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,

A

[Low alarums.

이

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 prithee,
Hold thou my sword-hilts, whilst I run on it.

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.

Cli. Fly, my lord, fly.

Bru.

30

40

[Alarum. Cry within, Fly, fly, fly!'

Hence! I will follow.

[Exeunt Clitus, Dardanius, and Volumnius.

I prithee, 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. [Runs on his sword.] Cæsar, now be still:

I kill'd not thee with half so good a will.

50

[Dies.

Alarum. Retreat. Enter OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, MESSALA, LUCILIUS, and the 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.

Lucil. So Brutus should be found. I thank thee, Brutus,

That thou hast proved Lucilius' saying true.

Oct. All that served Brutus, I will entertain them.

60

Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me?
Stra. Ay, if Messala will prefer me to you.
Oct. Do so, good Messala.

Mes.

How died my master, Strato?

Stra. 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!'

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.

70

80

[Exeunt.

NOTES.

ACT I.

Scene I.

The title of the play in the It is there divided into Acts but all is marked as 'Actus Primus. sone was first given imperfectly by Rowe, and afterwards more completely by Theobald. The locality, 'Rome. A street' is from Capell. Theobald has, 'A street in Rome'; Rowe simply 'Rome.'

first folio is 'The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar.' not into Scenes, although the first scene of Scena Prima.' The list of Dramatis Per

Enter Flavius, &c. The folio has Enter Flavius, Murellus, and certaine Commoners ouer the Stage.' Theobald corrected Murelius to Marullus from Plutarch.

3. Being mechanical, that is, being mechanics or artisans. We find the word used as a substantive in Midsummer Night's Dream, iii. 2. 9:

'A crew of patches, rude mechanicals.'

And in 2 Henry VI, i. 3. 196:

'Base dunghill villain and mechanical.'

Ib. you ought not walk. In all other cases in which ought' occurs in Shakespeare it is followed by 'to.' Both constructions are found. For instance, in the later Wicliffite version of Genesis xxxiv. 31, 'Symeon and Leuy answeriden, Whether thei ouzten mysuse oure sistir'; where some manuscripts read 'to mysuse.' Again, in Holinshed's Chronicle (ed. 1577), ii. 1006 a: 'But the Lord Henry Percy L. Marshall, appoynted to make way before the K. with the Duke of Lācaster . . . . came to the knight, and told him, that he ought not come at that time, but whe the K. was at dinner.' The earlier construction appears to have been with 'to.' Dr. Morris (English Accidence, § 303) states that 'owe' as an auxiliary verb first appears in Lazamon's Brut. If this be the case, it is instructive to observe that in the earlier recension of the poem (ed. Madden, i. 262), we find and þat heo azen me to zelden,' and that they ought to yield to me; while in the later the line stands thus, and hii þat hahte zelden' and they ought yield that. Again, in the earlier recension (ii. 634), ich ahte to bizeten Rome' = I ought to win Rome, is in the later 'ich hahte ohni Rome' I ought obtain Rome. On the other hand, we find in the earlier recension, when the word is more strictly used as an auxiliary (ii. 276), ‘and swa þu azest Hengest don'= and so thou oughtest do to Hengest. In the last-quoted example 'azest' is the present tense, but ought,' though properly past, is used also as a

6

G

present, like 'wot' and 'must.' On this irregularity in the use of the infinitive with or without 'to' after auxiliary or quasi-auxiliary verbs, Dr. Guest remarks (Philological Society's Proceedings, ii. 227), 'Originally the to was prefixed to the gerund but never to the present infinitive; as however the custom gradually prevailed of using the latter in place of the former, the to was more and more frequently prefixed to the infinitive, till it came to be considered as an almost necessary appendage of it.. The to is still generally omitted after the auxiliaries and also after certain other verbs, as bid, dare, see, hear, make, &c. But even in these cases there has been great diversity of usage.' The following early instances of the omission of 'to' are taken from Mätzner's Englische Grammatik, and the Wörterbuch which accompanies his Altenglische Sprachproben.

I oughte ben hyere than she.'

....

Vision of Piers Ploughman (ed. T. Wright), 1. 936.

'Wip here bodies þat azte be so free.'

Robert of Gloucester (ed. Hearne), i. p. 12.

And glader ought his freend ben of his deth.'

Chaucer, Cant. Tales, 1. 3053.

Milton imitated the construction in Paradise Lost, viii. 73, 74: 'And not divulge

His secrets, to be scann'd by them who ought

Rather admire.'

4. a labouring day, a working day. Professor Craik points out that 'labouring' is here not a participle but a substantive or verbal noun; 'a labouring day' being not a day that labours but a day for labouring.'

4, 5. without the sign Of your profession. It is more likely that Shakespeare had in his mind a custom of his own time than any sumptuary law of the Romans.

6, 10. First Com. and Sec. Com. The folios have 'Car.,' that is 'Carpenter'; and Cobl.' for 'Cobbler.'

7. thy leather apron and thy rule. Compare the description of a Roman mob in Antony and Cleopatra, v. 2. 210:

'Mechanic slaves

With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers, shall

Uplift us to the view.'

10. in respect of, in comparison with, compared to. So in Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2.639: 'Hector was but a Troyan in respect of this.' And As You Like It, iii. 2. 68: Thou worms-meat, in respect of a good piece of flesh indeed II. a cobbler, a botcher, a bungling workman.

12. directly, straightforwardly, without evasion. So Lady Percy says to Hotspur in I Henry IV, ii. 3. 89:

Come, come, you paraquito, answer me

Directly unto this question that I ask.'