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Shall be as welcome to the ears of Brutus

As tidings of this sight.

Tit. Hie you, Messala;

And I will seek for Pindarus the while. —

Why didst thou send me forth, brave Cassius?

Did I not meet thy friends? and did not they

Put on my brows this wreath of victory,

[Exit MESSALA.

And bid me give it thee? Didst thou not hear their shouts ?
Alas! thou hast misconstrued every thing.

But hold thee; take this garland on thy brow:

Thy Brutus bid me give it thee; and I

Will do his bidding. - Brutus, come apace,
And see how I regarded Caius Cassius. —

By your leave, gods (this is a Roman's part),

Come, Cassius' sword, and find Titinius' heart.

[Dies.

Alarum. Re-enter MESSALA, with BRUTUS, young CATO, Strato, VolumniuS,

and LUCILIUS.

Bru. Where, where, Messala, doth his body lie?

Mes. Lo, yonder! and Titinius mourning it.
Bru. Titinius' face is upward.

Cato. He is slain.

Bru. O Julius Cæsar, thou art mighty yet! Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords In our own proper entrails.

Cato. Brave Titinius!

Look, whe'r he have not crowned dead Cassius!
Bru. Are yet two Romans living such as these?
The last of all the Romans, fare thee well!

It is impossible that ever Rome

Should breed thy fellow. - Friends, I owe more tears
To this dead man than you shall see me pay.

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I shall find time, Cassius; I shall find time. -
Come, therefore, and to Thassos send his body:
His funeral shall not be in our camp,

Lest it discomfort us.

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- Lucilius, come; And come, young Cato; let us to the field. Labeo and Flavius, set our battles on:

'Tis three o'clock; and, Romans, yet ere night We shall try fortune in a second fight.

SCENE IV. Another Part of the Field.

[Low alarums.

[Exeunt.

Alarum. Enter, fighting, Soldiers of both Armies; then Brutus, Cato, Lucilius,

and Others.

Bru. Yet, countrymen, oh, yet, hold up your heads!

Cato. What bastard doth not?

I will proclaim my name about the field:

I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho!

A foe to tyrants, and my country's friend;

Who will go with me?

[Charges the enemy.

[Exit, charging the enemy. CATO is overpowered, and falls.

I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho!

Bru. And I am Brutus, Marcus Brutus, I;

Brutus, my country's friend: know me for Brutus.

Lucil. O young and noble Cato! art thou down? Why, now thou diest as bravely as Titinius;

And mayst be honored, being Cato's son.

1 Sold. Yield, or thou diest.

Lucil. Only I yield to die :

There is so much, that thou wilt kill me straight;
Kill Brutus, and be honored in his death.

1 Sold. We must not. A noble prisoner!

2 Sold. Room, ho! Tell Antony, Brutus is ta'en. 1 Sold. I'll tell the news.

Here comes the general!

Enter ANTONY.

Brutus is ta'en, Brutus is ta'en, my lord!

Ant. Where is he?

Lucil. Safe, Antony: Brutus is safe enough.

I dare assure thee that no enemy

Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus :

The gods defend him from so great a shame!
When you do find him, or alive or dead,
He will be found like Brutus, like himself.

Ant. This is not Brutus, friend, but, I assure you,
A prize no less in worth. Keep this man safe;
Give him all kindness: I had rather have
Such men my friends than enemies. Go on,
And see whe'r Brutus be alive or dead;
And bring us word unto Octavius' tent
How every thing is chanced.

SCENE V.- Another Part of the Field.

[Offering money.

Enter BRUTUS, DARDANIUS, CLITUS, STRATO, and VOLUMNIUS.

Bru. Come, poor remains of friends, rest on this rock.
Cli. Statilius showed the torchlight; but, my lord,

He came not back: he is or ta'en or slain.

Bru. Sit thee down, Clitus. Slaying is the word:

It is a deed in fashion.

Hark thee, Clitus!

Cli. What! I my lord? No, not for all the world!
Bru. Peace, then! no words.

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Cli. What ill request did Brutus make to thee?
Dar. To kill him, Clitus. Look! he meditates.

Cli. Now is that noble vessel full of grief,

That it runs over even at his eyes.

Bru. Come hither, good Volumnius: list a word.
Vol. What says my lord?

Bru. Why, this, Volumnius:

The ghost of Cæsar hath appeared to me

Two several times by night: at Sardis, once;

[Exeunt.

[Whispering.

[Whispers him.

And this last night, here in Philippi fields.
I know my hour is come.

Vol. Not so, my lord.

Bru. Nay, I am sure it is, Volumnius.

Thou seest the world, Volumnius, how it goes;
Our enemies have beat us to the pit:

It is more worthy to leap in ourselves
Than tarry till they push us.

Good Volumnius,

Thou know'st that we two went to school together:
Even for that our love of old, I prithee,

Hold thou my sword-hilts whilst I run on it.

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[Low alarums.

