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Please see the bottom of the page for commentary.
Next: Julius Caesar, Act 5, Scene 1 _________ Explanatory Notes for Act 4, Scene 3 From Julius Caesar. Ed. Henry Norman Hudson. New York: Ginn and Co., 1908. SCENE III. Dowden points out that this scene was already celebrated in Shakespeare's own day, Leonard Digges recording its popularity, and Beaumont and Fletcher imitating it in The Maid's Tragedy. "I know no part of Shakespeare that more impresses on me the belief of his genius being superhuman than this scene between Brutus and Cassius."--Coleridge. 1. "Now as it commonly happened in great affairs between two persons, both of them having many friends and so many captains under them, there ran tales and complaints between them. Therefore, before they fell in hand with any other matter they went into a little chamber together, and bade every man avoid, and did shut the doors to them. Then they began to pour out their complaints one to the other, and grew hot and loud, earnestly accusing one another, and at length both fell a-weeping. Their friends that were without the chamber, hearing them loud within, and angry between themselves, they were both amazed and afraid also, lest it would grow to further matter: but yet they were commanded that no man should come to them."--Plutarch, Marcus Brutus. 2. noted: marked with a stigma. North thus uses the word. See quotation from Marcus Brutus on following page, l. 3. 3. "The next day after, Brutus, upon complaint of the Sardians, did condemn and note Lucius Pella.... This judgment much misliked Cassius, because himself had secretly ... warned two of his friends, attainted and convicted of the like offences, and openly had cleared them."--Plutarch, Marcus Brutus. 5. was. The verb is attracted into the singular by the nearest substantive.--slighted off: contemptuously set aside. 6. to write: by writing. This gerundive use of the infinitive is very common in this play. Cf. 'to have' in l. 10; 'To sell and mart' in l. 11; 'To hedge me in' in l. 30, and so on. See Abbott, §356. 8. nice: foolish, trifling.--his: its. The meaning of the line is, Every petty or trifling offense should not be rigidly scrutinized and censured. Cassius naturally thinks that "the honorable men whose daggers have stabb'd Cæsar" should not peril their cause by moral squeamishness. "He reproved Brutus, for that he should show himself so straight and severe, in such a time as was meeter to bear a little than to take things at the worst."--Plutarch, Marcus Brutus. 18. "Brutus in contrary manner answered that he should remember the Ides of March, at which time they slew Julius Cæsar, who neither pilled[A] nor polled[B] the country, but only was a favourer and suborner of all them that did rob and spoil, by his countenance and authority. And if there were any occasion whereby they might honestly set aside justice and equity, they should have had more reason to have suffered Cæsar's friends to have robbed and done what wrong and injury they had would[C] than to bear with their own men."--Plutarch, Marcus Brutus. A. i.e. robbed, pillaged. B. i.e. taxed, spoiled. C. i.e. wished (to do). 20-21. "Who was such a villain of those who touched his body that he stabbed from any other motive than justice?"--Clar. 28-32. "Now Cassius would have done Brutus much honour, as Brutus did unto him, but Brutus most commonly prevented him, and went first unto him, both because he was the elder man as also for that he was sickly of body. And men reputed him commonly to be very skilful in wars, but otherwise marvellous choleric and cruel, who sought to rule men by fear rather than with lenity: and on the other side, he was too familiar with his friends and would jest too broadly with them."--Plutarch, Marcus Brutus. 32. 'Go to' is a phrase of varying import, sometimes of reproof, sometimes of encouragement. 'Go till' is its earliest form. 45. observe: treat with ceremonious respect or reverence. 47. The spleen was held to be the special seat of the sudden and explosive emotions and passions, whether of mirth or anger. Cf. Troilus and Cressida, I, iii, 178; 1 Henry IV, V, ii, 19. 55. Two lines in Ff. 51-54. This mistake of Brutus is well conceived. Cassius was much the abler soldier, and Brutus knew it; and the mistake grew from his consciousness of the truth of what he thought he heard. Cassius had served as quæstor under Marcus Crassus in his expedition against the Parthians; and, when the army was torn all to pieces, both Crassus and his son being killed, Cassius displayed great ability in bringing off a remnant. He showed remarkable military power, too, in Syria. 