Into the channel, till the lowest stream
Do kiss the most exalted shores of all.

[Exeunt Commoners.
See, whe'r their basest metal be not mov'd;
They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness.
Go you down that way towards the Capitol;
This way will I. Disrobe the images,

If you do find them deck'd with ceremonies."
Mar. May we do so?

You know it is the feast of Lupercal.

Flav. It is no matter; let no images

Be hung with Cæsar's trophies.

I'll about,

And drive away the vulgar from the streets:

So do you too, where you perceive them thick.
These growing feathers pluck'd from Cæsar's wing,
Will make him fly an ordinary pitch;

Who else would soar above the view of men,
And keep us all in servile fearfulness.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. The Same. A Public Place.

Enter, in Procession, with Music, CÆSAR; ANTONY, for the course; CALPHURNIA, PORTIA, DECius, CICERO, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, and CASCA; a great Crowd following, among them a Soothsayer.

Casca. Peace, ho! Cæsar speaks. [Music ceases.
Cas. Calphurnia,-

Cal. Here, my lord.

5 Ceremonies is here used for ornaments of respect or tokens of honour.

H.

6 A passage in the next scene shows what these trophies were. Casca there informs Cassius that Marullus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs off Cæsar's images, are put to silence.

Cæs. Stand you directly in Antonius' way, When he doth run his course. - Antonius, Ant. Cæsar, my lord.

Cas. Forget not, in your speed, Antonius, To touch Calphurnia; for our elders say, The barren, touched in this holy chase, Shake off their sterile curse.'

Ant.

I shall remember:

When Cæsar says, "Do this," it is perform'd.
Cas. Set on; and leave no ceremony out.

Sooth. Cæsar!

Cas. Ha! who calls?

Casca. Bid every noise be still:

again!

[Music ceases.

Cas. Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music,
Cry, Cæsar! Speak; Cæsar is turn'd to hear.
Sooth. Beware the ides of March.

Cæs.
What man is that?
Bru. A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of
March.2

men.

1 This passage is founded on the following from North's Plutarch: "At that time the feast Lupercalia was celebrated, the which in old time, men say, was the feast of shepheards or heardsBut, howsoever it is, that day there are divers noblemen's sons which run naked through the city, striking in sport them they meet in their way, with leather thongs. And many noblewomen and gentlewomen also go of purpose to stand in their way, and put forth their hands to be stricken; perswading themselves that, being with child, they shall have good delivery; and so, being barren, that it will make them to conceive. Cæsar sate to behold that sport upon the pulpit for orations, in a chaine of gold, apparelled in triumphant manner. Antonius, who was Consull at that time, was one of them that ranne this holy course."

H.

2 Coleridge has a remark on this line, which, whether true to the subject or not, is very characteristic of the writer: "If my ear does not deceive me, the metre of this line was meant to express

Cas. Set him before me; let me see his face. Cas, Fellow, come from the throng: look upon Cæsar.

Cas. What say'st thou to me now? Speak once

again.

Sooth. Beware the ides of March.

Cæs. He is a dreamer; let us leave him:

[Sennet. Exeunt all but BRU. and CAS.

Cas. Will you go see the order of the course? Bru. Not I.

Cas. I pray you, do.

Bru. I am not gamesome: I do lack some part Of that quick spirit that is in Antony.

Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires;

I'll leave you.

Cas. Brutus, I do observe you now of late:
I have not from your eyes that gentleness
And show of love as I was wont to have:
You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand
Over your friend that loves you.

Bru.

Cassius,

Be not deceiv'd: if I have veil'd my look,
I turn the trouble of my countenance
Merely upon myself. Vexed I am

Of late with passions of some difference,
Conceptions only proper to myself,

Which give some soil, perhaps, to my behaviours;

that sort of mild philosophic contempt, characterising Brutus even in his first casual speech." - Plutarch's Life of Julius Cæsar furnished the basis of the passage, thus: "There was a certaine Soothsayer that had given Cæsar warning long time afore, to take heed of the Ides of March, which is the fifteenth of the month, for on that day he should be in great danger. That day being come, Cæsar, going unto the Senate house, and speaking merily unto the Soothsayer, told him the Ides of March be come. So they be, softly answered the Soothsayer, but yet are they not past."

H.

But let not therefore my good friends be griev'd,
(Among which number, Cassius, be you one,)
Nor construe any further my neglect,
Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,
Forgets the shows of love to other men.

Cas. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your

passion;

By means whereof this breast of mine hath buried
Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.
Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?
Bru. No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself,
But by reflection, by some other things.

Cas. 'Tis just :

And it is very much lamented, Brutus,

That you have no such mirrors as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye,
That you might see your shadow.

I have heard,

Where many of the best respect in Rome,
(Except immortal Cæsar,) speaking of Brutus,
And groaning underneath this age's yoke,
Have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes.

Bru. Into what dangers would you lead me,

Cassius,

That you would have me seek into myself

For that which is not in me?

Cas. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepar'd to hear:
And, since you know you cannot see yourself
So well as by reflection, I, your glass,
Will modestly discover to yourself

That of yourself which you yet know not of.
And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus :
Were I a common laugher, or did use

3

To stale with ordinary oaths my love 3

3 To stale is to make common, to prostitute. The word is often used in that sense. Thus in Ben Jonson's Every Man in his

To every new protester; if you know
That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard,
And after scandal them; or if you know
That I profess myself, in banqueting,
To all the rout, then hold me dangerous.

[Flourish and Shout.

Bru. What means this shouting? I do fear, the

people

Choose Cæsar for their king.

Cas. Ay, do you fear it? Then must I think you would not have it so.

Bru. I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well. But wherefore do you hold me here so long? What is it that you would impart to me? If it be aught toward the general good, Set honour in one eye and death i'the other, And I will look on both indifferently; For, let the gods so speed me, as I love The name of honour more than I fear death." Cas. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, As well as I do know your outward favour. Well, honour is the subject of my story. I cannot tell what you and other men Think of this life; but, for my single self, I had as lief not be, as live to be

In awe of such a thing as I myself.

Humour, Act ii. sc. 1: "Not content to stale himself in all societies, he makes my house here common as a mart." See, also, Coriolanus, Act i. sc. 1, note 7.

H.

4 Coleridge makes the following comment on this somewhat obscure passage: "Warburton would read death for both; but I

prefer the old text. There are here three things, the public good, the individual Brutus' honour, and his death. The latter two so balanced each other, that he could decide for the first by equipoise; nay, the thought growing, — that honour had more weight than death. That Cassius understood it as Warburton, is the beauty of Cassius as contrasted with Brutus."

H.