They mean to warn 1 us at Philippi here, Ant. Tut, I am in their bosoms, and I know With fearful bravery, thinking, by this face, Enter a Messenger. Mess. Prepare you, generals. The enemy comes on in gallant show; Oct. Upon the right hand I, keep thou the left. Oct. I do not cross you; but I will do so. [March. Drum. Enter BRUTUS, CASSIUS, and their Army; LUCILIUS, TITINIUS, MESSALA, and others. Bru. They stand, and would have parley. Cas. Stand fast, Titinius. We must out and talk. Bru. Words before blows; is it so, countrymen? Ant. In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good words. Witness the hole you made in Cæsar's heart, 1 To warn is to summon. 2 "Fearful bravery." Fearful may in this instance bear its usual acceptation of timorous. Cas. Antony, The posture of your blows are yet unknown;1 Ant. Not stingless too. Bru. O yes, and soundless, too; For you have stolen their buzzing, Antony, And very wisely, threat before you sting. Ant. Villains, you did not so, when your vile dag gers Hacked one another in the sides of Cæsar. You showed your teeth like apes, and fawned like hounds, And bowed like bondmen, kissing Cæsar's feet; If Cassius might have ruled. Oct. Come, come, the cause. If arguing make us sweat, The proof of it will turn to redder drops. I draw a sword against conspirators ; When think you that the sword goes up again.— Oct. So I hope ; I was not born to die on Brutus' sword. Bru. O, if thou wert the noblest of thy strain, Young man, thou couldst not die more honorable. Cas. A peevish schoolboy, worthless of such honor, Joined with a masker and a reveller. Ant. Old Cassius still! 1 It should be, "is yet unknown;" but the error was probably the Poet's. 2 The old copy reads, two-and-thirty wounds. Theobald corrected the error. Oct. Come, Antony; away. Defiance, traitors, hurl we in your teeth. you dare fight to-day, come to the field; If If not, when you have stomachs. [Exeunt OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, and their Army. Cas. Why now, blow, wind; swell, billow; and swim, bark! The storm is up, and all is on the hazard. Bru. Ho! This is my birth-day; as this very day Messala, Was Cassius born. Give me thy hand, Messala; You know that I held Epicurus strong, This morning are they fled away and gone; Our army lies, ready to give up the ghost. Cas. I but believe it partly; For I am fresh of spirit, and resolved To meet all perils very constantly. 1 i. e. fore ensign; it probably means the chief ensign. Baret has "the former teeth [i. e. fore teeth], dentes primores." Bru. Even so, Lucilius. Cas. Now, most noble Brutus, The gods to-day stand friendly; that we may, Lovers in peace, lead on our days to age! But, since the affairs of men rest still uncertain, Let's reason with the worst that may befall. If we do lose this battle, then is this The very last time we shall speak together. What are you then determined to do?1 Bru. Even by the rule of that philosophy, For fear of what might fall, so to prevent 2 Cas. You are contented to be led in triumph Then, if we lose this battle, Think not, thou noble Ro Thorough the streets of Rome? Bru. No, Cassius, no. man, 3 That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome; 1 i. e. I am resolved in such a case to kill myself. What are you determined of? 2 "To prevent" is here used for to anticipate. By time is meant the full and complete time; the natural period. 3 This, though censured as ungrammatical, was the phraseology of the Poet's day, as might be shown by numerous examples. But Dryden and Pope have used it, and Johnson has sanctioned it in his Dictionary :— "Begin, v. n. I began, or begun." The fact is, that the past tense was, in our old language, written begon or begonne. Bru. Why, then, lead on.-O that a man might know The end of this day's business, ere it come! But it sufficeth, that the day will end, And then the end is known.-Come, ho! away! [Exeunt. SCENE II. The same. The Field of Battle. Alarum. Enter BRUTUS and MESSALA. Bru. Ride, ride, Messala, ride, and give these bills 1 Unto the legions on the other side. [Loud alarum. Let them set on at once; for I perceive [Exeunt. SCENE III. The same. Another Part of the Field. Alarum. Enter CASSIUS and TITINIUS. Cas. O, look, Titinius, look, the villains fly! Tit. O Cassius, Brutus gave the word too early; Enter PINDARUS. Pin. Fly farther off, my lord, fly farther off; Mark Antony is in your tents, my lord! Fly, therefore, noble Cassius, fly far off. 1 This and much of the subsequent scene is from the old translation of Plutarch:-"In the meane tyme Brutus, that led the right winge, sent little billes to the collonels and captaines of private bandes, in which he wrote the order of the battle." 1 |