The New Hudson Shakespeare · William Shakespeare
SCENE III. BRUTUS'S _tent_
_Enter_ BRUTUS _and_ CASSIUS CASSIUS. 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 letters, praying on his side, Because I knew the man, was slighted off. 5 [Note: SCENE III Pope | Rowe omits.--BRUTUS'S _tent_ Hanmer | Ff omit.] [Note: _Enter_ BRUTUS ... Capell | Manet Brutus ... F1 | Manent ... F2 F3 F4.] [Note 4-5: /letters ... man, was/ | Letters ... man was F1 | letter ... man, was, F2 F3 F4 | letters ... man, were Malone.] [Note: SCENE III. Dowden points out that this scene was already celebrated in Shakespeare's own day, Leonard Digges recording its popularity, and Beaumont and Fletcher imitating it in _The Maid's Tragedy_. "I know no part of Shakespeare that more impresses on me the belief of his genius being superhuman than this scene between Brutus and Cassius."--Coleridge.] [Note 1: "Now as it commonly happened in great affairs between two persons, both of them having many friends and so many captains under them, there ran tales and complaints between them. Therefore, before they fell in hand with any other matter they went into a little chamber together, and bade every man avoid, and did shut the doors to them. Then they began to pour out their complaints one to the other, and grew hot and loud, earnestly accusing one another, and at length both fell a-weeping. Their friends that were without the chamber, hearing them loud within, and angry between themselves, they were both amazed and afraid also, lest it would grow to further matter: but yet they were commanded that no man should come to them."--Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_.]
CASSIUS. You love me not. BRUTUS. I do not like your faults. CASSIUS. A friendly eye could never see such faults. 90 BRUTUS. A flatterer's would not, though they do appear As huge as high Olympus. [Note 84: /that brought/ | Ff give to l. 85.] [Note 82-83: "Whilst Brutus and Cassius were together in the city of Smyrna, Brutus prayed Cassius to let him have part of his money whereof he had great store.... Cassius's friends hindered this request, and earnestly dissuaded him from it; persuading him, that it was no reason that Brutus should have the money which Cassius had gotten together by sparing, and levied with great evil will of the people their subjects, for him to bestow liberally upon his soldiers, and by this means to win their good wills, by Cassius's charge. This notwithstanding, Cassius gave him the third part of this total sum."--Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_.] [Page 130] CASSIUS. Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come, Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius, For Cassius is a-weary of the world; 95 Hated by one he loves; brav'd by his brother; Check'd like a bondman; all his faults observ'd, Set in a note-book, learn'd, and conn'd by rote, To cast into my teeth. O, I could weep My spirit from mine eyes! There is my dagger, 100 And here my naked breast; within, a heart Dearer than Plutus' mine, richer than gold: If that thou be'st a Roman, take it forth; I, that denied thee gold, will give my heart: Strike, as thou didst at Cæsar; for I know, 105 When thou didst hate him worst, thou lov'dst him better Than ever thou lov'dst Cassius.
BRUTUS. Sheathe your dagger: Be angry when you will, it shall have scope; Do what you will, dishonour shall be humour. O Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb 110 That carries anger as the flint bears fire; Who, much enforced, shows a hasty spark, And straight is cold again. CASSIUS. Hath Cassius liv'd To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus, When grief and blood ill-temper'd vexeth him? 115 BRUTUS. When I spoke that, I was ill-temper'd too. CASSIUS. Do you confess so much? Give me your hand. BRUTUS. And my heart too. CASSIUS. O Brutus! BRUTUS. What's the matter? [Note 102: /Plutus'/ Pope | Pluto's Ff.] [Note 96: /brav'd:/ defied. The verb connotes bluster and bravado.] [Note 102: Plutus (for the Folio reading see note on 'Antonio' for Antonius, I, ii, 5) is the old god of riches, who had all the world's gold in his keeping and disposal. Pluto was the lord of Hades.] [Note 109: Whatever dishonorable thing you may do, I will set it down to the caprice of the moment.--/humour./ See note, p. 60, l. 250.] [Note 111-113: Cf. the words of Cassius, I, ii, 176-177. See also _Troilus and Cressida_, III, iii, 257. It was long a popular notion that fire slept in the flint and was awaked by the stroke of the steel. "It is not sufficient to carry religion in our hearts, as fire is carried in flintstones, but we are outwardly, visibly, apparently, to serve and honour the living God."--Hooker, _Ecclesiastical Polity_, VII, xxii, 3.]
