Bru. Why com'ft thou?

Ghost. To tell thee, thou shalt fee me at Philippi.
Bru. Then, I fhall fee thee again.-

Ghoft. Ay, at Philippi.

[Exit Ghoft Bru. Why, I will fee thee at Philippi then. Now I have taken heart, thou vanishest: Ill Spirit, I would hold more talk with thee. Boy! Lucius! Varro! Claudius! Sirs! awake! Claudius!

Luc. The ftrings, my lord, are falfe.

Bru. He thinks, he still is at his inftrument. Lucius! awake.

Luc. My lord!

Bru. Didft thou dream, Lucius, that thou so cried'ft out? Luc. My lord, I do not know that I did cry.

Bru. Yes, that thou didst; didst thou fee

Luc. Nothing, my lord.

any thing?

Bru. Sleep again, Lucius; firrah, Claudius, fellow! Varro! awake. (30)

Var. My lord!

Claw. My lord!

Bru. Why did you fo cry out, Sirs, in your fleep!

Both. Did we, my

lord?

Bru. Ay, faw you any thing?

Var. No, my lord, I faw nothing.

Clau. Nor I, my lord.

Bru. Go, and commend me to my brother Caffius ; ́ Bid him fet on his Pow'rs betimes before,

And we will follow.

Both. It fhall be done, my lord.

[Exeunt.

(30) Thou! awake.] The accent is fo unmufical and harsh, 'tis impoffible the Poet could begin his verfe thus. Brutus, certainly, was intended to fpeak to both his other men; who both awake, and anfwer, at an inftant, Mr. Warburton

VOL. VII.

SCENE, the Fields of Philippi, with the two
Camps.

Enter Octavius, Antony, and their Army.
OCTAVIUS.

OW, Antony, our hopes are answered.
You faid, the enemy would not come down,
But keep the hills and upper regions;
It proves not fo; their battles are at hand,
They mean to warn us at Philippi here,
Anfwering, before we do demand of them.

Ant. Tut, I am in their bofoms, and I know
Wherefore they do it; they could be content
To vifit other places, and come down

With fearful bravery; thinking, by this face,
To faften in our thoughts that they have courage.
But 'tis not fo.

Enter a Meffenger.

Mej. Prepare you, Generals;

The enemy comes on in gallant show;
Their bloody fign of battle is hung out,
And fomething to be done immediately.

Ant. Octavius, lead your battle softly on,
Upon the left hand of the even field.

Octa. Upon the right hand I, keep thou the left.
Ant. Why do you crofs me in this exigent?
Octa. I do not crofs you; but I will do so. [March.
Drum. Enter Brutus, Caffius, and their army.

Bru. They ftand, and would have parley.
Caf. Stand faft, Titinius, we muft out and talk.
Octa Mark Antony, shall we give fign of battle?
Ant. No, Cæfar, we will anfwer on their charge.
Make forth, the Generals would have fome words.
Oza. Stir not until the fignal.

Bru,

Bru. Words before blows: is it fo Countrymen ? Oda. Not that we love words better, as you do. Bru. Good words are better than bad strokes, Octavius. Ant. In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good words. Witness the hole you made in Cefar's heart, Crying, "long live! hail, Cæfar!"

Caf. Antony,

The posture of your blows are yet unknown;
But for your words, they rob the Hybla bées,
And leave them honeyless.

Ant. Not ftinglefs too.

Bru. O yes, and foundless too:

For you have ftol'n their buzzing, Antony;
And very wifely threat, before you fting.

Ant. Villains! you did not fo, when your vile daggers Hack'd one another in the fides of Cæfar.

You fhew'd your teeth like apes, and fawn'dlike hounds, And bow'd like bond-men, kifling Cafar's feet; Whilft damned Cafea, like a cur behind,

Struck Cafar on the neck.

O flatterers!

Caf. Flatterers! now, Brutus, thank your felf; This tongue had not offended fo to day,

If Caffius might have rul'd.

[fweat,

Oda. Come, come, the caufe. If arguing make us

The proof of it will turn to redder drops.

Behold, I draw a fword against confpirators;
When think you, that the fword goes up again?
Never, 'till Cafar's three and twenty wounds (31)
Be well aveng'd; or 'till another Cafar
Have added flaughter to the sword of traitors.

