did not clap him, and hiss him, according as he pleased, and displeased them, as they use to do the players in the theatre, I am no true man. BRU. What said he, when he came unto himself? CASCA. Marry, before he fell down, when he perceiv'd the common herd was glad he refused the crown, he plucked me ope his doublet, and offered them his throat to cut.-An I had been a man of any occupation,5 if I would not have taken him at a word, I would I might go to hell among the rogues:-and so he fell. When he came to himself again, he said, If he had done or said any thing amiss, he desired their worships to think it was his infirmity. Three or four wenches, where I stood, cried, Alas, good soul!--and forgave him with all their hearts: But there's no heed to be taken of them; if Cæsar had stabbed their mothers, they would have done no less. BRU. And after that, he came, thus sad, away? CASCA. Ay. CAS. Did Cicero say any thing? CASCA. Ay, he spoke Greek. CAS. To what effect? CASCA. Nay, an I tell you that, I'll ne'er look you i' the face again: But those, that understood him, smiled at one another, and shook their heads: but, for mine own part, it was Greek to me. I no true man.] No honest man. See Vol. VI. p. 347, n. 7. MALONE. 5 a man of any occupation,] Had I been a mechanick, one of the Plebeians to whom he offered his throat. JOHNSON. So, in Coriolanus, Act IV. sc. vi: 66 You that have stood so much could tell you more news too: Marullus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs off Cæsar's images, are put to silence. Fare you well. There was more foolery yet, if I could remember it. CAS. Will you sup with me to-night, Casca? CAS. Will you dine with me to-morrow? CASCA. Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold, and your dinner worth the eating. CAS. Good; I will expect you. CASCA. Do so: Farewell, both. [Exit CASCA. BRU. What a blunt fellow is this grown to be? He was quick mettle, when he went to school. CAS. So is he now, in execution Of any bold or noble enterprize, BRU. And so it is. For this time I will leave you: To-morrow, if you please to speak with me, CAS. I will do so :-till then, think of the world. [Exit BRUTus. Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see, 6 6 • Thy honourable metal may be wrought From that it is dispos'd:] The best metal or temper may be worked into qualities contrary to its original constitution. JOHNSON. That noble minds keep ever with their likes: 8 He should not humour me. I will this night, And, after this, let Cæsar seat him sure; [Exit. From that it is dispos'd, i. e. dispos'd to. See Vol. XV. p. 196, n. 4. MALone. 7 -doth bear me hard;] i. e. has an unfavourable opinion of me. The same phrase occurs again in the first scene of Act III. STEEVENS 8 If I were Brutus now, and he were Cassius, He should not humour me.]. This is a reflection on Brutus's ingratitude; which concludes, as is usual on such occasions, in an encomium on his own better conditions. If I were Brutus, (says he) and Brutus Cassius, he should not cajole me as I do him. To humour signifies here to turn and wind him, by inflaming his passions. WARBURTON. The meaning, I think, is this: Cesar loves Brutus, but if Brutus and I were to change places, his love should not humour me, should not take hold of my affection, so as to make me forget my principles. JOHNSON. SCENE III. The same. A Street. Thunder and Lightning. Enter, from opposite sides, CASCA, with his Sword drawn, and CICERO. CIC. Good even, Casca: Brought you Cæsar home?9 Why are you breathless? and why stare you so? CASCA. Are not you mov'd, when all the sway of earth1 Shakes, like a thing unfirm? O Cicero, I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds 9 CIC. Why, saw you any thing more wonderful? CASCA. A common slave (you know him well by sight,) home? 1 Brought you Cæsar home?] Did you attend Cæsar So, in Measure for Measure: "That we may bring you something on the way." See Vol. VI. p. 196, n. 1. MALone. sway of earth-] The whole weight or momentum of this globe. JOHNSON. 46 2 A common slave &c.] So, in the old translation of Plutarch: —a slave of the souldiers that did cast a marvelous burning Held up his left hand, which did flame, and burn Who glar'd upon me, and went surly by, flame out of his hande, insomuch as they that saw it, thought he had bene burnt; but when the fire was out, it was found he had no hurt." 3 STEEVENS. Who glar'd upon me,] The first [and second] edition reads: Perhaps, Who gaz'd upon me. JOHNSON. Glar'd is certainly right. So, in King Lear: "Look where he stands, and glares!" Again, in Hamlet: "Look you, how pale he glares!" Again, Skelton in his Crowne of Lawrell, describing "a lyb bard:" "As gastly that glaris, as grimly that grones." Again, in the Ashridge MS. of Milton's Comus, as published by the ingenious and learned Mr. Todd, verse 416: To "And yawning denns, where glaringe monsters house." gaze is only to look stedfastly, or with admiration. Glar'd has a singular propriety, as it expresses the furious scintillation of a lion's eye: and, that a lion should appear full of fury, and yet attempt no violence, augments the prodigy. STEEvens. The old copy reads-glaz'd, for which Mr. Pope substituted glar'd, and this reading has been adopted by all the subsequent editors. Glar'd certainly is to our ears a more forcible expression; I have however adopted a reading proposed by Dr. Johnson, gaz'd; induced by the following passage in Stowe's Chronicle, 1615, from which the word gaze seems in our author's time to have been peculiarly applied to the fierce aspect of a lion, and therefore may be presumed to have been the word here intended. The writer is describing a trial of valour (as he calls it,) between a lion, a bear, a stone-horse, and a mastiff; which was exhibited in the Tower, in the year 1609, before the king and all the royal family, diverse great lords, and many others: "—Then was the great lyon put forth, who gazed awhile, but never offered to assault or approach the bear." Again: "—the above mentioned young lusty lyon and lyoness were put together, to see |
