That at his will he may do danger with. Which hatch'd, would as his kind grow mischievous; And, "Since Cassius first did whet me against Cæsar, I have not slept. Between the acting of a dreadful thing, And the first motion, all the interim is Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream : * Act ii. Sc. 1. Portia's expostulation with her husband for his want of confidence in her, when she exhibits the self-inflicted wound, by which she thought to convince him of her constancy, is from Plutarch. I grant, I am a woman, but withal, A woman that lord Brutus took to wife; I grant, I am a woman; but withal, A woman well-reputed, Cato's daughter. Think you, I am no stronger than my sex, Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose them: Here, in the thigh; can I bear that with patience, And not my husband's secrets ?”* The exclusion of Cicero from the conspiracy, and all the circumstances preliminary to the murder, including the dreams of Calphurnia, and Cæsar's apprehensions of evil on that particular day, rest upon the same authority. And Plutarch represents Cæsar as abandoning all notion of safety or defence, so soon as he found that Brutus was among his assailers. Commentators have been puzzled,† by the insertion of Cæsar's address to Brutus, "Et tu, * Act ii. Sc. 1. North, 821, 822. + Bosw. 78. Brute." It is not in North, nor in Lord Sterline's play; nor even in Suetonius, where the phrase is, "And thou, my son," and the original is not in Latin, but in Greek. Where Shakspeare found it, I cannot divine. The apparent reconciliation between Mark Antony and the murderers of his friend, is justified by Plutarch's statement that they supped together.* But it is chiefly in the orations of Brutus and Antony that Shakspeare improves upon his original. 'The next morning, Brutus and his confederates came into the market-place to speak unto the people, who gave them such audience that it seemed they neither approved nor allowed the fact, for by their great silence they shewed that they were sorry for Cæsar's death, and also that they did reverence Brutus. Now, the senate granted general pardon for all that was past, and to pacify every man, ordained besides that Cæsar's funeral should be honoured as a god, and established all things that he had done; and gave certain provinces also, and convenient honours unto Brutus and his confederates, whereby every man thought that all things were brought to peace and quietness again. But when they had opened Cæsar's testament, and found a liberal legacy of money bequeathed unto every citizen of Rome; and * North, 823. that they saw his body (which was brought into the market-place) all bemangled with gashes of swords, then there was no order to keep the multitude and common people quiet, but they plucked up forms, tables, and stools, and laid them all about the body, and setting them afire, burnt the corpse.' Again, "When the people saw Brutus in the pulpit, although they were a multitude of rake-hells of all sorts, and had a good will to make some stir, yet being ashamed to do it, for reverence they bare unto Brutus, they kept silence to hear what he would say. When Brutus began to speak, they gave him quiet audience; howbeit, immediately after, they showed that they were not at all contented with the murder. They (the senators) came to talk of Cæsar's will and testament, and of his funeral and tomb. Then Antonius, thinking good his testament should be read openly, and also that his body should be honourably buried, and not in hugger-mugger, lest the people should thereby take occasion to be worse offended, if they did otherwise, Cassius stoutly spake against it, but Brutus went with the motion, and agreed to it. When Cæsar's body was brought into the market-place, Antonius making his funeral oration in praise of the dead, according to the ancient custom of Rome, and perceiving that his * North's Plutarch's Cæsar, p. 615. words moved the common people to compassion, he framed his eloquence to make their hearts yearn the more, and taking Cæsar's gown all bloody, in his hand, he layed it open to the sight of them all, shewing what a number of cuts and holes it had upon it. Therewith the people fell presently into such a rage and mutiny, that there was no more order kept among the common people." Out of this Shakspeare has constructed some of the finest passages in the play ;-those with which we are all familiar in our boyhood, probably even more than with those which illustrate the English history. I quote the speeches in the market-place, and the preliminary dialogue :— "Cassius. Brutus, a word with you.— You know not what you do; do not consent, Know you how much the people may be mov'd By that which he will utter? Brutus. By your pardon, I will myself into the pulpit first, And show the reason of our Cæsar's death, * North, p. 823.—See also, in the Life of Antony, p. 759, a similar account. |