'the river of bliss through midst of Heaven Rolls o'er Elysian flowers her amber stream. 51. Replication of. Reply to, echo of. 52. Be gone! On these brief "interjectional lines," see Gr. 512. 58. Tiber banks. This use of proper names as adjectives is common in S. Cf. v. 5. 19 below: "Here in Philippi fields." See Gr. 22. 61. Whether. The folio prints "where" here, as in v. 4. 30 below, but it often has tohether when the word is a monosyllable (see on ii. 1. 194 below). Cf. Gr.466. Some modern eds. read“whe’r”or“ whêr.” Used interchangeably with mettle in the early eds. Metal. See K. John, p. 148. 65. Deck'd with ceremonies. This is the reading of the folio, and is retained by all the editors except W. and H., who have “ 'ceremony." Ceremonies may mean "honorary ornaments" (Malone), or what are afterwards called "Cæsar's trophies," and described as "scarfs" hung on his images. Wr. compares Hen. V. iv. I. 109: "his ceremonies laid by," etc. 67. The feast of Lupercal. The Lupercal was a cavern in the Palatine Hill, sacred to Lupercus, the old Italian god of fertility, who came to be identified with Pan. Thus Virgil (Æn. viii. 344) speaks of the place as "sub rupe Lupercal Parrhasio dictum Panos de more Lycaei." Here the feast of the Lupercalia was held every year, in the month of February. After certain sacrifices and other rites, the Luperci (or priests of Lupercus) ran through the city wearing only a cincture of goatskin, and striking with leather thongs all whom they met. This performance was a symbolic purification of the land and the people. The festal day was called dies februata (from februare, to purify), the month in which it occurred Februarius, and the god himself Februus. 73. Pitch. A technical term for the height to which a falcon soars. See Rich. II. p. 153. 66 SCENE II.The heading in the folio is, " Enter Casar, Antony for the Course, Calphurnia, Portia, Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Cassius, Caska, a Soothsayer: after them Murellus and Flauius." Calphurnia is the name of Cæsar's wife throughout the play, and also in N. (eds. of 1579 and 1612*), though Craik and W. say that it is Calpurnia in the latter authority. Calpurnia was the classical form of the name. Decius. His true name was Decimus Brutus. "The error, however, is as old as the edition of Plutarch's Greek text produced by Henry Stephens in 1572; and it occurs likewise in the accompanying Latin translation, and both in Amyot's and Dacier's French, as well as in North's English. It is also found in Philemon Holland's translation of Suetonius, published in 1606. Lord Stirling, in his Julius Cæsar, probably misled in like manner by North, has fallen into the same mistake" (Craik). It may be noted, also, that it was this Decimus Brutus who had been the special favourite of Cæsar, and not Marcus Junius Brutus, as represented in the piay. In some later editions (as in that of 1676) the name is changed to Calpurnia. 3. In Antonius' way. The folio has "in Antonio's way ;" and in other names ending in -ins it often gives the Italian form in -io, which was more familiar to the actors of the time. Antony was the head or chief of a third "college" of Luperci that had been added to the original two in honour of Cæsar. 4. When he doth run his course. Cf. N.* (Life of Cæsar): “At that time the feast Lupercalia was celebrated, the which in old time, men say, was the feast of Shepheards or Herdmen, and is much like unto the feast of Lycæians in Arcadia. But, howsoever it is, that day there are divers noble men's sons, young men (and some of them Magistrates themselves that govern them), which run naked through the City, striking in sport them they meet in their way with Leather thongs, hair and all on, to make them give place. And many noble Women and Gentlewomen also, go of purpose to stand in their way, and do put forth their hands to be stricken, as Scholars hold them out to their Schoolmaster, to be stricken with the ferula; perswading themselves that, being with Child, they shall have good delivery; and so, being barren, that it will make them to conceive with Child.... Antonius, who was Consull at that time, was one of them that ran this holy course.' II. Set on. Set out, proceed. Cf. v. 2. 3 below; and see Hen. VIII. p. 180. 15. Press. Crowd. Cf. R. of L. 1301, 1408, etc.; also Mark, ii. 4. 17. Ides of March. In the Roman calendar the Ides fell on the 15th of March, May, July, and October, and the 13th of the other months. 18. A soothsayer bids. Some put a comma after soothsayer, as if there were an ellipsis of who (Gr. 244). On the measure, see Gr. 460. 