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Should I have answer'd Caius Cassius so?
When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous,
To lock such rascal counters from his friends,
Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts,
Dash him to pieces!

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A friend should bear his friend's infirmities,

But Brutus makes mine greater than they are.
BRUTUS. I do not, till you practise them on me,
CASSIUS. You love me not.

BRUTUS.

I do not like

your faults. CASSIUS. A friendly eye could never see such faults. BRUTUS. A flatterer's would not, though they do appear

As huge as high Olympus.

CASSIUS. Come, Antony, and young Octavius come, Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius,

For Cassius is aweary of the world:

Hated by one he loves; braved by his brother;
Check'd like a bondman; all his faults observed,
Set in a note-book, learn'd, and conn'd by rote,
To cast into my teeth. O, I could weep
My spirit from mine eyes!-There is my dagger,
And here my naked breast; within, a heart
Dearer than Plutus' mine, richer than gold;
If that thou be'st a Roman, take it forth :
I, that denied thee gold, will give my heart:
Strike, as thou didst at Cæsar; for, I know,

* Riven.

When thou didst hate him worst, thou lov'dst him

better

Than ever thou lov'dst Cassius.

BRUTUS.

Sheath your dagger:

Be angry when you will, it shall have scope ;
Do what you will, dishonour shall be humour.
O Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb
That carries anger as the flint bears fire;
Who, much enforced, shows a hasty spark,
And straight is cold again.

CASSIUS.

Hath Cassius lived To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus,

When grief and blood ill-temper'd vexeth him? BRUTUS. When I spoke that I was ill-temper'd too. CASSIUS. Do you confess so much? Give me your hand.

BRUTUS. And my heart too.

CASSIUS.

BRUTUS.

O Brutus!

What's the matter?

CASSIUS. Have you not love enough to bear with me, When that rash humour, which my mother gave me, Makes me forgetful?

BRUTUS.

Yes, Cassius; and henceforth, When you are over-earnest with your Brutus,

He'll think your mother chides, and leave you so.

Chances occur for Success in Life.

There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.

ACT V.

The Parting of Brutus and Cassius before the
Battle of Philippi.

CASSIUS.

Then, if we lose this battle,

You are contented to be led in triumph

Through the streets of Rome?

BRUTUS. No, Cassius, no: think not, thou noble Roman,

That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome:

He bears too great a mind. But this same day
Must end that work the ides of March begun;
And whether we shall meet again I know not.
Therefore our everlasting farewell take :
For ever, and for ever, farewell Cassius!
If we do meet again, why we shall smile
If not, why then this parting was well made.

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CASSIUS. For ever, and for ever, farewell, Brutus !

If we do meet again, we'll smile indeed;

If not, 'tis true, this parting was well made.

BRUTUS. Why, then, lead on.—O, that a man might know

The end of this day's business ere it come?
But it sufficeth that the day will end,

And then the end is known.

Antony's Description of Brutus.

This was the noblest Roman of them all;

All the conspirators, save only he,

Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar ;
He, only, in a general honest thought,
And common good to all, made one of them.
His life was gentle; and the elements
So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up,
And say to all the world "This was a man!"

KING LEAR.

Lear, King of Britain, desirous to "shake all cares and business from his age," resolves to divide his kingdom between his daughters, Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. He inquires from them the degree of love each feels for him, and deceived by the extravagant professions of Goneril and Regan (wives of the Dukes of Albany and Cornwall), apportions his realm equally between them, to the unjust exclusion of Cordelia, his youngest daughter, whose affection for her father, though less strongly expressed than her sisters', is deep and genuine. The Earl of Kent strongly, but in vain, pleads against the disinherison of Cordelia, and is banished by Lear for his urgent pleading in her behalf. Notwithstanding her portionless condition, the King of France marries Cordelia for her beauty and worth, and takes her with him to France. Goneril and Regan, being mistresses of the kingdom, agree in turns to entertain their father and his retinue, but they treat the old king with cruelty, and he goes mad. Cordelia, now Queen of France, advised of her sisters' unfilial conduct, advances with an army to vindicate her father's cause, but her forces are defeated, and she and Lear are taken prisoners; she is executed, and he expires over her dead body. A dispute has occurred between Goneril and Regan, the latter of whom is poisoned by her sister, who kills herself. In a combat between Edmund and Edgar, half-brothers and sons of the Earl of Glo'ster, the former, whose conduct throughout the play is marked by the deepest villany, is slain, and dies confessing his crimes.

ACT I.

Goneril's profession of Love for her Father.

Sir, I

Do love you more than words can wield the matter,

Dearer than eye-sight, space and liberty ;

Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;

No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;
As much as child e'er lov'd, or father found.

A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable;
Beyond all manner of so much I love

you.

Regan's profession of Filial Love.

I am made of that self metal as my sister,
And prize me at her worth. In my true heart
I find, she names my very deed of love ;
Only she comes too short,—that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys,

Which the most precious square of sense possesses ;
And find, I am alone felicitate

In your dear highness' love.

The King of France's approval of Cordelia's conduct.

Fairest Cordelia, thou art most rich, being poor;
Most choice, forsaken; and most loved, despised!
Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon:
Be it lawful, I take up what's cast away.

Gods, gods! 'tis strange that from their cold'st neglect
My love should kindle to inflamed respect.—
Thy dowerless daughter, king, thrown to my chance,
· Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France.
Not all the dukes of wat'rish Burgundy
Shall buy this unpriz'd precious maid of me.—
Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind:
Thou losest here, a better where* to find.

Ingratitude in a Child.

Ingratitude! thou marble-hearted fiend,

More hideous, when thou show'st thee in a child,
Than the sea-monster !

Here and where are in this place used as nouns.

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