75. indirection: crookedness, malpractice. In King John, III, i, 275-278, is an interesting passage illustrating this use of 'indirection.' Cf. 2 Henry IV, IV, v, 185. 80. The omission of the conjunction 'as' before expressions denoting result is a common usage in Shakespeare.--rascal counters: worthless money. 'Rascal' is properly a technical term for a deer out of condition. So used literally in As You Like It, III, iii, 58. 'Counters' were disks of metal, of very small intrinsic value, much used for reckoning. Cf. As You Like It, II, vii, 63; The Winter's Tale, IV, iii, 38. Professor Dowden comments aptly on what we have here: "Brutus loves virtue and despises gold; but in the logic of facts there is an irony cruel or pathetic. Brutus maintains a lofty position of immaculate honour above Cassius; but ideals, and a heroic contempt for gold, will not fill the military coffer, or pay the legions, and the poetry of noble sentiment suddenly drops down to the prosaic complaint that Cassius had denied the demands made by Brutus for certain sums of money. Nor is Brutus, though he worships an ideal of Justice, quite just in matters of practical detail." 82-83. "Whilst Brutus and Cassius were together in the city of Smyrna, Brutus prayed Cassius to let him have part of his money whereof he had great store.... Cassius's friends hindered this request, and earnestly dissuaded him from it; persuading him, that it was no reason that Brutus should have the money which Cassius had gotten together by sparing, and levied with great evil will of the people their subjects, for him to bestow liberally upon his soldiers, and by this means to win their good wills, by Cassius's charge. This notwithstanding, Cassius gave him the third part of this total sum."--Plutarch, Marcus Brutus. 102. Plutus (for the Folio reading see note on 'Antonio' for Antonius, I, ii, 5) is the old god of riches, who had all the world's gold in his keeping and disposal. Pluto was the lord of Hades. 109. Whatever dishonorable thing you may do, I will set it down to the caprice of the moment.--humour. See note, p. 60, l. 250. 111-113. Cf. the words of Cassius, I, ii, 176-177. See also Troilus and Cressida, III, iii, 257. It was long a popular notion that fire slept in the flint and was awaked by the stroke of the steel. "It is not sufficient to carry religion in our hearts, as fire is carried in flintstones, but we are outwardly, visibly, apparently, to serve and honour the living God."--Hooker, Ecclesiastical Polity, VII, xxii, 3. 129-133. "One Marcus Phaonius, that ... took upon him to counterfeit a philosopher, not with wisdom and discretion, but with a certain bedlam and frantic motion; he would needs come into the chamber, though the men offered to keep him out. But it was no boot to let Phaonius, when a mad mood or toy took him in the head: for he was an hot hasty man, and sudden in all his doings, and cared for never a senator of them all. Now, though he used this bold manner of speech after the profession of the Cynic philosophers, (as who would say, Dogs,) yet his boldness did no hurt many times, because they did but laugh at him to see him so mad. This Phaonius at that time, in spite of the door-keepers, came into the chamber, and with a certain scoffing and mocking gesture, which he counterfeited of purpose, he rehearsed the verses which old Nestor said in Homer:
My lords, I pray you hearken both to me, 137. jigging: moving rhythmically, rhyming. So in the Prologue to Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great:
From jigging veins of rhyming mother wits, 138. 'Companion' was often used contemptuously. Cf. Coriolanus, IV, v, 14; V, ii, 65. Cf. the way 'fellow' is often used today. 145. In his philosophy, Brutus was a mixture of the Stoic and the Platonist. What he says of Portia's death is among the best things in the play, and is in Shakespeare's noblest style. Profound emotion expresses itself with reserve. Deep grief loves not many words. 152. Strict harmony of construction would require 'impatience' for 'impatient' here, or 'griev'd' for 'grief' in the next line. Shakespeare is not very particular in such niceties. Besides, the broken construction expresses dramatically the deep emotion of the speaker. 155. distract: distracted. So in Hamlet, IV, v, 2. 'Distraught' is the form in Romeo and Juliet, IV, iii, 49. For the dropping of the terminal -ed of the participle in verbs ending in t or te, see Abbott, §342. 