Ant. This is not Brutus, friend; but, I assure you, A prize no less in worth: keep this man safe, Give him all kindness: I had rather have Such men my friends, than enemies. Go on, And see whe'r Brutus be alive, or dead: And bring us word, unto Octavius' tent, How every thing is chanc'd.

[Exeunt.

SCENE V. Another Part of the Field. Enter BRUTUS, DARDANIUS, CLITUS, STRATO, and VOLUMNIUS.

Bru.Come,poor remains of friends,rest on this rock. Cli. Statilius show'd the torch-light; but, my lord, He came not back; he is or ta'en, or slain1.

1 A passage from Plutarch will illustrate this scene:-' Furthermore, Brutus thought that there was no great number of men slaine in battell, and to know the truth of it there was one called Statilius, that promised to goe through his enemies (for otherwise it was impossible to goe see their campe), and from thence, if all were well, that he would lift up a torche-light in the aire, and then returne againe with speed to him. The torche light was lift up as he had promised, for Statilius went thither. Nowe Brutus seeing Statilius tarie long after, and that he came not againe, he sayd: If Statilius be alive, he will come againe, But his evil fortune was suche that, as he came backe, he lighted in his enemies' hands, and was slaine. Now the night being farre spent, Brutus, as he sate, bowed towards Clitus, one of his men, and told him somewhat in his eare; the other aunswered him not, but fell a weeping. Thereupon he proved Dardanius, and sayd somewhat also to him: at length he came to Volumnius him selfe, and speaking to him in Greeke, prayed him for the studies sake which brought them acquainted together, that he would helpe him to put his hande to his sword, to thrust it in him to kill him, Volumnius denied his request, and so did many others: and amongest the rest one of them said there was no tarrying for them there, but that they must needes flie. Then Brutus rising up, We must flie in deede, sayd he; but it must be with our hands, not with our feete. Then taking every man by the hand, he sayd these words unto them with a chearfull countenance :-It rejoyceth my hart that no one of my friends hath failed me at my neede, and I do not complayne of my fortune, but only for my countries sake: for as for me, I thinke myselfe happier than they that have overcome, consider

Bru. Sit thee down, Clitus: Slaying is the word; It is a deed in fashion. Hark thee, Clitus.

[Whispering. Cli. What, I, my lord? No, not for all the world. Bru. Peace then, no words.

Cli. What ill request did Brutus make to thee?
Dar. To kill him, Clitus: Look, he meditates.
Cli. Now is that noble vessel full of grief,

That it runs over even at his eyes.

Bru. Come hither, good Volumnius: list a word.
Vol. What says my lord?

Bru.

Why, this, Volumnius: The ghost of Cæsar hath appear'd to me Two several times by night: at Sardis, once; And, this last night, here in Philippi' fields. I know, my hour is come.

lord.

Vol.
Not so, my
Bru. Nay, I am sure it is, Volumnius.
Thou seest the world, Volumnius, how it goes;
Our enemies have beat us to the pit:

It is more worthy to leap in ourselves,

Than tarry till they push us.

Good Volumnius,

Thou know'st, that we two went to school together;
Even for that our love of old, I pray thee,
Hold thou my sword-hilts 2, whilst I run on it.

ing that I leave a perpetual fame of our corage and manhoode, the which our enemies the conquerors shall never attaine unto by force nor money, neither can let their posteritie to say, that they have beene naughtie and unjust men, have slaine good men to usurpe tyrannical power not pertaining to them. Having sayd so, he prayd every man to shift for themselves, and then he went a little aside,' &c.

2 Hilts is frequently used where only one weapon is spoken

Vol. That's not an office for a friend, my lord.

[Alarum still
Cli. Fly, fly, my lord; there is no tarrying here.
Bru. Farewell to you;-and you;-and you,
Volumnius.

Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep;
Farewell to thee too, Strato.-Countrymen,
My heart doth joy, that yet, in all my life,
I found no man, but he was true to me.
I shall have glory by this losing day,
More than Octavius, and Mark Antony,
By this vile conquest shall attain unto.
So fare you well at once; for Brutus' tongue
Hath almost ended his life's history:

Night hangs upon mine eyes; my bones would rest,
That have but labour'd to attain this hour.

[Alarum. Cry within; Fly, fly, fly.

