CAS. Brutus, this sober form of yours hides

wrongs;

And when you do them

BRU.

Cassius, be content,

Speak your griefs softly,-I do know you well:-
Before the eyes of both our armies here,

Which should perceive nothing but love from us,
Let us not wrangle: Bid them move away;
Then in my tent, Cassius, enlarge your griefs,
And I will give you audience.

CAS.

Pindarus, Bid our commanders lead their charges off A little from this ground.

BRU. Lucilius, do the like;" and let no man Come to our tent, till we have done our conference, Let Lucius and Titinius guard our door.

[Exeunt.

your griefs- i, e. your grievances. See Vol. V.

p. 314, n. 8; and Vol. XI. p. 392, n. 2. MALONE.

7

do the like;] Old copy-" do you the like;" but without regard to metre. STEEVENS.

SCENE III.

Within the Tent of Brutus.

Lucius and Titinius at some distance from it.

Enter BRUTUS and CASSIUS.

CAS. That you have wrong'd me, doth appear in this:

You have condemn'd and noted Lucius Pella,
For taking bribes here of the Sardians;
Wherein, my letters, praying on his side,
Because I knew the man, were slighted off.

BRU. You wrong'd yourself, to write in such a

case.

CAS. In such a time as this, it is not meet That every nice offence should bear his comment, BRU. Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself Are much condemn'd to have an itching palm; To sell and mart your offices for gold,

To undeservers.

CAS.

I an itching palm?

You know, that you are Brutus that speak this, Or, by the gods, this speech were else your last.

every nice offence-] i. e. small trifling offence.

WARBURTON.

"The letter was not nice, but full of charge

So, in Romeo and Juliet, Act V:

"Of dear import." STEEVENS.

BRU. The name of Cassius honours this corrup

tion,

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

BRU. Remember March, the ides of March re-
member!

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,1

• What villain touch'd his body, that did stab,

And not for justice?] This question is far from implying that any of those who touch'd Cæsar's body, were villains. On the contrary, it is an indirect way of asserting that there was not one man among them, who was base enough to stab him for any cause but that of justice. MALOne.

'Cas. Brutus, bay not me,] The old copy-bait not me. Mr. Theobald and all the subsequent editors read-bay not me; and the emendation is sufficiently plausible, our author having in Troilus and Cressida used the word bay in the same sense:

"What moves Ajax thus to bay at him!"

But as he has likewise twice used bait in the sense required here, the text, in my apprehension, ought not to be disturbed. "I will not yield," says Macbeth:

"To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet,
"And to be baited with the rabble's curse."

Again, in Coriolanus:

66

why stay we to be baited

"With one that wants her wits?"

So also, in a comedy intitled, How to choose a Good Wife from a Bad, 1602:

I'll not endure it: you forget yourself,
To hedge me in; I am a soldier, I,
Older in practice,3 abler than yourself
To make conditions.+

BRU.

CAS. I am.

Go to; you're not, Cassius.

BRU. I say, you are not.5

CAS. Urge me no more, I shall forget myself; Have mind upon your health, tempt me no further.

"Do I come home so seldom, and that seldom

"Am I thus baited?"

The reading of the old copy, which I have restored, is likewise supported by a passage in King Richard III:

"To be so baited, scorn'd, and storm'd at."

MALONE.

The second folio, on both occasions, has-bait; and the spirit of the reply will, in my judgment, be diminished, unless a repetition of the one or the other word be admitted. I therefore continue to read with Mr. Theobald. Bay, in our author, may be as frequently exemplified as bait. It occurs again in the play before us, as well as in A Midsummer-Night's Dream, Cymbeline, King Henry IV. P. II. &c. &c. STEEVENS,

To hedge me in ;] That is, to limit my authority by your direction or censure. JOHNSON.

Older in practice, &c.] Thus the ancient copies; but the modern editors, instead of I, have read ay, because the vowel I sometimes stands for ay the affirmative adverb. I have replaced the old reading, on the authority of the following line:

“And I am Brutus; Marcus Brutus I." STEEVENS. See Vol. XII. p. 85, n. 6. MALone.

To make conditions.] That is, to know on what terms it is fit to confer the offices which are at my disposal. JOHNSON. 5 Cas. I am.

Bru. I say, you are not.] This passage may easily be restored to metre, if we read:

Brutus, I am.

Cassius, I say, you are not. STEEVENS.

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 cholerick 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.

CAS. When Cæsar liv'd, he durst not thus have mov'd me.

* I'll use you for my mirth,] Mr. Rowe has transplanted this insult into the mouth of Lothario:

"And use his sacred friendship for our mirth."

STEEVENS.