Bru. Well, to our work alive. What do you think Of arching to Philippi presently? Cas. I do not think it good. Bru. Cas. Your reason? This it is :3 'Tis better, that the enemy seek us: So shall he waste his means, weary his soldiers, Are full of rest, defence, and nimbleness. Bru. Good reasons must, of force, give place to better. For they have grudg'd us contribution: These people at our back. Cas. Hear me, good brother. Bru. Under your pardon.-You must note beside, Our legions are brim-full, our cause is ripe: We, at the height, are ready to decline. There is a tide4 in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; And we must take the current when it serves, 3 This it is:] The overflow of the metre, and the disagrecable clash of-it is with 'Tis at the beginning of the next line, are almost proofs that our author only wrote, with a common ellipsis,— This :— Steevens. There is a tide &c.] This passage is poorly imitated by Beaumont and Fletcher, in The Custom of the Country: "There is an hour in each man's life appointed "To make his happiness, if then he sieze it," &c. Steevens. A similar sentiment is found in Chapman's Bussy D'Ambois, 1607: "There is a deep nick in time's restless wheel, "For each man's good; when which nick comes, it strikes. "So no man riseth by his real merit, But when it cries click in his raiser's spirit." Malone. Or lose our ventures. Cas. Then, with your will, go on; We'll along ourselves, and meet them at Philippi. Bru. The deep of night is crept upon our talk, And nature must obey necessity; Which we will niggard with a little rest. There is no more to say? Cas. No more. Good night; Early to-morrow will we rise, and hence. Bru. Lucius, my gown. [Exit Luc.] Farewel, good Messala ; Good night, Titinius :-Noble, noble Cassius, Good night, and good repose. Cas. O my dear brother! This was an ill beginning of the night: Let it not, Brutus. Bru. Every thing is well. Good night, good brother. Farewel, every one. Tit. Mes. Good night, lord Brutus. [Exeunt CAS. TIT. and MES. Re-enter LUCIUS, with the Gown. Give me the gown. Where is thy instrument? Bru. What, thou speak'st drowsily? Poor knave, I blame thee not; thou art o'er-watch'd. I'll have them sleep on cushions in Luc. Varro, and Claudius! my tent. Enter VARRO and CLAUDIUS. Var. Calls my lord? Bru. I pray you, sirs, lie in my tent, and sleep; It may be, I shall raise you by and by On business to my brother Cassius. Var. So please you, we will stand, and watch your plea sure. Bru. I will not have it so: lie down, good sirs; 5 Never come such division 'tween our souls!] So, in the mock play in Hamlet: "And never come mischance between us twain." Steevens. It may be, I shall otherwise bethink me. Look, Lucius, here's the book I sought for so; I put it in the pocket of my gown. [Servants lie down. And touch thy instrument a strain or two? Bru. It does, my boy: I trouble thee too much, but thou art willing. Bru. I should not urge thy duty past thy might; Bru. It is well done; and thou shalt sleep again; I will be good to thee. [Musick, and a Song. This is a sleepy tune :-O murd'rous slumber! Lay'st thou thy leaden mace upon my boy, That plays thee musick?-Gentle knave, good night; How ill this taper burns!-Ha! who comes here? That shapes this monstrous apparition. It comes upon me :- -Art thou any thing? Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil, 6 thy leaden mace-] A mace is the ancient term for a sceptre. So, in The Arraignment of Paris, 1584: look upon my stately grace, "Because the pomp that longs to Juno's mace," &c. Steevens. Shakspeare probably remembered Spenser in his Fairy Queen, B. I, cant. iv, st. 44: When as Morpheus had with leaden mase, "Arrested all that courtly company." H White. 7 Let me see, let me see;] As these words are wholly unmetrical, we may suppose our author meant to avail himself of the common colloquial phrase.-Let's see, let's see. Steevens. Ghost. Thy evil spirit, Brutus. Bru. Why com'st thou ? Ghost. To tell thee, thou shalt see me at Philippi. Bru. Well; Then I shall see thee again? Ghost. Ay, at Philippi. [Ghost vanishes. Ill spirit, I would hold more talk with thee.- Then I shall see thee again?] Shakspeare has on this occasion deserted his original I does not appear from Plutarch that the Ghost of Casar appeared to Brutus, but "a wonderful straunge and monstruous shape of a body." This apparition could not be at once the shade of Casar, and the evil genius of Brutus. "Brutus boldly asked what he was, a god, or a man, and what cause brought him thither. The spirit answered him, I am thy euill spirit, Brutus; and thou shalt see me by the citie of Philippes. Bru tus beeing no otherwise affrayd, replyed againe vnto it: well, then I shall see thee agayne. The spirit presently vanished away; and Brutus called his men vnto him, who tolde him that they heard no noyse, nor sawe any thing at all." See the story of Cassius Parmensis in Valerius Maximus, Lib. I, c. vii. Steevens. The words which Mr. Steevens has quoted, are from Plutarch's Life of Brutus. Shakspeare had also certainly read Plutarch's account of this vision in the Life of Cæsar: " Above all, the ghost that appeared unto Brutus, showed plainly that the goddes were offended with the murther of Cesar. The vision was thus. Brutus being ready to pass over his army from the citie of Abydos to the other coast lying directly against it, slept every night (as his manner was) in his tent; and being yet awake, thinking of his affaires, he thought he heard a noyse at his tent dore, and looking towards the light of the lampe that waxed very dimme, he saw a horrible vision of a man, of a wonderful greatnes and dreadful looke, which at the first made him marvelously afraid. But when he sawe that it did him no hurt, but stoode by his bedde-side, and said nothing, at length he asked him what he was. The image aunswered him, I am thy ill angel, Brutus, and thou shalt see me by the citie of Philippes. Then Brutus replyed agayne, and said, Well, I shall see thee then. Therewithall the sp rit presently vanished from him.” It is manifest from the words above printed in Italics, that Shakspeare had this passage in his thoughts as well as the other. Malone. That lights grew dim, or burned blue at the approach of spectres, was a belief which our author might have found examples of in almost every book of his age that treats of supernatural appearances. See King Richard III, Vol. XI, p. 180, n. 7. Steevens. Luc. The strings, my lord, are false. Bru. He thinks, he still is at his instrument.Lucius, awake. Luc. My lord! Bru. Didst thou dream, Lucius, that thou so cry'dst out? Luc. My lord, I do not know that I did cry. Bru. Yes, that thou didst: Didst thou see any thing? Luc. Nothing, my lord. Bru. Sleep again, Lucius.-Sirrah, Claudius! Fellow thou! awake. Var. My lord. Clau. My lord. Bru. Why did you so cry out, sirs, in your sleep? Bru. Ay; Saw you any thing? Var. No, my lord, I saw nothing. Clau. Nor I, my lord. Bru. Go, and commend me to my brother Cassius; Bid him set on his powers betimes before, And we will follow. Var. Clau. It shall be done, my lord. [Exeunt. ACT V..... SCENE I. The Plains of Philippi. Enter OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, and their Army. Oct. Now, Antony, our hopes are answered: 9 — warn us —] To warn is to summon. So, in King John: "Who is it that hath warn'd us to the walls?" Shakspeare uses the word yet more intelligibly in King Richard III: "And sent to warn them to his royal presence." Throughout the books of the Stationers Company, the word is always used in this sense; "Receyved of Raufe Newbery for his fyne, that he came not to the hall when he was warned, according to the orders of this house." |