23. Sennet. A particular set of notes on a trumpet. See Hen. VIII. p. 176. ...as. 27. Quick. Lively, sprightly; as in Much Ado, ii. 1. 399, v. 2. 11, etc. 30. That gentleness. See Gr. 280, and cf. 170 below. 36. Merely upon myself. Altogether upon myself. See Temp. p. 111, note on We are merely cheated. Cf. Bacon, Adv. of L. ii. 1. 4: 66 narrations which are merely and sincerely natural;" Id. ii. 25. 9: "which do make men merely aliens and disincorporate from the Church of God;" Essay 27: "it is a mere and miserable solitude to want true friends." 37. Passions of some difference. "With a fluctuation of discordant opinions and desires" (Johnson). 38. Proper to myself. Peculiar to myself; my own. See Gr. 16, and cf. Temp. p. 133, note on Their proper selves. 39. Behaviours. For the plural, cf. Much Ado, ii. 3. 9, 100, L. L. L. ii. I. 234, etc. 45. Mistook your passion. See M. of V. p. 141 (note on Not undertook) or Gr. 343. On passion= feeling, see M. of V. p. 157. 47. Cogitations. Thoughts. Cf. Bacon, Adv. of L. i. introd.: "I may excite your princely cogitations to visit the excellent treasure of your own mind," etc. See also Dan. vii. 28. 49. The eye sees not itself. Cf. T. and C. iii. 3. 106: * All our quotations from North's Plutarch are from the edition of 1676. "nor doth the eye itself, That most pure spirit of sense, behold itself." Steevens quotes Sir John Davies, Nosce Teipsum (1599): -"the mind is like the eye, * Not seeing itself, when other things it sees." 50. But by reflection by some other things. This is the folio reading, retained by K. and Wr. Pope reads "from some other things;" D. and H. have "from some other thing;" and W., "by some other thing." If by is what S. wrote, it is probably equivalent to "by means of" or "from." Cf. the peculiar uses of by noted in Gr. 146. Even now we may say "being reflected by some other thing." 52. Mirrors. Walker, D., and H. read "mirror." 54. The best respect. The highest respectability or estimation. Cf. v. 545 below. 62. Therefore, good Brutus, etc. "The eager, impatient temper of Cassius, absorbed in his own idea, is vividly expressed by his thus continuing his argument as if without appearing to have even heard Brutus's interrupting question; for such is the only interpretation which his therefore would seem to admit of" (Craik). 67. Jealous on me. Distrustful or suspicious of me. 143 (note on Glad on 't), or Gr. 180. See M. of V. p. 68. A common laugher. The folio has "common laughter." Pope substituted laugher, which has been adopted by all the more recent editWr., however, thinks "laughter" may be right (laughing-stock). As Craik remarks, "neither word seems to be perfectly satisfactory." A friend suggests "lover" as being in harmony with the context. ors. 69. To stale with ordinary oaths, etc. Johnson (followed by W.) explains this, "to invite every new protester to my affection by the stale, or allurement, of customary oaths." On this sense of stale, see Temp. p. 137. But here (as Craik suggests) the word doubtless means "to make stale," or common. Cf. iv. 1. 38 below: "stal'd by other men;" A. and C. ii. 2. 240: Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety," etc. 72. Scandal. Defame, traduce. Cf. Cor. iii. 1. 44: “Scandal'd the suppliants for the people," etc. See also Temp. p. 136. On the adverbial after, see Gr. 26. 66 73. Profess myself. "Make protestations of friendship" (Schmidt). 81. Toward. Wr. believes that the word, when a dissyllable, is always accented by S. on the first syllable; not only here, but in L. L. L. v. 2. 92, M. of V. v. 1. 5, and A. and C. iii. 10. 31. 82. Set honour in one eye, etc. Johnson explains this as follows: "When Brutus first names honour and death, he calmly declares them indifferent, but as the image kindles in his mind, he sets honour above life." Coleridge says: "Warburton would read death for both; but I prefer the old text. There are here three things-the public good, the individual Brutus's honour, and his death. The latter two so balanced each other that he could decide for the first by equipoise; nay-the thought growing-that honour had more weight than death. That Cassius understood it as Warburton is the beauty of Cassius as contrasted with Brutus." Craik remarks: "It does not seem to be necessary to suppose any such change or growth either of the image or the sentiment. What Brutus means by saying that he will look upon honour and death indifferently, if they present themselves together, is merely that, for the sake of the honour, he will not mind the death, or the risk of death, by which it may be accompanied; he will look as fearlessly and steadily upon the one as upon the other. He will think the honour to be cheaply purchased even by the loss of life; that price will never make him falter or hesitate in clutching at such a prize. He must be understood to set honour above life from the first; that he should ever have felt otherwise for a moment would have been the height of the unheroic." On indifferently, cf. Bacon, Adv. of L. ii. introd.: "I for my part shall be indifferently glad either to perform myself, or accept from another, that duty of humanity." See also Cor. ii. 2. 