But bear it as our Roman actors do, Exeunt. Brutus remains. Act II., 1. Immediately after the few lines to Lucius, Portia enters. While it may be simply a coincidence, it is worth remarking that in both dramas Portia arises in the early morning to seek her husband. There is no warrant for this in Plutarch. That Pescetti should have the conspirators perfecting their plans in the early morning may be regarded as a necessity of his dramatic form. Plutarch does not suggest this touch. Possibly Shakespeare considered it a gain in dramatic effectiveness to have the conspiracy confirmed during the tempestuous night. Perhaps Pescetti's treatment influenced him. In both dramas the interrogator comments upon Portia's early rising. Cassius-Molto per tempo esci di casa, o Porzia.—Ces., p. 29. Brutus-Portia, what mean you? Wherefore rise you now? It is not for your health thus to commit Your weak condition to the raw, cold morning. Portia in soliloquy says: Non senzo gran cagion stamane uscito Si per tempo di casa è il mio consorte.-Ces., p. 28. Plutarch says: "So when the day was come, Brutus went out of his house with a dagger by his side under his long gown, that nobody saw nor knew but his wife only." (Marcus Brutus, p. 116.). Thus, according to the biographer, the conspiracy had been perfected days before and Portia by this time evidently knew of it. Neither is there any warrant in the histories for Portia's prayer for Brutus: "O Brutus, The heavens speed thee in thine enterprise!"-Act II., Sc. IV. Similarly, in Pescetti, Portia's last words are a blessing on Brutus: "Và, che ti scorga, e ti difenda Giove."-P. 58. Even closer is her prayer at the conclusion of Brutus' rapturous outburst in her scene with Cassius: "Ite, ò forti, ite ò saggi, te ò de gli alti Legnaggi, onde scendete, degni; il Cielo These coincidences may be simply accidental, but taken in connection with many other points of contact between the two dramas, they assume greater significance, and lend strength to the hypothesis herein advanced: that Shakespeare was influenced by Pescetti's treatment to include the BrutusPortia scenes in his own drama. IV Pescetti's other principal feminine character is the conventional lay figure of the drama of his time: a lifeless automaton who seems to exist solely for the purpose of indulging in intolerably wordy lamentations.* Yet Pescetti has put in the mouth of this lachrymose puppet a few lines which form the closest parallel to be found between the two plays. D. Brutus thus replies to Caesar's depreciation of his flattery: D. B.-"Non è lingua mortal per pronta, e scaltra Che sia, non è di dir si ricca vena, E tema vil reputaria lo sdegno D'Achille, e i lunghi error del saggio Ulisse." * Many of the motifs of the Calpurnia-Nurse scene in Pescetti are derived from Muretus. Others are reminiscent of Grévin. Hereupon Calpurnia exclaims: "Ahi pur, ch'anzi a gli Euripidi non porga Ne'secoli avvenir le sue sventure." This outburst is entirely lost on Caesar, who says: "A parlar d'altro omai volgiamo i nostri Calpurnia's prophetic doubt is placed in such a setting that its dramatic effect is lost. This, it seems, was too tempting a morsel for Shakespeare's keen sense of dramatic fitness to overlook, and at the moment when the conspirators have reached the climax of their success, we find him assigning Calpurnia's speech to the exultant Cassius, to stir the audience with its theatrical effect and to bewilder generations of future critics. Cas. "How many ages hence Shall this our lofty scene be acted over, In states unborn and accents yet unknown!" Bru.-"How many times shall Caesar bleed in sport, No worthier than the dust."* (III, 1, 112. I regard this as the most remarkable parallel between the work of Pescetti and that of Shakespeare. It is entirely too close in word and content to be fortuitous. The dramatic effect of Cassius' outburst is undeniable; yet its dramatic truth is questionable. All the more so since the speech of Cassius immediately following, So oft as that shall be, So often shall the knot of us be call'd The men that gave their country liberty," * Malone long ago suggested that this scene probably refers to the popularity of the play on the stage, and that it points to other contemporary dramas on the same subject. Prolegomena, II, ff. 448-9. Ed. 1823. Prof. Sykes sees in it a dramatic device to emphasize the reality of the presentation. "Julius Caesar" note, page 142. has always impressed me as an anticlimax. This, both in word and in thought, coming so soon after his noble speech, produces the same unpleasant effect as, “O world, thou wast the forest to this hart, And this, indeed, O world, the heart of thee," which, intruded into Antony's lament, has caused many critics to regard these lines as interpolations. Nor does Cassius' first exalted outburst seem in keeping with his character. Of all the conspirators he is the last whom we would expect to find indulging in raptures at such a critical moment. Far more in keeping are his next words, “Ay, every man away: Brutus shall lead, and we will grace his heels With the most boldest and best hearts of Rome." This indeed is Cassius; every man on the alert, and every energy bent to insure the successful conclusion of their enterprise. But, whatever its fitness to the character, Shakespeare, from the point of view of effect, certainly could have found no better place for its introduction. Doubtless, in his day the gentry clenched their pipes, while the gaping groundlings clutched their greasy jerkins, both animated by the same feeling that oversways the modern audience at these ringing prophetic phrases. And then the simple stage direction, "Enter a servant:" the beginning of the end! For sheer dramatic effect few passages in Shakespeare surpass it. V The other persons in "Cesare" may be dismissed in a few words. The Nurse and the Priest are simply the conventional lay figures of the drama of the time, while Decimus Brutus seems to have been included because he happened to be in the histories. Neither he nor Lenate possesses any individuality, and considered solely in themselves, contribute nothing of value to this investigation. "CESARE" IN ENGLAND Pescetti's work, tedious as it is to the modern reader, was not without its attractions to the Elizabethan. An age which could produce "Polyolbions" could very well tolerate a "Cesare." It was cast in the popular dramatic form, dealt with a popular theme, and above all, came from a land inseparably connected in the public mind with romance and tragedy. To the Elizabethan, "Ex Italia, semper aliquid novi." That the work was probably known to English authors receives additional support from the use seemingly made of it by Sir William Alexander (Earl of Stirling) in his own "Tragedy of Julius Caesar." Alexander's work was issued about 1604-7. Of it, Dr. T. A. Lester says: "In general it may be said that Alexander follows Grévin, availing himself not only of Grévin's original scenes, but also of Grévin's non-Plutarchian order. . . . There can be little doubt that Alexander's 'Julius Caesar' is nothing but Grévin's 'Cesar' rewritten and enlarged."* Alexander followed Grévin, but he did so with an admixture of Pescetti. Prof. H. M. Ayres claims that Alexander got his Prologue from the Hercules Furens of Seneca, substituting Caesar for Hercules as the object of Juno's wrath. Pescetti's Prologue is one of the curious things about his drama. Such an introduction is lacking in both Muretus and Grévin.† Possibly both Alexander and Pescetti got their idea from Seneca, but there are parallels in content between the two which are only faintly adumbrated in the Latin author. Juno's censure of * "Connections between the Drama of France and Great Britain, particularly in the Elizabethan Period." Harvard Dissertation, 1900 (unpublished), quoted by Ayres. † Alexander's Prologue is the first act of the drama. Juno delivers a long monologue and the chorus closes the act. In Muretus, Caesar and the chorus occupy the first act. In Grévin, it is Caesar, Antony and the Chorus of Soldiers. In Pescetti, the Prologue is separate, but like in Alexander the actors therein do not appear in the drama proper. |