! if I were dispos'd to ftir
Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,
I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong ;
Who, you all know, are honourable men.
I will not do them wrong; I rather chase
To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you,
Than I will wrong such honourable men.
But here's a parchment with the seal of Cæsar;
I found it in his closet, 'tis bis will ;
Let but the commons hear this testament,
(Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read)
And they would go and kiss dead Cæsar's wounds,
And dip their napkins in his facred blood ;
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,
And dying, mention it within their Wills,
Bequeathing it as a rich legacy
Unto their issue.

4 Pleb. We'll hear the will ; 'read it, Mark Antony. All. The will; the will ; we will hear Cæsar's will. Ant. Have patience, gentle friends, I must not

read it ;
It is not meet you know how Cæsar lov'd you ;
You are not wood, you are not stones, but men:
And, being men, hearing the will of Cæsar,
It will inflame you, it will make you mad.
Tis good you

ow not, that you are his heirs ;

For

For if you should — what would come of it ?

4 Pleb. Read the will, we will hear it, Antony : You shall read us the will, Cæsar's will.

Ant. Will you be patient ? will you stay a while ? (I have o'er-shot myself, to tell you of it.) I fear, I wrong the honourable men, Whose daggers have stabb’d Cæsar. I do fear it.

4 Pleb. They were traitors-honourable men ! All. The will! the testament !

Ant. You will compel me then to read the will ? Then make a ring about the corps of Cæsar, And let me thew you him, that made the will. Shall I descend, and will you give me leave ?

All. Come down. 2. Pleb. Descend,

[He comes down from the pulpit. Ant. If

you have tears, prepare to shed them now You all do know this mantle ; I remember, The first time ever Cæsar put it on; "Iwas on a summer's evening in his tent, That day he overcame the NerviiLook! in this place, ran Caffius' dagger through; See, what a rent the envious Casca made.Through this, the well-beloved Brutus ftabb'd; And as he pluck'd his cursed steel away, Mark, how the blood of Cæsar follow'd it! As rushing out of doors, to be resolv'd, If Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no; For Brutus, as you know, was Cæsar's ange'. Judge, oh you Gods ! how dearly Cæsar lov'd him ; This, this, was the unkindeft cut of all; For, when the noble Cæsar saw him ftab, Ingratitude, more strong than traitors arms, Quite vanquish'd him; then burst his mighty heart;

And,

FS

And, in (11) this mantle muffing up his face,
Even at the base of Pompey's ftatue,'
(Which all the while ran blood) great Cæsar fell.
O what a fall was there, my countrymen !
Then I, and you, and all of us fell down :
Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us.
O now you weep ; and, I perceive, you

feel
The dint of pity ; these are gracious drops.
Kind souls ! what, weep you, when you but behold
Our Cæsar's vesture wounded ? look

you

here! Here is himself, marr’d, as you see, by traitors.

i Pleb. O piteous spectacle !

2 Pleb. We will be reveng'd; revenge ; about seekburn--fire --kill-llay! let not a traitor live. Ant. Good friends, fweet friends, let me not ftir

you up
To fuch a sudden flood of mutiny :
They, that have done this deed, are honourable.
What private griefs they have, alas! I know not,
That made them do it: they are wise and honourable ;
And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you.
I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts ;
I am no orator, as Brutus is:
But, as you know me all, a plain, blunt man,
(12). That love my friend ; and that they know full

well,
That give me publick leave to speak of him :
For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
Action or utt'rance, nor the power of speech,

(11) This] Upton vulg. his. " The action and the emphasis is highly improved by this easy change.'

The reader may fee a severe comment on a note of Mr. Warburton's, con: cerning this mantle in the 14th page of the Preface to Upton's obfervations on Shakespear. (12) See Vol. I. p. 177. , 6,

TO

You

To ftir mens blood; I only speak right on.
I tell you that, which you yourselves do know ;
Shew you sweet Cæsar's wounds, poor, poor dumb

mouths !
And bid them speak for me. But were I Brutus,
And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony
Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue
In every wound of Cæsar, that hould move
The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.

-Ever note, Lucilius,
When love begins to ficken and decay,
It useth an enforced ceremony ;
There are no tricks in plain and simple faith :
But hollow men, like horses hot at hand,
Make gallant shew and promise of their mettle ;
But when they should endure the bloody {pur,
They fall their crest, and, like deceitful jades,
Sink in the trial.

Scene III. Changes to the Inside of Brutus's

Tent.

Re-enter Brutus and Callius.

Caf. (13) That you have wrong'd me doth appear

in this You have condemnd and noted Lucius Pella,

For

(13) Trat, &c.] I fall not use any apology for quoting this celebrated scene entire ; fince to have taken any particular passages from it, would have spoilt the beauty of the whole: Its excellence is so generally known, and to greatly admired, that there remains

For taking bribes here of the Sardians ;
Wherein, my letter (praying on his side,
Because I knew the man) was flighted of.

Bru. You wrong'd yourself to write in such a case.

Caf. In such a time as this, it is not meet That (14) ev'ry nice offence should bear its com

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

little to be said concerning it: There is a famous scene of the Jike kind between Agamemnon and Menelaus, in the Iphigenia in Aulis of Euripides, which Mr. Dryden judges inferior to this ; the reader may see what he says upon this head in his preface to Trilus and Crifida, in which he himself has introduced a similar scene : Beaumont and Fletcber, charmed, I suppose, with the Applause our author met with for this scene, (which we find particularly commended in some verses prefix'd to the first folio impreffion of his works,

Or till I bear a fcene more nobly take,

Than what thiy half-sword parlying Romans make) They, I say, have endeavour'd\to imitate him, but with their Díval success, in the Maid's Tragedy, where two virtuous perSons, as here and in Euripides, rais’d by natural degrees to the extremity of passion, are conducted to the declination of that pallion, and conclude with the warm renewing of their friendthip." See the Maid's Tragedy, Act 3. Mr. Gildon in his remarks on Shakespear's works, at the end of his poems, has translated the quarreling scene from Euripides

, in which, if a good deal of the spirit has evaporated, the reader will yet in some measure be able to judge of its merits. See Shakespear's poems, Sewel's edit. p. 388.

(14) Ev'ry nice, &c.] This may be well-understood and explained by every sight or trifling offence ; but I am to imagine the author gave it,

That
every

offence shou'd bear nice comment. It was so easy for the word nice to have been removed from its proper place : bis comment is in the folio, which shews there is something wrong ; and the metre by this reading is as perfect, nay more fo, than by the other,

Cafi