[Alarum still

Vol. That's not an office for a friend, my lord.
Cli. Fly, fly, my lord! there is no tarrying here.
Bru. Farewell to you,
and you, and you, Volumnius!
Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep:
Farewell to thee too, Strato! Countrymen,
My heart doth joy, that yet in all my life

I found no man but he was true to me.
I shall have glory by this losing day
More than Octavius and Mark Antony
By this vile conquest shall attain unto.

So fare you well at once! for Brutus' tongue
Hath almost ended his life's history.

Night hangs upon mine eyes: my bones would rest,
That have but labored to attain this hour.

Cli. Fly, my lord! fly!

Bru. Hence! I will follow thee.

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[Alarum. Cry within, “ Fly, fly, fly!”

[Exeunt CLITUS, DARDANIUS, and VOLUMNIUS.

I prithee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord.

Thou art a fellow of a good respect;

Thy life hath had some smatch of honor in it:
Hold, then, my sword, and turn away thy face

While I do run upon it. Wilt thou, Strato?

Stra. Give me your hand first: fare you well, my lord!
Bru. Farewell, good Strato!

Cæsar, now be still:

I killed not thee with half so good a will.

[He runs on his sword, and dies.

Alarum. Retreat. Enter OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, MESSALA, LUCILIUS, and their

Oct. What man is that?

Army.

Mes. My master's man. Strato, where is thy master?

Stra. Free from the bondage you are in, Messala :

The conquerors can but make a fire of him;

For Brutus only overcame himself;

And no man else hath honor by his death.
Lucil. So Brutus should be found.

I thank thee, Brutus,

That thou hast proved Lucilius' saying true.
Oct. All that served Brutus, I will entertain them.
Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me?
Stra. Ay, if Messala will prefer me to you.

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Oct. Do so, good Messala.

Mes. How died my master, Strato?

Stra. I held the sword, and he did run on it. Mes. Octavius, then take him to follow thee, That did the latest service to my master.

Ant. 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 mixed in him, that Nature might stand up,
And say to all the world, "This was a man!"
Oct. According to his virtue let us use him,
With all respect and rites of burial.
Within my tent his bones to-night shall lie,
Most like a soldier, ordered honorably. ·
So call the field to rest; and let's away
To part the glories of this happy day.

[Exeunt.

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EDMUND SPENSER.

1553-1599.

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Shepheard's Calender;" "Colin Clouts come Home Again: " "Epithalinion; "View of the State of Ireland;" and his greatest work, "The Faerie Queene." "The Faerie Queene," written in what is called the Spenserian stanza, was intended to "fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline." Of the twelve books planned originally, "Foashioning XII. Morall Virtues," there were only six written. Hazlitt says, "Spenser excels in the two qualities in which Chaucer is most deficient, invention and fancy. The invention shown in his allegorical personages is endless, as the fancy shown in his description of them is gorgeous and delightful. He is the poet of romance. He describes things as in a splendid and voluptuous dream."

THE KNIGHT AND THE LADY.

I.

A GENTLE Knight was pricking on the plaine,
Ycladd in mightie armes and silver shielde,
Wherein old dints of deepe woundes did remaine,
The cruel markes of many a bloody fielde;
Yet armes till that time did he never wield:
His angry steede did chide his foming bitt,
As much disdayning to the curbe to yield.
Full iolly knight he seemed, and faire did sitt,
As one for knightly giusts' and fierce encounters fitt.

1 Tournaments.

II.

And on his brest a bloodie crosse he bore,
The deare remembrance of his dying Lord,
For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore,
And dead, as living ever, him ador'd:

Upon his shield the like was also scor'd,

For soveraine hope, which in his helpe he had. Right, faithfull, true he was in deede and word; But of his cheere did seeme too solemne sad; Yet nothing did he dread, but ever was ydrad.1

III.

Upon a great adventure he was bond,
That greatest Gloriana to him gave,

(That greatest glorious queene of Faerie lond,)
To winne him worshippe, and her grace to have;
Which of all earthly thinges he most did crave:
And ever, as he rode, his hart did earne
Το prove his puissance in battell brave
Upon his foe, and his new force to learne, -
Upon his foe, a Dragon horrible and stearne.

IV.

A lovely Ladie rode him faire beside,
Upon a lowly asse more white then snow;
Yet she much whiter; but the same did hide
Under a vele, that whimpled3 was full low;
And over all a blacke stole shee did throw.
As one that inly mournd, so was she sad,
And heavie sate upon her palfrey slow;
Seemed in heart some hidden care she had;
And by her in a line a milke-white lamb she lad.

So

V.

pure and innocent as that same lambe She was in life and every vertuous lore;

And by descent from royall lynage came

Of ancient kinges and queenes that had of yore

Their scepters stretcht from east to westerne shore,
And all the world in their subjection held,

Till that infernal Feend with foule uprore

Forwasted all their land, and them expeld;

Whom to avenge, she had this Knight from far compeld.

VI.

Behind her farre away a Dwarfe did lag,
That lasie seemd, in being ever last,

Or wearied with bearing of her bag

Of needments at his backe. Thus as they past,

1 Dreaded.

2 Yearn.

3 Gathered, or plaited.

4 Much wasted.

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