156. It appears something uncertain whether Portia's death was before or after her husband's. Plutarch represents it as occurring before; but Merivale follows those who place it after. "For Portia, Brutus's wife, Nicolaus the philosopher and Valerius Maximus do write, that she determining to kill herself (her parents and friends carefully looking to her to keep her from it) took hot burning coals, and cast them into her mouth, and kept her mouth so close that she choked herself. There was a letter of Brutus found, written to his friends, complaining of their negligence, that, his wife being sick, they would not help her, but suffered her to kill herself, choosing to die rather than to languish in pain."--Plutarch, Marcus Brutus. 165. call in question: bring up for discussion. 'Question,' both noun and verb, is constantly found in Shakespeare in the sense of 'talk.' So "in question more" in Romeo and Juliet, I, i, 235. 170. Bending their expedition: directing their march. Cf. 'expedition' in this sense in Richard III, IV, iv, 136. 179. "These three, Octavius Cæsar, Antonius, and Lepidus, made an agreement between themselves, and by those articles divided the provinces belonging to the empire of Rome among themselves, and did set up bills of proscription and outlawry, condemning two hundred of the noblest men of Rome to suffer death, and among that number Cicero was one."--Plutarch, Marcus Brutus. 183. Both 'nor nothing' and 'writ' survive today as vulgarisms. 184. Nothing, Messala. This may seem inconsistent with what has gone before (see more particularly ll. 154-155), but we are to suppose that Brutus's friends at Rome did not write to him directly of Portia's death, as they feared the news might unnerve him, but wrote to some common friends in the army, directing them to break the news to him, as they should deem it safe and prudent to do so. 194. art: theory. This speech may be paraphrased, I am as much a Stoic by profession and theory as you are, but my natural strength is weak when it comes to putting the doctrines into practice. 196. work alive: work in which we have to do with the living. 197. presently: at once. See note, p. 82, l. 28. 203. of force: of necessity, necessarily. Plutarch represents this talk as occurring at Philippi just before the battle: "Cassius was of opinion not to try this war at one battle, but rather to delay time, and to draw it out in length, considering that they were the stronger in money, and the weaker in men and armour. But Brutus, in contrary manner, did alway before, and at that time also, desire nothing more than to put all to the hazard of battle, as soon as might be possible; to the end he might either quickly restore his country to her former liberty, or rid him forthwith of this miserable world."--Marcus Brutus. 209. new-added: reënforced. Singer suggested 'new aided.' 218-221. Cf. Troilus and Cressida, V, i, 90; The Tempest, I, ii, 181-184. Dr. Wright (Clar) quotes from Bacon a parallel passage: "In the third place I set down reputation, because of the peremptory tides and currents it hath; which, if they be not taken in their due time, are seldom recovered, it being extreme hard to play an after game of reputation."--The Advancement of Learning, II, xxiii, 38. 224 ventures: what is risked, adventured. The figure of a ship is kept up, and 'venture' denotes whatever is put on board in hope of profit, and exposed to "the perils of waters, winds, and rocks." Cf. The Merchant of Venice, I, i, 15, 42; III, ii, 270. 228. niggard: supply sparingly. In Sonnets, I, 12, occurs 'niggarding'. In Elizabethan English "almost any part of speech can be used as any other part of speech. Any noun, adjective, or neuter verb can be used as an active verb."--Abbott. 241. Poor knave: Cf. 'Gentle knave,' l. 269. The word 'knave' is here used in the literal sense of 'boy.' It was used as a term of endearment, or of loving familiarity with those of lower rank. So in King Lear, I, iv, 107.--o'er-watch'd: worn out with keeping awake. So in King Lear, II, ii, 177. Cf. 'o'ershot' in III, ii, 150. 