The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Caesar Part 12

[Note 249: /soft!/ This is an elliptical use of the adverb 'soft' and was much used as an exclamation for arresting or r.e.t.a.r.ding the speed of a person or thing; meaning about the same as 'hold!' 'stay!' or 'not too fast!' So in _Oth.e.l.lo_, V, ii, 338: "Soft you; a word or two before you go"; and _The Merchant of Venice_, IV, i, 320: "Soft! The Jew shall have all justice; soft! no haste."]

[Note 252: /falling-sickness./ An old English name for epilepsy (Lat. _morbus caducus_, German _fallende Sucht_) used by North in translating Plutarch. Another form of the word is 'falling-evil,' also used by North (see quotation, p. 26, l.

268). It is an interesting fact that the best authorities allow that Napoleon suffered from epileptic seizures towards the close of his life.]

[Note 256: /tag-rag people:/ Cf. 'the tag' in _Coriola.n.u.s_, III, i, 248.]

[Note 259: /true:/ honest. Shakespeare frequently uses 'true'

in this sense, especially as opposed to 'thief.' Cf.

_Cymbeline_, II, iii, 76; _Venus and Adonis_, 724: "Rich preys make true men thieves."]

[Page 26]

CASCA. Marry, before he fell down, when he perceiv'd the common herd was glad he refus'd the crown, he pluck'd me ope his doublet and offer'd them his throat to cut. And I had been a man of any occupation, if I would not have taken him at a word, I would I might go to h.e.l.l among the rogues. And so he fell. When he came to himself again, he said, if he had done or said any thing amiss, he desir'd their wors.h.i.+ps to think it was his infirmity. Three or four wenches, where I stood, cried, 'Alas, good soul!' and forgave him with all their hearts. But there's no heed to be taken of them: if Caesar had stabb'd their mothers, they would have done no less. 272

[Note 263: /And/ Ff an (an') Theobald.]

[Note 270: /no/ omitted in F2.]

[Note 261: /Marry./ The common Elizabethan exclamation of surprise, or a.s.severation, corrupted from the name of the Virgin Mary.]

[Note 263: /me./ The ethical dative. Cf. III, iii, 18; _The Merchant of Venice_, I, iii, 85; _Romeo and Juliet_, III, i, 6. See Abbott, -- 220.--/doublet./ This was the common English name of a man's outer body-garment. Shakespeare dresses his Romans like Elizabethan Englishmen (cf. II, i, 73-74), but the expression 'doublet-collar' occurs in North's Plutarch (see quotation in note on ll. 268-270).--/And:/ if. For 'and' in this sense, see Murray, and Abbott, -- 101.]

[Note 264: /a man of any occupation./ This probably means not only a mechanic or user of cutting-tools, but also a man of business and of action, as distinguished from a gentleman of leisure, or an idler.]

[Note 265-266: /to h.e.l.l among the rogues./ The early English drama abounds in examples of such historical confusion. For example, in the Towneley Miracle Plays Noah's wife swears by the Virgin Mary.]

[Note 268-270: "Thereupon Caesar rising departed home to his house; and, tearing open his doublet-collar, making his neck bare, he cried out aloud to his friends, that his throat was ready to offer to any man that would come and cut it....

Afterwards, to excuse his folly, he imputed it to his disease, saying that their wits are not perfect which have this disease of the falling-evil."--Plutarch, _Julius Caesar_.]

[Page 27]

BRUTUS. And after that, he came, thus sad, away?

CASCA. Ay.

Ca.s.sIUS. Did Cicero say any thing? 275

CASCA. Ay, he spoke Greek.

Ca.s.sIUS. To what effect?

CASCA. Nay, and I tell you that, I'll ne'er look you i' the face again: but those that understood him smil'd at one another and shook their heads; but, for mine own part, it was Greek to me. I could tell you more news too: Marullus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs off Caesar's images, are put to silence. Fare you well. There was more foolery yet, if I could remember it.

Ca.s.sIUS. Will you sup with me to-night, Casca? 285

CASCA. No, I am promis'd forth.

Ca.s.sIUS. Will you dine with me to-morrow?

CASCA. Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold, and your dinner worth the eating.

Ca.s.sIUS. Good; I will expect you. 290

CASCA. Do so: farewell, both. [_Exit_]

[Note 273: /away?/ Theobald away F1.]

[Note 278: /and/ Ff an (an') Theobald.]

[Note 275-281: A charming invention, though in his _Life of Cicero_ Plutarch refers to the orator's nicknames, 'Grecian'

and 'scholer,' due to his ability to "declaim in Greek."

Cicero had a sharp, agile tongue, and was fond of using it; and nothing was more natural than that he should snap off some keen, sententious sayings, prudently veiling them, however, in a foreign language from all but those who might safely understand them.--/Greek to me./ 'Greek,' often 'heathen Greek,' was a common Elizabethan expression for unintelligible speech. In Dekker's _Grissil_ (1600) occurs "It's Greek to him." So in d.i.c.kens's _Barnaby Rudge_: "this is Greek to me."]

[Note 286: /I am promis'd forth:/ I have promised to go out.

'Forth' is often used in this way in Elizabethan literature without any verb of motion. Cf. _The Merchant of Venice_, II, v, 11. See Abbott, -- 41.]

[Page 28]

BRUTUS. What a blunt fellow is this grown to be!

He was quick mettle when he went to school.

Ca.s.sIUS. So is he now, in execution Of any bold or n.o.ble enterprise, 295 However he puts on this tardy form.

This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit, Which gives men stomach to digest his words With better appet.i.te.

BRUTUS. And so it is. For this time I will leave you: 300 To-morrow, if you please to speak with me, I will come home to you; or, if you will, Come home to me, and I will wait for you.

[Note 298: /digest/ F3 F4 disgest F1 F2.]

[Note 299: /appet.i.te/ F1 appet.i.tes F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 300: Ff print as two lines.]

[Note 292: /blunt:/ dull, slow. Or there may be a quibble involved in connection with 'mettle' in the next line. Brutus alludes to the 'tardy form' (l. 296) Casca has just 'put on'

in winding so long about the matter before coming to the point.]

[Note 293: /quick mettle:/ lively spirit. Collier conjectured 'quick-mettl'd.' 'Mettlesome' is still used of spirited horses. Cf. I, i, 63.]

[Note 296: /However:/ notwithstanding. Cf. _Troilus and Cressida_, I, iii, 322.--/tardy form:/ appearance of tardiness. The construction in this expression is common in Shakespeare, as 'shady stealth' for 'stealing shadow,' in _Sonnets_, LXXVII, 7; 'negligent danger' for 'danger from negligence,' in _Antony and Cleopatra_, III, v, 81.]

[Page 29]

Ca.s.sIUS. I will do so: till then, think of the world.

[_Exit_ BRUTUS]

Well, Brutus, thou art n.o.ble; yet, I see, 305 Thy honourable metal may be wrought From that it is dispos'd: therefore it is meet That n.o.ble minds keep ever with their likes; For who so firm that cannot be seduc'd?

Caesar doth bear me hard, but he loves Brutus: 310 If I were Brutus now and he were Ca.s.sius, He should not humour me. I will this night, In several hands, in at his windows throw, As if they came from several citizens, Writings, all tending to the great opinion 315 That Rome holds of his name; wherein obscurely Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at: And after this let Caesar seat him sure; For we will shake him, or worse days endure. [_Exit_]

[Note 306: /metal/ F3 F4 mettle F1 mettall F2.]