They mean to warn us at Philippi here,"
Answering before we do demand of them.

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

W th fearful bravery, thinking by this face
To fasten in our thoughts that they have courage;
But 'tis not so.

Mess.

Enter a Messenger.

Prepare you, generals: The enemy comes on in gallant show; Their bloody sign of battle is hung out, And something to be done immediately.

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

Oct. Upon the right hand I; keep thou the left.
Ant. Why do you cross me in this exigent?
Oct. I do not cross you; but I will do so.1

[March.

Enter BRUTUS, CASSIUS, and their Army; LUCIL
IUS, TITINIUS, MESSALA, and Others.

Bru. They stand, and would have parley.
Cass. Stand fast, Titinius: we must out and talk.
Oct. Mark Antony, shall we give sign of battle?
Ant. No, Cæsar, we will answer on their charge.
Make forth; the generals would have some words.
Oct. Stir not until the signal.

Bru. Words before blows: Is it so, countrymen ?
Oct. Not that we love words better, as you do.

Bru. Good words are better than bad strokes, Octavius.

2 To warn is to summon. So in King John: "Who is it that hath warn'd us to the walls?" And in King Richard III.: "And sent to warn them to his royal presence." And so in some parts of our country it is still commoa to speak of warning people to trainings and town-meetings.

Meaning the false show of courage which cowardice sometimes puts on; a in illustration of the adage "A bully is a coward."

4 At this time, Octavius was but twenty-one years old, and Antony was almost old enough to be his grandfather. At the time of Cæsar's death, when Octavius was in his nineteenth year, Antony thought he was going to manage him easily and have it all his own way with him, but he found the youngster as stiff as a poker, and could just do nothing with him. Cæsar's youngest sister Julia was married to Marcus Atius Balbus, and their daughter Atia, again, was married to Caius Octavius, a nobleman of the Plebeian order. From this marriage sprung the present Octavius, who afterwards became the Emperor Augustus. He was mainly educated by his great-uncle, was advanced to the Patrician order, and was adopted as his son and heir; so that his full and proper designation at this time was Caius Julius Cæsar Octavianus. The text gives a right taste of the man, who always stood firm as a post against Antony, till the latter finally knocked himself to pieces against him.

Ant. In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good words: Witness the hole you made in Cæsar's heart, Crying, Long live! hail, Cæsar!

Cass. Antony, The posture of your blows are yet unknown; But, for your words, they rob the Hybla bees,5 And leave them honeyless.

Ant.

Not stingless too.

Bru. O, yes, and soundless too;

For you have stol'n their buzzing, Antony,

And very wisely threat before you sting.

Ant. Villains, you did not so when your vile daggers
Hack'd one another in the sides of Cæsar:

You show'd your teeth like apes, and fawn'd like hounds,
And bow'd like bondmen, kissing Cæsar's feet;

Whilst damned Casca, like a cur, behind

Struck Cæsar on the neck. O, flatterers!

Cass. Flatterers! Now, Brutus, thank yourself: This tongue had not offended so to-day,

If Cassius might have rul’d.

Oct. Come, come, the cause: if arguing make us sweat, The proof of it will turn to redder drops.

Look,

I draw a sword against conspirators:

When think you that the sword goes up again?
Never, till Cæsar's three-and-thirty wounds.

6

Be well aveng'd; or till another Cæsar

Have added slaughter to the sword of traitors."

Bru. Cæsar, thou canst not die by traitors' hands, Unless thou bring'st them with thee.

Oct.

So I hope:

I was not born to die on Brutus' sword.

8

Bru. O, if thou wert the noblest of thy strain, Young man, thou could'st not die more honourably.

5 Hybla was the name of a place in Sicily, noted for the fine flavour of its honey. See page 256, note 5.

6 The historical number of Cæsar's wounds is three-and-twenty, and so Shakespeare read it in Plutarch. But the poets care little for exactness in such matters. In Beaumont and Fletcher's Two Noble Gentlemen, we have "Cæsar's two-and-thirty wounds.". - This man, Octavius, has been a standing puzzle and enigma to the historians, from the seeming contradictions of his character. The later writers, however, especially Merivale and Smith, find that the one principle that gave unity to his life and reconciled those contradictions, was a steadfast, inflexible purpose to avenge the murder of his illustrious uncle and adoptive father.

7 Till you, traitors as you are, have added the slaughtering of me, another Cæsar, to that of Julius.

8 Strain is stock, lineage, or race; a common use of the word in Shakespeare's time. So in King Henry V. ii. 4: "He is bred out of that bloody strain, that haunted us in our familiar paths."

Cass. A peevish schoolboy, worthless of such honour, Join'd with a masker and a reveller!"

Ant. Old Cassius still!

Oct.

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 stomachs.

[Exeunt OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, and their Army.

Cass. Why, now, blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark! The storm is up, and all is on the hazard.

Bru. Ho, Lucilius! hark, a word with you.

Lucil. My lord?

