The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Caesar Part 29

ANTONY. Therefore I took your hands, but was indeed Sway'd from the point by looking down on Caesar. 220 Friends am I with you all, and love you all, Upon this hope that you shall give me reasons Why and wherein Caesar was dangerous.

BRUTUS. Or else were this a savage spectacle: Our reasons are so full of good regard 225 That, were you, Antony, the son of Caesar, You should be satisfied.

ANTONY. That's all I seek: And am moreover suitor that I may Produce his body to the market-place; And in the pulpit, as becomes a friend, 230 Speak in the order of his funeral.

[Note 226: /you, Antony/ Theobald you Antony Ff.]

[Note 217. /p.r.i.c.k'd/: marked on the list. The image is of a list of names written out, and some of them having holes p.r.i.c.ked in the paper against them. Cf. IV, i, 1. See Century under 'p.r.i.c.king for sheriffs.']

[Note 225: /full of good regard/: the result of n.o.ble considerations.]

[Note 229: 'Produce' here implies 'motion towards'--the original Latin sense. Hence the preposition 'to.'--/market-place/. Here, and elsewhere in the play, 'the market-place' is the Forum, and the _rostra_ provided there for the purposes of public speaking Shakespeare calls 'pulpits.' In this, as in so much else, he followed North.]

[Note 231: /the order of his funeral:/ the course of the funeral ceremonies. "Then Antonius, thinking good ... that his body should be honourably buried, and not in hugger-mugger,[A]

lest the people might thereby take occasion to be worse offended if they did otherwise: Ca.s.sius stoutly spake against it. But Brutus went with the motion, and agreed unto it."--Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_.]

[Note A: i.e. in secrecy. Ascham has the form 'huddermother'

and Skelton 'hoder-moder.' Cf. "In hugger-mugger to inter him," _Hamlet_, IV, v, 84.]

[Page 96]

BRUTUS. You shall, Mark Antony.

Ca.s.sIUS. Brutus, a word with you.

[_Aside to_ BRUTUS] You know not what you do; do not consent That Antony speak in his funeral: Know you how much the people may be mov'd 235 By that which he will utter?

BRUTUS. By your pardon: I will myself into the pulpit first, And show the reason of our Caesar's death: What Antony shall speak, I will protest He speaks by leave and by permission, 240 And that we are contented Caesar shall Have all true rites and lawful ceremonies.

It shall advantage more than do us wrong.

Ca.s.sIUS. I know not what may fall; I like it not.

BRUTUS. Mark Antony, here, take you Caesar's body. 245 You shall not in your funeral speech blame us, But speak all good you can devise of Caesar, And say you do 't by our permission; Else shall you not have any hand at all About his funeral: and you shall speak 250 In the same pulpit whereto I am going, After my speech is ended.

[Note 233: [_Aside to_ BRUTUS] Ff omit.]

[Note 243: /wrong:/ harm. Cf. l. 47. Note the high self-appreciation of Brutus here, in supposing that if he can but have a chance to speak to the people, and to air his wisdom before them, all will go right. Here, again, he overbears Ca.s.sius, who now begins to find the effects of having stuffed him with flatteries, and served as a mirror to "turn his hidden worthiness into his eye" (I, ii, 57-58).]

[Page 97]

ANTONY. Be it so; I do desire no more.

BRUTUS. Prepare the body, then, and follow us.

[_Exeunt all but_ ANTONY]

ANTONY. O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, 255 That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!

Thou art the ruins of the n.o.blest man That ever lived in the tide of times.

Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!

Over thy wounds now do I prophesy, 260 Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips, To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue, A curse shall light upon the limbs of men; Domestic fury and fierce civil strife Shall c.u.mber all the parts of Italy; 265 Blood and destruction shall be so in use, And dreadful objects so familiar, That mothers shall but smile when they behold Their infants quartered with the hands of war; All pity chok'd with custom of fell deeds: 270 And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge, With Ate by his side come hot from h.e.l.l, Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth 275 With carrion men, groaning for burial.

[Note 254: [_Exeunt_ ...] Capell Exeunt. Manet Antony Ff.]

[Note 255: Scene IV Pope.]

[Note 263: /limbs/ F3 F4 limbes F1 F2.]

[Note 257-258: Cf. Antony's eulogy of Brutus, V, v, 68-75.]

[Note 263: /limbs/. Thirteen different words ('kind,' 'line,'

'lives,' 'loins,' 'tombs,' 'sons,' 'times,' etc.) have been offered by editors as subst.i.tutes for the plain, direct 'limbs' of the Folios. One of Johnson's suggestions was "these lymmes," taking 'lymmes' in the sense of 'lime-hounds,' i.e.

'leash-hounds.' 'Lym' is on the list of dogs in _King Lear_, III, vi, 72. In defence of the Folio text Dr. Wright quotes Timon's curse on the senators of Athens and says, "Lear's curses were certainly levelled at his daughter's limbs."]

[Note 269: /with/: by. So in III, ii, 196. See Abbott, -- 193.]

[Note 272: Ate was the Greek G.o.ddess of vengeance, discord, and mischief. Shakespeare refers to her in _King John_, II, i, 63, as "stirring to blood and strife." In _Love's Labour's Lost_, V, ii, 694, and _Much Ado about Nothing_, II, i, 263, the references to her are humorous.]

[Note 274: 'Havoc' was anciently the word of signal for giving no quarter in a battle. It was a high crime for any one to give the signal without authority from the general in chief; hence the peculiar force of 'monarch's voice.'--To 'let slip'

a dog was a term of the chase, for releasing the hounds from the 'slip' or leash of leather whereby they were held in hand till it was time to let them pursue the animal.--The 'dogs of war' are fire, sword, and famine. So in _King Henry V_, First Chorus, 6-8:

at his heels, Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire, Crouch for employment.]

[Page 98]

_Enter a_ Servant

You serve Octavius Caesar, do you not?

SERVANT. I do, Mark Antony.

ANTONY. Caesar did write for him to come to Rome.

SERVANT. He did receive his letters, and is coming; 280 And bid me say to you by word of mouth-- O Caesar! [_Seeing the body_]

ANTONY. Thy heart is big; get thee apart and weep.

Pa.s.sion, I see, is catching; for mine eyes,

[Note 277: _Enter_ ... Enter Octavio's Servant Ff.]

[Note 282: [_Seeing the body_] Rowe Ff omit.]

[Note 284: /catching/; for F2 F3 F4 catching from F1.]

[Page 99]

Seeing those beads of sorrow stand in thine, 285 Began to water. Is thy master coming?

SERVANT. He lies to-night within seven leagues of Rome.