19. 84. Speed. Prosper; as in ii. 4. 41 below. 87. Your outward favour. Your face, or personal appearance. Cf. ii. 1. 76 below; and Bacon, Ess. 27 (ed. of 1625): "For, as S. James saith, they are as Men, that looke sometimes into a Glasse, and presently forget their own Shape, & Favour." See also Proverbs, xxxi. 30. 97. The troubled Tiber chafing, etc. See Gr. 376. Chafe (the Latin calefacere, through the Fr. échauffer and chauffer) meant, first, to warm; then, to warm by rubbing; and then simply to rub-either literally, as here, or in a figurative sense to irritate; as in Hen. VIII. i. I. 123: "What, are you chaf'd?" Cf. 2 Sam. xvii. 8. Here, as in i. 1. 45 above, some editors have changed her to "his," because Tiber is masculine in Latin; but, as Craik remarks, "this is to give us both language and a conception different from Shakespeare's." It was not the Roman river-god that he had in mind in these personifications of the stream. 104. With lusty sinews. With vigorous sinews. Cf. Temp. ii. 1. 119: "in lusty stroke," etc. Lusty is "from the Saxon lust in its primary sense of eager desire, or intense longing, indicating a corresponding intensity of bodily vigour" (Bible Word-Book). See Judges, iii. 29. 105. Hearts of controversy. "With courage that opposed and contended with the violence of the stream" (Wr.). 106. Arrive. Cf. 3 Hen. VI. v. 3. 8: "have arriv'd our coast;" Milton, P. L. ii. 409: "Ere he arrive The happy isle." See Gr. 198. 118. His coward lips, etc. "There can, I think, be no question that Warburton is right in holding that we have here a pointed allusion to a soldier flying from his colours. The figure is quite in Shakespeare's manner and spirit" (Craik). ... 119. And that same eye whose bend, etc. their faces to the bent Of the king's looks." Cf. Cymb. i. I. 13: 66 wear Bend occurs elsewhere only in A. and C. ii. 2. 213 (see our ed. p. 183). 125. Of such a feeble temper. That is, "temperament, constitution" (D.). Cf. M. of V. i. 2. 20: "a hot temper leaps o'er a cold decree," etc. 131. Man. "Cassius grows more familiar as Brutus is more moved" (Wr.). 138. What should be in that Cæsar? On should, see Gr. 325. 139. More than yours. In the folio, "more then yours ;" and then is the invariable form in that edition, as in Bacon, Hooker, etc. Usage had varied. Wiclif has than for both than and then, while Tyndale has then for both. Milton has than for then in the Hymn on the Nativity, 88: "Full little thought they than That the mighty Pan Was kindly come to live with them below." 147. Noble bloods. Cf. iv. 3. 260 below: “young bloods ;” K. John, ii. 1. 278: "As many and as well-born bloods," etc. 148. The great flood. The deluge of Deucalion. Cf. W. T. iv. 4. 442 and Cor. ii. I. 102. 149. Fam'd with. Famed for, or made famous by. Cf. Gr. 193, 194. 151. Wide walls. The folio has "wide Walkes," which K. and St. retain. Coll., D., W., Wr., and H. adopt Rowe's correction of "walls." 152. Rome indeed and room enough. "Evidence this that 'Rome' was pronounced room, or 'room' rome" (W.). Cf. below, iii. I. 290: "No Rome of safety for Octavius yet;" K. John, iii. 1. 180: “I have room with Rome to curse a while." St. quotes Prime, Commentary on Galatians (1587): "Rome is too narrow a Room for the Church of God." In 1 Hen. VI. iii. 1. 51, the Bishop of Winchester says, "Rome shall remedy this," and Warwick replies, "Roam thither then." W. infers from this play upon Rome and roam (together with the fact that room was often spelled rome) that all three words were pronounced with the long sound of o; but it is not impossible that oa was sometimes pronounced oo. our day loom is the rustic pronunciation of loam. It is more probable, however, that Craik and Earle (Philology of English Tongue, 1871) are right in assuming that in the time of S. the modern pronunciation of Rome was beginning to be heard, although the other was more common. In |
