The New Hudson Shakespeare · William Shakespeare
SCENE I. _Rome. Before the Capitol; the_ Senate _sitting_
_A crowd of people; among them_ ARTEMIDORUS _and the_ Soothsayer. _Flourish._ _Enter_ CÆSAR, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, CASCA, DECIUS, METELLUS, TREBONIUS, CINNA, ANTONY, LEPIDUS, POPILIUS, PUBLIUS, _and others_ CÆSAR. The Ides of March are come. SOOTHSAYER. Ay, Cæsar; but not gone. ARTEMIDORUS. Hail, Cæsar! read this schedule. DECIUS. Trebonius doth desire you to o'er-read, At your best leisure, this his humble suit. 5 ARTEMIDORUS. O Cæsar, read mine first; for mine's a suit That touches Cæsar nearer: read it, great Cæsar. CÆSAR. What touches us ourself shall be last serv'd. [Note: _Rome. Before_ ... PUBLIUS, _and others_ Capell (substantially) | Flourish. Enter Cæsar ... Artimedorus, Publius, and the Soothsayer Ff | Ff omit Popilius.] [Note 3: /schedule/ F3 F4 | Scedule F1 F2.] [Note 1-2: Cf. Plutarch, _Julius Cæsar_: "There was a certain soothsayer, that had given Cæsar warning long time afore, to take heed of the day of the Ides of March, which is the fifteenth of the month; for on that day he should be in great danger. That day being come, Cæsar, going unto the Senate-house, and speaking merrily unto the soothsayer, told him 'the Ides of March be come.'--'So they be,' softly answered the soothsayer, 'but yet are they not past.'" Note Shakespeare's development of his material.] [Note 8: /us ourself./ The plural of modern English royalty transferred to ancient Rome. Another of the famous anachronisms.]
They all made as though they were intercessors for him, and took Cæsar by the hands, and kissed his head and breast. Cæsar at the first simply refused their kindness and entreaties; but afterwards, perceiving they still pressed on him, he violently thrust them from him. Then Cimber with both his hands plucked Cæsar's gown over his shoulders, and Casca, that stood behind him, drew his dagger first and strake Cæsar upon the shoulder, but gave him no great wound. Cæsar, feeling himself hurt, took him straight by the hand he held his dagger in, and cried out in Latin: 'O traitor Casca, what dost thou?' Casca on the other side cried in Greek, and called his brother to help him. So divers running on a heap together to fly upon Cæsar, he, looking about him to have fled, saw Brutus with a sword drawn in his hand ready to strike at him: then he let Casca's hand go, and casting his gown over his face, suffered every man to strike at him that would. Then the conspirators thronging one upon another, because every man was desirous to have a cut at him, so many swords and daggers lighting upon one body, one of them hurt another, and among them Brutus caught a blow on his hand, because he would make one in murthering of him, and all the rest also were every man of them bloodied."]
BRUTUS. Thy master is a wise and valiant Roman; I never thought him worse. 140 Tell him, so please him come unto this place, He shall be satisfied, and, by my honour, Depart untouch'd. SERVANT. I'll fetch him presently. [_Exit_] BRUTUS. I know that we shall have him well to friend. CASSIUS. I wish we may: but yet have I a mind 145 That fears him much, and my misgiving still Falls shrewdly to the purpose. [Note 132: /resolv'd/: informed. This meaning is probably connected with the primary one of 'loosen,' 'set free,' through the idea of setting free from perplexity. 'Resolve' continued to be used in the sense of 'inform' and 'answer' until the beginning of the nineteenth century. Shakespeare uses the word in the three main senses of (1) 'relax,' 'dissolve,' _Hamlet_, I, ii, 130; (2) 'inform,' as here; and (3) 'determine,' _3 Henry VI_, III, iii, 219.] [Note 137: /Thorough/. Shakespeare uses 'through' or 'thorough' indifferently, as suits his verse. The two are but different forms of the same word. 'Thorough,' the adjective, is later than the preposition.] [Note 141: /so please him come/: provided that it please him to come. 'So' is used with the future and subjunctive to denote 'provided that.'] [Note 146-147: /still Falls shrewdly to the purpose/: always comes cleverly near the mark. See Skeat under 'shrewd' and 'shrew.']
ANTONY. I doubt not of your wisdom. Let each man render me his bloody hand: 185 First, Marcus Brutus, will I shake with you; Next, Caius Cassius, do I take your hand; Now, Decius Brutus, yours; now yours, Metellus; Yours, Cinna; and, my valiant Casca, yours; Though last, not least in love, yours, good Trebonius. 190 Gentlemen all,--alas, what shall I say? My credit now stands on such slippery ground, That one of two bad ways you must conceit me, Either a coward or a flatterer. That I did love thee, Cæsar, O, 'tis true: 195 If, then, thy spirit look upon us now, Shall it not grieve thee dearer than thy death, To see thy Antony making his peace, Shaking the bloody fingers of thy foes, Most noble! in the presence of thy corse? 200 Had I as many eyes as thou hast wounds, Weeping as fast as they stream forth thy blood, It would become me better than to close In terms of friendship with thine enemies. Pardon me, Julius! Here wast thou bay'd, brave hart; 205 Here didst thou fall, and here thy hunters stand, Sign'd in thy spoil and crimson'd in thy lethe. O world, thou wast the forest to this hart; And this, indeed, O world, the heart of thee. How like a deer, strucken by many princes, 210 Dost thou here lie!
ANTONY. O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, 255 That I am meek and gentle with these butchers! Thou art the ruins of the noblest man That ever lived in the tide of times. Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood! Over thy wounds now do I prophesy, 260 Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips, To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue, A curse shall light upon the limbs of men; Domestic fury and fierce civil strife Shall cumber all the parts of Italy; 265 Blood and destruction shall be so in use, And dreadful objects so familiar, That mothers shall but smile when they behold Their infants quartered with the hands of war; All pity chok'd with custom of fell deeds: 270 And Cæsar's spirit, ranging for revenge, With Ate by his side come hot from hell, Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth 275 With carrion men, groaning for burial. [Note 254: [_Exeunt_ ...] Capell | Exeunt. Manet Antony Ff.] [Note 255: Scene IV Pope.] [Note 263: /limbs/ F3 F4 | limbes F1 F2.] [Note 257-258: Cf. Antony's eulogy of Brutus, V, v, 68-75.] [Note 263: /limbs/. Thirteen different words ('kind,' 'line,' 'lives,' 'loins,' 'tombs,' 'sons,' 'times,' etc.) have been offered by editors as substitutes for the plain, direct 'limbs' of the Folios. One of Johnson's suggestions was "these lymmes," taking 'lymmes' in the sense of 'lime-hounds,' i.e. 'leash-hounds.' 'Lym' is on the list of dogs in _King Lear_, III, vi, 72. In defence of the Folio text Dr. Wright quotes Timon's curse on the senators of Athens and says, "Lear's curses were certainly levelled at his daughter's limbs."]
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.