Cli. Fly, my lord, fly.

Bru.

Hence; I will follow.

[Exeunt CLITUS, DARDANIUS, and Vo

LUMNIUS.

I pr'ythee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord:
Thou art a fellow of a good respect;

Thy life hath had some smatch of honour in it:
Hold then my sword, and turn away thy face,
While I do run upon it. Wilt thou, Strato?
Stra. Give me your hand first: Fare you well,
my lord.

Bru. Farewell, good Strato.-Cæsar, now be still: I kill'd not thee with half so good a will.

[He runs on his Sword and dies.

of. Cassius says to Pindarus, in a former scene, 'Here take thou the hilts.' And King Richard III. :

r

• Take him over the costard with the hilts of thy sword.' So in The Mirror for Magistrates, 1587:-

a naked sword he had,

That to the hilts was all with blood imbrued

Alarum.

Retreat. Enter OCTAVIUS, ANTONY,
MESSALA, LUCILIUS, and their Army.
Oct. What man is that?

Mes. My master's man.-Strato, where is thy
master?

Stra. Free from the bondage you are in, Messala; The conquerors can but make a fire of him; For Brutus only overcame himself,

And no man else hath honour by his death.

Luc. So Brutus should be found.—I thank thee,
Brutus,

That thou hast prov'd Lucilius' saying true.

Oct. All that serv'd Brutus, I will entertain them 3. Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me? Stra. Ay, if Messala will prefer me to you. Oct. Do so, good Messala.

Mes.

4

How died my master, Strato? Strat. I held the sword, and he did run on it.

Mes. Octavius, then take him to follow thee, That did the latest service to my master.

Ant. This was the noblest Roman of them all:
All the conspirators, save only he,

Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar;
He, only, in a general honest thought,
And common good to all, made one of them.
His life was gentle; and the elements
So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up,
And
say to all the world, This was a man 5!

3 i. e. receive them into my service.

4 To prefer seems to have been the general term for recommending a servant. Thus in the Merchant of Venice, Aet iii. Sc. 2:

Shylock thy master, spoke with me this day,

And hath preferr'd thee.'

Its usual sense was to advance, or set before others.'

5 Drayton, in his Barons' Wars, has a similar passage, thus given by Steevens:~

He was a man (then boldly dare to say)

In whose rich soul the virtues well did suit; VOL. VIII.

L L

Oct. According to his virtue let us use him,
With all respect and rites of burial.
Within my tent his bones to-night shall lie,
Most like a soldier, order'd honourably.-
So, call the field to rest: and let's away,
To part the glories of this happy day.

-

In whom so mix'd the elements all lay,
That none to one could sov'reignty impute;
As all did govern, so did all obey:
He of a temper was so absolute,

As that it seem'd, when nature him began,

She meant to show all that might be in man.'

[Exeunt.

He afterwards revised the poem, which was, I believe, first published, under the title of the Barons' Wars, in 1603; and the stanza is thus exhibited in that edition :

'Such one he was (of him we boldly say),

In whose rich soule all soveraigne powers did sute;
In whom in peace the elements all lay

So mix'd, as none could soveraigntie impute;

As all did govern, yet did all obey;

His lively temper was so absolute,

That't seem'd, when heaven his modell first began,
In him it show'd perfection in a man.'

The poem originally appeared under the title of 'Mortimeriados' in 1596; but Malone says, there is no trace of the stanza in the poem in that form. He is wrong in asserting that the Barons' Wars were first published in 1608, as the following title-pag of my copy will show :- The Barons' Wars, in the raigne of Edward the Second, with England's Heroicall Epistles, by Michaell Drayton. At London, printed by J. R. for N. Ling, 1603.' So that if Malone be right in placing the date of the composition of Julius Cæsar in 1607, Shakspeare imitated Drayton.

Of this tragedy many particular passages deserve regard, and the contention and reconcilement of Brutus and Cassius is universally celebrated; but I have never been strongly agitated in perusing it; and I think it somewhat cold and unaffecting, compared with some other of Shakspeare's plays: his adherence to the real story, and to Roman manners, seem to have impeded the natural vigour of his genius.-JOHNSON.

Gildon has justly observed that this tragedy ought to have been called MARCUS BRUTUS, Cæsar being a very inconsiderable personage in the scene, and being killed in the third act.