It is not meet you know how Cæsar lov'd you.
You are not wood, you are not stones, but men;
And, being men, hearing the will of Cæsar,
It will inflame you, it will make you mad:
'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs;
For if you should, O, what would come of it!

4 Cit. Read the will; we will hear it, Antony; You shall read us the will; Cæsar's will.

Ant. Will you be patient? Will you stay a while? I have o'ershot myself, to tell you of it..

I fear, I wrong the honourable men,

Whose daggers have stabb'd Cæsar; I do fear it. 4 Cit. They were traitors: Honourable men! Cit. The will! the testament!

2 Cit. They were villains, murderers: The will! read the will!

Ant. You will compel me then to read the will? Then make a ring about the corpse of Cæsar, And let me show you him that made the will. Shall I descend? And will you give me leave? Cit. Come down.

2 Cit. Descend.

[He comes down from the Pulpit.

3 Cit. You shall have leave.

4 Cit. A ring; stand round.

1 Cit. Stand from the hearse, stand from the body. 2 Cit. Room for Antony;-most noble Antony. Ant. Nay, press not so upon me; stand far off. Cit. Stand back! room! bear back!

Ant. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. You all do know this mantle: I remember

The first time ever Cæsar put it on;

"Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent; That day he overcame the Nervii:

Look! in this place, ran Cassius' dagger through: See, what a rent the envious Casca made:

Through this, the well beloved Brutus stabb'd;
And, as he pluck'd his cursed steel away,
Mark how the blood of Cæsar follow'd it;
As rushing out of doors, to be resolv'd
If Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no;

For Brutus, as you know, was Cæsar's angel 5:
Judge, O you gods, how dearly Cæsar lov'd him!
This was the most unkindest cut of all:

For when the noble Cæsar saw him stab,
Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms,
Quite vanquish'd him: then burst his mighty heart;
And, in his mantle muffling up his face,

Even at the base of Pompey's statua

Which all the while ran blood, great Cæsar fell.
O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!
Then I, and you, and all of us fell down,
Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us.
O, now you weep; and, I perceive, you feel
The dint of pity: these are gracious drops.
Kind souls, what, weep you, when you but behold
Our Cæsar's vesture wounded? Look you here,
Here is himself, marr'd9, as you see, with traitors.
1 Cit. O piteous spectacle!

2 Cit. O noble Cæsar!

3 Cit. O woful day!

4 Cit. O traitors, villains!

5 i. e. his guardian angel, or the being in whom he put most trust.

6 See Act ii. Sc. 2, p. 315, note 10. Beaumont in his Masque writes this word statua, and its plural statuaes. Even is generally used as a dissyllable by Shakspeare.

7 The image seems to be that the blood flowing from Cæsar's wounds appeared to run from the statue; the words are from North's Plutarch:- Against the very base whereon Pompey's image stood, which ran all a gore of blood, till he was slain.'

8 Dint anciently written dent; a stroke, and the impression which it makes on any thing.'

9 Marr'd is defaced, destroyed. It is often, for the sake of the jingle, opposed to make.

1 Cit. O most bloody sight!

2 Cit. We will be revenged: revenge: about,seek,-burn,-fire,-kill,-slay!-let not a traitor

live.

Ant. Stay, countrymen.

1 Cit. Peace there;-Hear the noble Antony. 2 Cit. We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll die with him.

Ant. Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up

To such a sudden flood of mutiny.

They, that have done this deed, are honourable;
What private griefs 10 they have, alas, I know not,
That made them do it; they are wise and honourable,
And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you.
I come not, friends, to steal away your
hearts;
I am no orator, as Brutus is:

But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man,
That love my friend; and that they know full well
That gave me publick leave to speak of him.
For I have neither wit11, nor words, nor worth,
Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,
To stir men's blood: I only speak right on;

I tell you that, which you yourselves do know ; Show you sweet Cæsar's wounds, poor, poor dumb mouths,

And bid them speak for me: But were I Brutus,
And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony
Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue
In every wound of Cæsar, that should move
The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.

10 Grievances. See vol. i. p. 161, note 4.

11 The first folio reads, For I have neither writ.' The second folio corrects it to wit, which Johnson supposed might mean a penned and premeditated oration.' Malone perversely adheres to the erroneous reading. The context, I think, fully calls for the emendation, which Steevens has well defended.

Cit. We'll mutiny.

1 Cit. We'll burn the house of Brutus.
3 Cit. Away then, come, seek the conspirators.
Ant. Yet hear me, countrymen; yet hear me speak.
Cit. Peace, ho! Hear Antony, most noble An-'
tony.

Ant. Why, friends, you go to do you know not
what:

Wherein hath Cæsar thus deserv'd your loves?
Alas, you know not:-I must tell you then:
You have forgot the will I told you of.

Cit. Most true;-the will;-let's stay, and hear
the will.

Ant. Here is the will, and under Cæsar's seal. To every Roman citizen he gives,

To every several man, seventy-five drachmas 12. 2 Cit. Most noble Cæsar!-we'll revenge his death.

3 Cit. O royal Cæsar!

Ant. Hear me with patience.

Cit. Peace, ho!

Ant. Moreover he hath left you all his walks, His private arbours, and new planted orchards, On this side Tyber 13; he hath left them you, And to your heirs for ever; common pleasures,

12 A drachma was a Greek coin, the same as the Roman denier, of the value of four sesterces, i. e. 7d.

13 This scene (says Theobald) lies in the Forum, near the Capitol, and in the most frequented part of the city; but Cæsar's gardens were very remote from that quarter:

Trans Tiberim longe cubat is. prope Cæsaris hortos, says Horace and both the Naumachia and gardens of Cæsar were separated from the main city by the river, and lay out wide on a line with Mount Janiculum.' He would therefore read 'on that side Tyber.' But Dr. Farmer has shown that Shakspeare's study lay in the old translation of Plutarch, He bequeathed unto every citizen of Rome seventy-five drachmas a man, and left his gardens and arbours unto the people, which he had on this side of the river Tyber.'

To walk abroad, and recreate yourselves.

Here was a Cæsar: When comes such another? 1 Cit. Never, never: -Come, away, away: We'll burn his body in the holy place,

And with the brands fire 14 the traitors' houses.
Take up the body.

2 Cit. Go, fetch fire.

3 Cit. Pluck down benches.

4 Cit. Pluck down forms, windows, any thing. [Exeunt Citizens, with the Body.

Ant. Now let it work: Mischief, thou art afoot, Take thou what course thou wilt!-How now, fellow?

Enter a Servant.

Serv. Sir, Octavius is already come to Rome. Ant. Where is he?

Serv. He and Lepidus are at Cæsar's house. Ant. And thither will I straight to visit him: He comes upon a wish. Fortune is merry, And in this mood will give us any thing.

Serv. I heard him say, Brutus and Cassius Are rid like madmen through the gates of Rome. Ant. Belike, they had some notice of the people, How I had mov'd them. Bring me to Octavius.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

The same. A Street.

Enter CINNA, the Poet.

Cin. I dreamt to-night, that I did feast with Cæsar, And things unluckily charge my fantasy1: I have no will to wander forth of doors, Yet something leads me forth.

14 Fire again as a dissyllable.

1 i. e. circumstances oppress my fancy with an ill omened weight. 'I learn (says Steevens) from an old Treatise on Fortune Telling, &c. that to dream of being at banquets betokeneth misfortune, &c.' The subject of this scene is taken from Plutarch.