And chastisement doth therefore hide his head.
CAS. Chastisement !

BRU. Remember March, the ides of March remember!

Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake?
What villain touch'd his body, that did stab,
And not for justice? What, shall one of us,
That struck the foremost man of all this world
But for supporting robbers, shall we now
Contaminate our fingers with base bribes,
And sell the mighty space of our large honours
For so much trash as may be grasped thus ?—
I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon,
Than such a Roman.

CAS.
Brutus, bay not me,—
I'll not endure it: you forget yourself,
To hedge me in; I am a soldier, I,
Older in practice, abler than yourself
To make conditions.

Go to; you are not, Cassius.

BRU.
CAS. I am.
BRU. I say you are not.

CAS. Urge me no more,

I shall forget myself;

Have mind upon your health, tempt me no further.
BRU. Away, slight man!
CAS. Is't possible?

BRU. Hear me, for I will speak! Must I give way and room to your rash choler? Shall I be frighted when a madman stares? CAS. O, ye gods! ye gods! must I endure all this?

BRU. All this! ay, more: fret till your proud heart break;

Go show
your slaves how choleric you are,
And make your bondmen tremble. Must I budge?
Must I observe you? must I stand and crouch
Under your testy humour? By the gods,
You shall digest the venom of your spleen,
Though it do split you! for, from this day forth,
I'll use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter,
When you are waspish.

CAS.

Is it come to this? BRU. You say you are a better soldier: Let it appear so; make your vaunting true, And it shall please me well: for mine own part,

I shall be glad to learn of noble men.

CAS. You wrong me; every way you wrong me, Brutus ;

I said an elder soldier, not a better:
Did I say, better?

BRU.

If you did, I care not.

BRU. you durst not. CAS. Do not presume too much upon my love;

I may do that I shall be sorry for.

BRU. You have done that you should be sorry

for.

There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats ;
For I am arm'd so strong in honesty,
That they pass by me as the idle wind,
Which I respect not. I did send to you

For certain sums of gold, which you denied me;-
For I can raise no money by vile means:
By heaven, I had rather coin my heart,
And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring
From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash
By any indirection !-I did send
To you for gold to pay my legions,
Which you denied me: was that done like Cassius?
Should I have answer'd Caius Cassius so?
When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous,
To lock such rascal counters from his friends,

Collier's annotator, and looking to what Cassius had previously said,

"I am a soldier, I, Older in practice, abler than yourself," &c.

it is a very plausible emendation.

Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts, Dash him to pieces!

CAS.

I denied you not.

BRU. You did.
CAS.
I did not:-he was but a fool
That brought my answer back.-Brutus hath riv'd
my heart:

A friend should bear his friend's infirmities,
But Brutus makes mine greater than they are.
BRU. I do not, till you practise them on me.
CAS. You love me not.

BRU.
I do not like your faults.
CAS. A friendly eye could never see such faults.
BRU. A flatterer's would not, though they do
appear

As huge as high Olympus.

CAS. Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come, Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius, For Cassius is a-weary of the world! Hated by one he loves; brav'd by his brother; Check'd like a bondman; all his faults observ'd,

a-you are yoked with a lamb,-] "Lamb" can hardly have been the poet's word, and Pope, who saw its unfitness, printed man; but it requires a happier conjecture than this to justify an alteration of the text.

b When grief and blood, ill-temper'd, &c.] By ill-tempered is meant badly qualified. "The four humours in a man, accord

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,
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,
When thou didst hate him worst, thou lov'dst him
better
Than ever thou lov'dst Cassius.
BRU.
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,"
That carries anger as the flint bears fire;
Who, much enforced, shows a hasty spark,
And straight is cold again.

CAS.

Hath Cassius liv'd

To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus, When grief and blood, ill-temper'd, vexeth him?

(*) Old text, Pluto's.

ing to the old physicians, were blood, choler, phlegm, and melancholy. So long as these were duly mixed, all would be well."

-TRENCH.

CAS. How now! what's the matter? POET. For shame, you generals! what do you mean?

Love, and be friends, as two such men should be ; For I have seen more years, I'm sure, than ye.

CAS. Ha, ha! how vilely doth this cynic rhyme !

BRU. Get you hence, sirrah; saucy fellow, hence!

CAS. Bear with him, Brutus: 't is his fashion. BRU. I'll know his humour, when he knows his time:

What should the wars do with these jigging fools?Companion, hence! (2)

CAS.

Away, away, be gone!

[Exit Poet. BRU. Lucilius and Titinius, bid the commanders Prepare to lodge their companies to-night.

CAS. And come yourselves, and bring Messala

with you, Immediately to us.

BRU.

[Exeunt LUCILIUS and TITINIUS. Lucius, a bowl of wine.

CAS. I did not think you could have been so

BRU. Speak no more of her.-Give me a bowl of wine.

In this I bury all unkindness, Cassius.

[Drinks.

CAS. My heart is thirsty for that noble pledge.

Fill, Lucius, till the wine o'erswell the cup;
I cannot drink too much of Brutus' love. [Drinks.
BRU. Come in, Titinius!—

MES. Nor nothing in your letters writ of her?
BRU. Nothing, Messala.
MES.

That, methinks, is strange.

BRU. Why ask you? hear you aught of her in yours?

MES. No, my lord.

BRU. Now, as you are a Roman, tell me true. MES. Then like a Roman bear the truth I tell : For certain she is dead, and by strange manner. BRU. Why, farewell, Portia.-We must die, Messala:

With meditating that she must die once,
I have the patience to endure it now.

MES. Even so great men great losses should endure.

CAS. I have as much of this in art as you,

But yet my nature could not bear it so.

BRU. Well, to our work alive. What do you

That we have tried the utmost of our friends,
Our legions are brim-full, our cause is ripe:
The enemy increaseth every day;
We, at the height, are ready to decline.
There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.

CAS.
Then, with your will, go on;
We'll along ourselves, and meet them at Philippi.
BRU. The deep of night is crept upon our talk,

a-new-added,-] Mr. Dyce and Mr. Singer read "new-aided;" Mr. Collier's annotator, "new-hearted;" but we cannot see that VOL. III. 449

[Exeunt Cas., TIT., and MES.

VAR. Calls my lord?

BRU. 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.

VAR. So please you, we will stand and watch your pleasure.

BRU. I will not have it so: lie down, good sirs; It be I shall otherwise bethink me.may

Look, Lucius, here's the book I sought for so;
I put it in the pocket of my gown.

[VAR. and CLAU. lie down. Luc. I was sure your lordship did not give it

me.

BRU. Bear with me, good boy, I am much forgetful.

Canst thou hold up thy heavy eyes awhile,
And touch thy instrument a strain or two?
Luc. Ay, my lord, an 't please you.
BRU.
It does, my boy:
I trouble thee too much, but thou art willing.
Luc. It is my duty, sir.

change of any kind is indispensable. bo'er-watch'd.] Kept over-much from sleep.

G G