Thus did Mark Antony bid me fall down: Say, I feared Cæsar, honored him, and loved him. Tell him, so please him come unto this place, Depart untouched. Serv. Bru. I know that we shall have him well to friend Cas. I wish we may; but yet have I a mind, That fears him much; and my misgiving still Falls shrewdly to the purpose. Re-enter ANTONY. Bru. But here comes Antony.-Welcome, Mark Ant. O mighty Cæsar! dost thou lie so low? 1 Johnson explains this:-"Who else may be supposed to have overtopped his equals, and grown too high for the public safety." This explanation will derive support from the following speech of Oliver, in As You Like It, Act i. Sc. 1, when incensed at the high bearing of his brother Orlando:-"Is it even so? begin you to grow upon me? I will physic your rankness.” If I myself, there is no hour so fit As Cæsar's death's hour! nor no instrument Of half that worth, as those your swords, made rich With the most noble blood of all this world. I do beseech you, if you bear me hard, Now, whilst your purpled hands do reek and smoke, No place will please me so, no mean of death, Hath done this deed on Cæsar. For your part, Το you our swords have leaden points, Mark Antony: Our arms in strength of malice, and our hearts, Of brothers' temper, do receive you in With all kind love, good thoughts, and reverence.1 Bru. Only be patient, till we have appeased Why I, that did love Cæsar when I struck him, Ant. 1 "To you (says Brutus) our swords have leaden points: our arms, strong in the deed of malice they have just performed, and our hearts united like those of brothers in the action, are yet open to receive you with all possible regard." This explanation is offered by Steevens; and yet, perhaps, we should read, as he himself suggested: Next, Caius Cassius, do I take your hand: Now, Decius Brutus, yours;-now yours, Metellus ; My credit now stands on such slippery ground, That I did love thee, Cæsar, O, 'tis true: Shall it not grieve thee, dearer than thy death, Pardon me, Julius !-Here wast thou bayed, brave hart, Cas. Mark Antony Ant. Pardon me, Caius Cassius. The enemies of Cæsar shall say this; Then, in a friend, it is cold modesty. Cas. I blame you not for praising Cæsar so; But what compact mean you to have with us? Will you be pricked in number of our friends; Or shall we on, and not depend on you? Ant. Therefore I took your hands; but was, indeed, Swayed from the point, by looking down on Cæsar. Friends am I with you all, and love you all; 1 Lethe is used by many old writers for death. It appears to have been used as a word of one syllable in this sense; and is derived from lethum (Lat.). ? This grammatical impropriety is still so prevalent, that the omission Upon this hope, that you shall give me reasons, Ant. That's all I seek; And am moreover suitor, that I may Bru. You shall, Mark Antony. Brutus, a word with you. You know not what you do; do not consent, [Aside. That Antony speak in his funeral. Know you how much the people may be moved By that which he will utter? Bru. By your pardon; I will myself into the pulpit first, And show the reason of our Cæsar's death: What Antony shall speak, I will protest He speaks by leave and by permission; And that we are contented, Cæsar shall Have all true rites, and lawful ceremonies. It shall advantage more, than do us wrong. Cas. I know not what may fall; I like it not. Bru. Mark Antony, here, take you Cæsar's body. You shall not in your funeral speech blame us, But speak all good you can devise of Cæsar; And say, you do't by our permission; Else shall you not have any hand at all About his funeral; and you shall speak In the same pulpit whereto I am going, After my speech is ended. Ant. I do desire no more. Be it so; Bru. Prepare the body, then, and follow us. [Exeunt all but ANTONY. of the anomalous & would give some uncouthness to the sound of an otherwise familiar expression. Ant. O, pardon me, thou piece of bleeding earth, 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.1 2 Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood! That mothers shall but smile, when they behold Enter a Servant. You serve Octavius Cæsar, do you not? Serv. I do, Mark Antony. Ant. Cæsar did write for him to come to Rome. 1 That is, in the course of times. [Seeing the body. 2 By men, Antony means not mankind in general, but those Romans whose attachment to the cause of the conspirators, or wish to revenge Cæsar's death, would expose them to wounds in the civil wars which he supposed that event would give rise to. 3 Havoc was the word by which declaration was made, in the military operations of old, that no quarter should be given. To let slip a dog was the technical phrase in hunting the hart, for releasing the hounds from the leash or slip of leather by which they were held in hand until it was judged proper to let them pursue the animal chased. |