Bru. Cæfar, thou can'ft not die by traitors' hands,

(31.) Three and thirty wounds.] Thus all the editions implicitly but I have ventured to reduce this number to three and twenty, from the joint authorities of Appian, Plutarch, and Suetonius; and I am perfuaded, the error was not from the poet, but his tranfcribers. The fame mistake has happen'd in the Noble Gentleman, by Beaumont and Fletcher.

So Cafar fell, when in the Capitol

They gave his body two and thirty wounds.

For here we must likewife correct, three and twenty. Perhaps, the number might be wrote in figures; and those accidentally tranfpus'8.

D 2

Unless

Unless thou bring'st them with thee.

Octa. So I hope;

I was not born to die on Brutus' sword.

Bru. O, if thou wert the nobleft of thy ftrain, Young man, thou couldst not die more honourable. Caf. A peevifh fchool-boy, worthless of fuch honour, Join'd with a mafker and a reveller.

Ant. Old Caffius ftill!

Octa. Come, Antony, away;

Defiance, traitors, hurl we in your teeth:
If you dare fight to-day, come to the field;

If not, when you

have ftomachs.

[Exe. Octavius, Antony, and army.

Caf. Why, now blow wind, fwell billow, and fwim

The ftorm is up, and all is on the hazard.

Bru. Lucilius,

Luc. My lord.

[bark!

-hark, a word with you.

[Lucilius and Messala ftand forth. [Brutus Speaks apart to Lucilius.

Caf. Meffala.

Mef. What fays my General ?

Caf. Mefala,

This is my birth-day; as this very day

Was Caffius born. Give me thy hand, Meffalas
Be thou my witness, that, against my will,

As Pompey was, am I compell'd to fet

Upon one battle all our liberties.

You know, that I held Epicurus strong,
And his opinion; now I change my mind;
And partly credit things, that do prefage.
Coming from Sardis, on our foremost enfign
Two mighty eagles fell; and there they perch'd;
Gorging and feeding from our foldiers hands,
Who to Philippi here conforted us:

This morning are they fled away and gone,
And, in their fteads, do ravens, crows and kites
Fly o'er our heads; and downward look on us,
As we were fickly prey; their fhadows feem
A canopy most fatal, under which

Our army lies ready to give the ghost.
Mef. Believe not fo.

Caf.

Caf. I but believe it partly;

For I am fresh of spirit, and refolv'd

To meet all peril, very conftantly.
Bru. Even fo, Lucilius.

Caf. Now, most noble Brutus,

The Gods to-day ftand friendly; that we may,
Lovers in peace, lead on our days to age!
But fince the affairs of men rest still incertain,
Let's reafon with the worst that may befal.
If we do lofe this battle, then is this

The very laft time we shall speak together.
What are you then determined to do?

Bru. Ev'n by the rule of that Philofophy, (37)
By which I did blame Cato, for the death
Which he did give himself; I know not how,
But I do find it cowardly, and vile,

For fear of what might fall, fo to prevent
The time of life; arming myfelf with patience,
To stay the providence of fome high powers,
That govern us below.

Caf. Then if we lose this battle,

You are contented to be led in triumph
Thorough the streets of Rome?

Bru. No, Caffius, no; think not, thou noble Roman, That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome; He bears too great a mind. But this fame day Muft end that work, the Ides of March begun ; And, whether we shall meet again, I know not;

(32) Bru. Ev'n by the rule] This fpeech from Plutarch our Shake Speare has extremely foften'd in all the offenfive parts of it; as any on may fee, who confults the original: and with no lefs caution, ha omitted his famous exclamation against virtue. O Virtue! I bav worship'd thee as a real good; but find thee only an unsubstantial name. His great judgment in this is very remarkable, on two accounts. Firft; in his caution, not to give offence to a moral audience; and, fecondly, as he has hereby avoided a fault, in drawing his hero's character. For to have had Brutus gone off the ftage in the manner Plutarch reprefents it, would have fupprefs'd all that pity (efpecially in a Chriftian audience) which it was the poet's business to raise. So that, as Shakespeare has managed this character, he is as perfect a one for the stage as Oedipus; which the critics fo much admire. Mr. Warburton