252-253. These two simple lines, with the answer of Lucius, "I was sure your lordship did not give it me," are among the best things in the play. Consider how much is implied in them, and what a picture they give of the earnest, thoughtful, book-loving Brutus. And indeed all his noblest traits of character come out, "in simple and pure soul," in this exquisite scene with Lucius, which is hardly surpassed by anything in Shakespeare. Who could be troubled by the anachronism in the book being of modern shape? "Brutus was a careful man, and slept very little, both for that his diet was moderate, as also because he was continually occupied. He never slept in the day-time, and in the night no longer than the time he was driven to be alone, and when everybody else took their rest. But now whilst he was in war, and his head ever busily occupied to think of his affairs and what would happen, after he had slumbered a little after supper, he spent all the rest of the night in dispatching of his weightiest causes, and after he had taken order for them, if he had any leisure left him, he would read some book till the third watch of the night, at what time the captains, petty captains, and colonels, did use to come to him."--Plutarch, Marcus Brutus. 267. murderous slumber: The epithet probably has reference to sleep being regarded as the image of death; or, as Shelley put it, "Death and his brother Sleep." Cf. Cymbeline, II, ii, 31. 268. thy leaden mace: Upton quotes from Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I, iv, 44:
But whenas Morpheus had with leaden mace Shakespeare uses 'mace' both as 'scepter,' Henry V, IV, i, 278, and as 'a staff of office,' 2 Henry VI, IV, vii, 144. 269. The boy is spoken of as playing music to slumber because he plays to soothe the agitations of his master's mind, and put him to sleep. Bacon held that music "hindereth sleep." 275. The presence of a ghost was believed to make lights burn blue or dimly. So in Richard III, V, iii, 180, when the ghosts appear to Richard, he says: "The lights burn blue. It is now dead midnight. Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh." 277. this monstrous apparition: "Above all, the ghost that appeared unto Brutus shewed plainly that the gods were offended with the murder of Cæsar. The vision was thus: Brutus ... thought he heard a noise at his tent-door, and, looking towards the light of the lamp that waxed very dim, he saw a horrible vision of a man, of a wonderful greatness and dreadful look, which at the first made him marvellously afraid. But when he saw that it did no hurt, but stood at his bedside and said nothing; at length he asked him what he was. The image answered him: 'I am thy ill angel, Brutus, and thou shalt see me by the city of Philippes.' Then Brutus replied again, and said, 'Well, I shall see thee then.' Therewithal the spirit presently vanished from him."--Plutarch, Julius Cæsar. 280. stare: stand on end. 'To be stiff, rigid, fixed' is the primary idea. Cf. The Tempest, I, ii, 213; Hamlet, I, v, 16-20. 267. murderous slumber: The epithet probably has reference to sleep being regarded as the image of death; or, as Shelley put it, "Death and his brother Sleep." Cf. Cymbeline, II, ii, 31. 268. thy leaden mace: Upton quotes from Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I, iv, 44:
But whenas Morpheus had with leaden mace 269. The boy is spoken of as playing music to slumber because he plays to soothe the agitations of his master's mind, and put him to sleep. Bacon held that music "hindereth sleep." 275. The presence of a ghost was believed to make lights burn blue or dimly. So in Richard III, V, iii, 180, when the ghosts appear to Richard, he says: "The lights burn blue. It is now dead midnight. Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh."] 277. this monstrous apparition: "Above all, the ghost that appeared unto Brutus shewed plainly that the gods were offended with the murder of Cæsar. The vision was thus: Brutus ... thought he heard a noise at his tent-door, and, looking towards the light of the lamp that waxed very dim, he saw a horrible vision of a man, of a wonderful greatness and dreadful look, which at the first made him marvellously afraid. But when he saw that it did no hurt, but stood at his bedside and said nothing; at length he asked him what he was. The image answered him: 'I am thy ill angel, Brutus, and thou shalt see me by the city of Philippes.' Then Brutus replied again, and said, 'Well, I shall see thee then.' Therewithal the spirit presently vanished from him."--Plutarch, Julius Cæsar. 280. stare: stand on end. 'To be stiff, rigid, fixed' is the primary idea. Cf. The Tempest, I, ii, 213; Hamlet, I, v, 16-20. 306. commend me to: greet from me, remember me kindly to. 307. set on: cause to advance.--betimes: early. Formerly 'betime'; "the final 's' is due to the habit of adding '-s' or '-es' to form adverbs; cf. 'whiles' (afterwards 'whilst') from 'while.'"--Skeat. _________
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