CASSIUS. Bear with him, Brutus; 'tis his fashion. 135 BRUTUS. I'll know his humour, when he knows his time: What should the wars do with these jigging fools? Companion, hence! CASSIUS. Away, away, be gone! [_Exit_ Poet] BRUTUS. Lucilius and Titinius, bid the commanders Prepare to lodge their companies to-night. 140 CASSIUS. And come yourselves, and bring Messala with you Immediately to us. [_Exeunt_ LUCILIUS _and_ TITINIUS] BRUTUS. Lucius, a bowl of wine! [_Exit_ LUCIUS] CASSIUS. I did not think you could have been so angry. BRUTUS. O Cassius, I am sick of many griefs. CASSIUS. Of your philosophy you make no use, 145 If you give place to accidental evils. [Note 139: Scene IV Pope.--Enter Lucil. and Titin. Rowe.] [Note 142: [_Exeunt_ ...] Rowe | Ff omit.--[_Exit_ Lucius] Capell | Ff omit.] [Note 137: /jigging:/ moving rhythmically, rhyming. So in the Prologue to Marlowe's _Tamburlaine the Great_: From jigging veins of rhyming mother wits, And such conceits as clownage keeps in pay.] [Note 138: 'Companion' was often used contemptuously. Cf. _Coriolanus_, IV, v, 14; V, ii, 65. Cf. the way 'fellow' is often used to-day.] [Note 145: In his philosophy, Brutus was a mixture of the Stoic and the Platonist. What he says of Portia's death is among the best things in the play, and is in Shakespeare's noblest style. Profound emotion expresses itself with reserve. Deep grief loves not many words.]
LUCIUS. Here in the tent. BRUTUS. What, thou speak'st drowsily? Poor knave, I blame thee not; thou art o'er-watch'd. 241 Call Claudius and some other of my men; I'll have them sleep on cushions in my tent. LUCIUS. Varro and Claudius! _Enter_ VARRO _and_ CLAUDIUS VARRO. Calls my lord? 245 BRUTUS. I pray you, sirs, lie in my tent and sleep; It may be I shall raise you by-and-by On business to my brother Cassius. VARRO. So please you, we will stand and watch your pleasure. BRUTUS. I will not have it so: lie down, good sirs; 250 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. [VARRO _and_ CLAUDIUS _lie down_] [Note: _Re-enter_ LUCIUS, ... Capell | Enter Lucius ... Ff (after Brutus, l. 236).] [Note 242, 244, etc.: /Claudius/ Rowe | Claudio Ff.] [Note 244, 289: /Varro/ Rowe | Varrus Ff.] [Note 245: Scene VI Pope.--_Enter_ VARRO _and_ CLAUDIUS Rowe | Enter Varrus and Claudio Ff.] [Note 253: [VARRO _and_ ...] Ff omit.] [Note 241: /Poor knave./ Cf. 'Gentle knave,' l. 269. The word 'knave' is here used in the literal sense of 'boy.' It was used as a term of endearment, or of loving familiarity with those of lower rank. So in _King Lear_, I, iv, 107.--/o'er-watch'd:/ worn out with keeping awake. So in _King Lear_, II, ii, 177. Cf. 'o'ershot' in III, ii, 150.]
_Enter the_ Ghost _of_ CÆSAR How ill this taper burns! Ha! who comes here? 275 I think it is the weakness of mine eyes That shapes this monstrous apparition. It comes upon me. Art thou any thing? Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil, That mak'st my blood cold, and my hair to stare? 280 Speak to me what thou art. [Note 267: /murderous slumber/ | Murd'rous slumbler F1.] [Note 274: [Sits down] Camb.] [Note 275: Scene VII Pope.] [Note 267: /murderous slumber./ The epithet probably has reference to sleep being regarded as the image of death; or, as Shelley put it, "Death and his brother Sleep." Cf. _Cymbeline_, II, ii, 31.] [Note 268: /thy leaden mace./ Upton quotes from Spenser, _The Faerie Queene_, I, iv, 44: But whenas Morpheus had with leaden mace Arrested all that courtly company. Shakespeare uses 'mace' both as 'scepter,' _Henry V_, IV, i, 278, and as 'a staff of office,' _2 Henry VI_, IV, vii, 144.] [Note 269: The boy is spoken of as playing music to slumber because he plays to soothe the agitations of his master's mind, and put him to sleep. Bacon held that music "hindereth sleep."] [Note 275: The presence of a ghost was believed to make lights burn blue or dimly. So in _Richard III_, V, iii, 180, when the ghosts appear to Richard, he says: "The lights burn blue. It is now dead midnight. Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh."]
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.