The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Caesar Part 11

CaeSAR. Antonius! 190

ANTONY. Caesar?

CaeSAR. Let me have men about me that are fat, Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights: Yond Ca.s.sius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much: such men are dangerous. 195

ANTONY. Fear him not, Caesar; he's not dangerous; He is a n.o.ble Roman, and well given.

[Note 191: /Caesar/? Theobald Caesar. Ff.]

[Note 193: /o' nights/ Capeli a-nights F1 F2.]

[Note 192-195: "Another time when Caesar's friends complained unto him of Antonius and Dolabella, that they pretended some mischief towards him, he answered them again, As for those fat men, and smooth-combed heads, quoth he, I never reckon of them; but these pale visaged and carrion lean people, I fear them most; meaning Brutus and Ca.s.sius."--Plutarch, _Julius Caesar_. There are similar pa.s.sages in Plutarch's _Life of Brutus_ and in the _Life of Marcus Antonius_. Cf. _Antony and Cleopatra_, III, xi, 37. Falstaff's famous cry was for 'spare men.' See _2 Henry IV_, III, ii, 288. 'Sleek-headed' recalls Lamb's wish that the baby son of the tempestuous Hazlitt should be "like his father, with something of a better temper and a smoother head of hair."]

[Note 197: /well given:/ well disposed. So in _2 Henry VI_, III, i, 72.]

[Page 23]

CaeSAR. Would he were fatter! but I fear him not: Yet if my name were liable to fear, I do not know the man I should avoid 200 So soon as that spare Ca.s.sius. He reads much; He is a great observer, and he looks Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays, As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music: Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort 205 As if he mock'd himself, and scorn'd his spirit That could be mov'd to smile at any thing.

Such men as he be never at heart's ease Whiles they behold a greater than themselves, And therefore are they very dangerous. 210 I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd Than what I fear, for always I am Caesar.

Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf, And tell me truly what thou think'st of him.

[_Sennet. Exeunt_ CaeSAR _and all his train but_ CASCA]

CASCA. You pull'd me by the cloak; would you speak with me? 215

BRUTUS. Ay, Casca; tell us what hath chanc'd to-day, That Caesar looks so sad.

CASCA. Why, you were with him, were you not?

BRUTUS. I should not then ask Casca what had chanc'd.

[Note 215: Scene V Pope.]

[Note 203: /he loves no plays./ "In his house they did nothing but feast, dance, and masque; and himself pa.s.sed away the time in hearing of foolish plays, and in marrying these players, tumblers, jesters, and such sort of people."--Plutarch, _Marcus Antonius_.]

[Note 204: The power of music is repeatedly celebrated by Shakespeare, and sometimes in strains that approximate the cla.s.sical hyperboles about Orpheus, Amphion, and Arion. What is here said of Ca.s.sius has an apt commentary in _The Merchant of Venice_, V, 1, 83-85:

The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils.]

[Note 213: This is one of the little touches of invention that so often impart a fact-like vividness to Shakespeare's scenes.]

[Note 217: /sad./ The word is used here probably in its early sense of 'weary' (as in Middle English) or 'resolute' (as in Chaucer and old Ballads). In _2 Henry IV_, V, i, 92, is the expression "a jest with a sad brow," where 'sad' evidently means 'wise,' 'sage.']

[Page 24]

CASCA. Why, there was a crown offer'd him; and being offer'd him, he put it by with the back of his hand, thus; and then the people fell a-shouting. 222

BRUTUS. What was the second noise for?

CASCA. Why, for that too.

Ca.s.sIUS. They shouted thrice: what was the last cry for?

CASCA. Why, for that too. 226

BRUTUS. Was the crown offer'd him thrice?

CASCA. Ay, marry, was't, and he put it by thrice, every time gentler than other; and at every putting by mine honest neighbours shouted. 230

Ca.s.sIUS. Who offer'd him the crown?

CASCA. Why, Antony.

BRUTUS. Tell us the manner of it, gentle Casca.

CASCA. I can as well be hang'd as tell the manner of it: it was mere foolery; I did not mark it. I saw Mark Antony offer him a crown--yet 'twas not a crown neither, 'twas one of these coronets--and, as I told you, he put it by once: but, for all that, to my thinking, he would fain have had it.

Then he offer'd it to him again; then he put it by again: but, to my thinking, he was very loth to lay his fingers off it.

And then he offer'd it the third time; he put it the third time by: and, still, as he refus'd it, the rabblement hooted and clapp'd their chopp'd hands, and threw up their sweaty nightcaps and utter'd such a deal of stinking breath because Caesar refus'd the crown, that it had almost chok'd Caesar; for he swounded and fell down at it: and for mine own part, I durst not laugh, for fear of opening my lips and receiving the bad air. 248

[Note 222: /a-shouting/ Dyce a shouting Ff a' shouting Capell.]

[Note 235: /it was/ F1 it were F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 242: /hooted/ Johnson howted F1 F2 F3 houted F4.]

[Note 243: /chopp'd/ chopt Ff.]

[Note 246: /swounded/ swoonded Ff swooned Rowe.]

[Note 220: /there was a crown offer'd him./ In the _Life of Marcus Antonius_ Plutarch gives a detailed and vivid description of this scene.]

[Page 25]

Ca.s.sIUS. But, soft! I pray you: what, did Caesar swound?

CASCA. He fell down in the market-place, and foam'd at mouth, and was speechless.

BRUTUS. 'Tis very like; he hath the falling-sickness.

Ca.s.sIUS. No, Caesar hath it not; but you, and I, And honest Casca, we have the falling-sickness. 254

CASCA. I know not what you mean by that, but I am sure Caesar fell down. If the tag-rag people did not clap him and hiss him, according as he pleas'd and displeas'd them, as they use to do the players in the theatre, I am no true man.

BRUTUS. What said he when he came unto himself? 260

[Note 249: /swound/ Ff swoon Rowe.]

[Note 252: /like; he/ Theobald like he Ff.]