[BRUT. and LUCIL. talk apart.

Cass. Messala,

Mes.

What says my General?

Cass.

Messala,

This is my birth-day; as this very day

Was Cassius born. Give me thy hand, Messala :
Be thou my witness that against my will,
As Pompey was, am I compell'd to set
Upon one battle all our liberties.10
You know that I held Epicurus strong,
And his opinion: now I change my mind,
And partly credit things that do presage.
Coming from Sardis, on our former ensign "
Two mighty eagles fell; and there they perch'd,
Gorging and feeding from our soldiers' hands;
Who to Philippi here consorted us:

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

Our army lies, ready to give up the ghost.
Mes. Believe not so.

Cass.

I but believe it partly;

For I am fresh of spirit, and resolv'd

To meet all perils very constantly.

9 A peevish school-boy, joined with a masker and a reveller, and unworthy even of that honour. The more common meaning of peevish was foolish.

10 Alluding to the battle of Pharsalia, which took place in the year B. C. 48. Pompey was forced into that battle, against his better judgment, by the inexperienced and impatient men about him, who, inasmuch as they had more than twice Cæsar's number of troops, fancied they could easily crunch him up if they could but meet him. So they tried it, and he quickly crunched up them.

11 Former for first or foremost. The usage is not peculiar to Shake speare.

Bru. Even so, Lucilius.

Cass.
Now, most noble Brutus,
The gods to-day stand friendly, that we may,
Lovers in peace, lead on our days to age!
But, since th' affairs of men rest still incertain,
Let's reason with the worst that may befall.
If we do lose this battle, then is this
The very last time we shall speak together.
What are you then determined to do?

Bru. Even by the rule of that philosophy
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, so to prevent

The time of life; 12 arming myself with patience
To stay the providence of some high powers
That govern us below.

Cass.

Then, if we lose this battle,

You are contented to be led in triumph

Thorough the streets of Rome?

Bru. No, Cassius, no: think not, thou noble Roman.
That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome;

He bears too great a mind.18 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.
Cass. 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.

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

12 Prevent is here used in the sense of anticipate. See page 101, note 14. By time is meant the full time, the natural period. To the understanding of this speech, it must be observed, that the sense of the words, "arming myself." &c., follows next after the words, "which he did give himself."

18 Brutus here discovers a rather shaky and incoherent state of mind. Was this an oversight in the Poet? or was it meant as a part of the man's character? Probably the latter. The matter is strongly, but, I think, rightly put by Merivale: The philosopher indeed renounced all confidence in his own principles. He had adopted them from reading or imitation; they were not the natural growth of instinct or genuine reflection; and, as may easily happen in such a case, his faith in them failed when they were tested by adversity. As long as there seemed a chance that the godlike stroke would be justified by success, Brutus claimed the glory of maintaining a righteous cause; but when all hope fled, he could take leave of philosophy and life together, and exclaim, I once dreamed that virtue was a thing; I find her only a name, and the mere slave of fortune. He had blamed Cato for flying from misery by self-murder; but he learnt to justify the same desperate act when he contemplated committing it himself."

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

And then the end is known.

Come, ho! away!

[Exeunt

SCENE II. The Same.

The Field of Battle.

Alarum. Enter BRUTUS and MESSala.

Bru. Ride, ride, Messala, ride, and give these bills
Unto the legions on the other side.1

Let them set on at once; for I perceive
But cold demeanour in Octavius' wing,

And sudden push gives them the overthrow.

Ride, ride, Messala: let them all come down.

[Exeunt

SCENE III. The Same. Another Part of the Field.

Alarum. Enter CASSIUS and TITINIUS.

Cass. O, look, Titinius, look, the villains fly!
Myself have to mine own turn'd enemy:
This ensign here of mine was turning back;
I slew the coward, and did take it from him.3

Tit. O Cassius, Brutus gave the word too early;
Who, having some advantage on Octavius,
Took it too eagerly: his soldiers fell to spoil,
Whilst we by Antony are all enclos❜d.

Enter PINDARUS.

Pin. Fly further off, my lord, fly further off;

Mark Antony is in your tents, my lord:

Fly, therefore, noble Cassius, fly far off.

Cass. This hill is far enough. Look, look, Titinius ;

Are those my tents where I perceive the fire?

Tit. They are, my lord.

Cuss.

Titinius, if thou lov'st me,

Mount thou my horse, and hide thy spurs in him,
Till he have brought thee up to yonder troops,3
And here again; that I may rest assur'd
Whether yond troops are friend or enemy.

Tit. I will be here again, even with a thought.

[Exit.

Messala

"The legions on the other side are those under Cassius. and his escort are met in the next scene by Titinius coming from Cassius. 2 Ensign was used, as it is still, either for the flag or for the bearer of it. here it is used for both at once. It was in killing the cowardly ensign that Cassius "to his own turn'd enemy."

8 "Yonder troops" are Messala and his escort coming from Brutus.