1.-JULIUS CÆSAR. [The play of Julius Cæsar, written about 1600, is the noblest of that series of historical dramas in which Shakespeare so marvelously reproduced the ancient Roman world. The historical facts are taken throughout from Plutarch's Lives, in an English translation published during Shakespeare's time, and of which the poet is known to have possessed a copy. In order to bind together the scenes here given, they are framed in a brief prose narrative.] PART I. It was high holiday in Rome (44 B.C.), and the streets were filled with crowds eager to welcome Julius Cæsar, who was to make his triumphal entry into the city, on his return from a victorious campaign. Cæsar was the most famous soldier of his time. He had conquered Gaul (now France); and he had twice visited Britain with an army, and had made it known to the civilized world. He had now returned from Spain, where he had crushed a rebellion raised by the sons of Pompey, his late rival; and the Roman senate and Roman people vied with each other in heaping honors on him. He had been made. Consul (or head of the Republic) for ten years, and then Dictator for life; and all Rome had turned out into the streets to applaud the conquering hero. But there were some among the foremost men in the state who were jealous of Cæsar's great power. He had all the authority of an emperor, and many suspected him of desiring the title also. Among the leading men, the one most jealous of him was a general named Caius Cassius, a man of an envious and fiery spirit. He formed a conspiracy against Cæsar, and was anxious to draw the noble Brutus into it. While Cæsar is passing in triumph through the crowded streets, Cassius takes the opportunity to talk with Brutus, in order to sound him. While they stand together in conversation, a noise of shouting is heard. This attracts the attention of Brutus. BRUTUS. What means this shouting? I do fear, the people Choose Cæsar for their king. CASSIUS. Ay, do you fear it? Then must I think you would not have it so. For let the gods so speed3 me as I love CASSIUS. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, I can not tell what you and other men 1 in one eye, before the view of one eye. 2 indifferently, impartially. 3 speed, prosper. 4 that virtue. What is the reference here? 5 your outward favor, your personal appearance. 6 what you ... life. Of what verb is this clause the object? "I had as lief. Explain the phrase. I was born free as Cæsar; so were you : And bade him follow: so indeed he did. 3 Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber Did I the tired Cæsar. And this man Is now become a god, and Cassius is A wretched creature, and must bend his body If Cæsar carelessly but nod on him! He had a fever when he was in Spain; And, when the fit was on him, I did mark And that same eye whose bend2 doth awe the world BRUTUS. Another general shout! I do believe that these applauses are [Cheering is heard. For some new honors that are heaped on Cæsar. CASSIUS. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a colossus,7 and we petty men 8 his luster: his=its. In early 7 a colossus. "Colossus" was English, his was the possessive of the general name for any gigantic the neuter (hit) as well as of the statue; but the name was specialmasculine (he); and in Shake-ly applied to the famous Colossus speare's time its had not come into of Apollo at Rhodes, which was general use. seventy cubits high, and spanned 4 Titinius was one of the friends the entrance to the harbor, so that of Cassius. large ships could sail "under his 5 temper temperament, dispo- huge legs." Hence the English sition, organization. word colossal. Walk under his huge legs, and peep about Men at some time are masters of their fates: Brutus, and Cæsar: what should be in that "Cæsar"? it doth become the mouth as well; 66 Sound them, Oh, you and I have heard our fathers say, 1 underlings, inferiors, serfs. The termination -ling marks a contemptuous diminutive. The 5 There was a Brutus. reference here skillfully made is to the ancestor of Marcus Brutus, What is the mod- viz., Lucius Junius Brutus, who 2 is grown. ern form of the verb? = 3 famed with famed for. 4 Rome and room enough. This is a pun, or play on words, "Rome" having been in Shakespeare's time pronounced as "room." brought about the expulsion of the Tarquins. Cassius' aim is, by recalling the memory of the Elder, to induce the Younger Brutus to emulate the patriotism of his ancestor. |