The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Caesar Part 33

2 CITIZEN. We will be reveng'd.

ALL. Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay!

Let not a traitor live!

ANTONY. Stay, countrymen. 205

1 CITIZEN. Peace there! Hear the n.o.ble Antony.

2 CITIZEN. We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll die with him.

ANTONY. Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up To such a sudden flood of mutiny.

They that have done this deed are honourable; 210 What private griefs they have, alas, I know not, That made them do it; they are wise and honourable, And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you.

I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts: I am no orator, as Brutus is; 215 But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man, That love my friend; and that they know full well That gave me public leave to speak of him: For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech, 220 To stir men's blood: I only speak right on; I tell you that which you yourselves do know; Show you sweet Caesar's wounds, poor poor dumb mouths, And bid them speak for me: but were I Brutus, And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony 225 Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue In every wound of Caesar, that should move The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.

[Note 203-204: ALL Globe Camb (White Delius conj.) Ff continue to 2 Citizen and print as verse.]

[Note 218: /gave/ F1 give F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 219: /wit/ F2 F3 F4 writ F2.]

[Note 207: The Folios give this speech like that in 203-204 to 'Second Citizen,' but it should surely be given to 'All.']

[Note 219: Johnson suggests that the 'writ' of the First Folio may not be a printer's slip but used in the sense of a 'penned or premeditated oration.' Malone adopted and defended the First Folio reading.]

[Page 111]

ALL. We'll mutiny.

1 CITIZEN. We'll burn the house of Brutus. 230

3 CITIZEN. Away, then! come, seek the conspirators.

ANTONY. Yet hear me, countrymen; yet hear me speak.

ALL. Peace, ho! hear Antony, most n.o.ble Antony!

ANTONY. Why, friends, you go to do you know not what.

Wherein hath Caesar thus deserv'd your loves? 235 Alas, you know not; I must tell you then: You have forgot the will I told you of.

ALL. Most true. The will! Let's stay and hear the will.

ANTONY. Here is the will, and under Caesar's seal.

To every Roman citizen he gives, 240 To every several man, seventy-five drachmas.

[Note 239: "For first of all, when Caesar's testament was openly read among them, whereby it appeared that he bequeathed unto every citizen of Rome seventy-five drachmas a man; and that he left his gardens and arbors unto the people, which he had on this side of the river Tiber, in the place where now the temple of Fortune is built: the people then loved him, and were marvellous sorry for him."--Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_.]

[Note 241: The drachma (lit. 'what can be grasped in the hand') was the princ.i.p.al silver coin of the ancient Greeks, and while the nominal value of it was about that of the modern drachma (by law of the same value as the French franc) its purchasing power was much greater. Caesar left to each citizen three hundred sesterces; Plutarch gives seventy-five drachmas as the Greek equivalent.]

[Page 112]

2 CITIZEN. Most n.o.ble Caesar! We'll revenge his death.

3 CITIZEN. O royal Caesar!

ANTONY. Hear me with patience.

ALL. Peace, ho! 245

ANTONY. Moreover, he hath left you all his walks, His private arbours and new-planted orchards, On this side Tiber; he hath left them you, And to your heirs for ever; common pleasures, To walk abroad and recreate yourselves. 250 Here was a Caesar! when comes such another?

1 CITIZEN. Never, never. Come, away, away!

We'll burn his body in the holy place, And with the brands fire the traitors' houses.

Take up the body. 255

[Note 254: /the/ F1 all the F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 248: As this scene lies in the Forum, near the Capitol, Caesar's gardens are, in fact, on the other side of the Tiber.

But Shakespeare wrote as he read in Plutarch. See quotation, p. 111, l. 239.]

[Note 252: "Therewithal the people fell presently into such a rage and mutiny, that there was no more order kept amongst the common people. For some of them cried out 'Kill the murderers'; others plucked up forms, tables, and stalls about the market-place, as they had done before at the funerals of Clodius, and having laid them all on a heap together, they set them on fire, and thereupon did put the body of Caesar, and burnt it in the midst of the most holy places. When the fire was throughly kindled, some took burning firebrands, and ran with them to the murderers' houses that killed him, to set them on fire."--Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_.]

[Note 254: /fire./ Cf. III, i, 172. Monosyllables ending in 'r' or 're,' preceded by a long vowel or diphthong, are often p.r.o.nounced as dissyllabic.]

[Page 113]

2 CITIZEN. Go fetch fire.

3 CITIZEN. Pluck down benches.

4 CITIZEN. Pluck down forms, windows, any thing.

[_Exeunt_ CITIZENS _with the body_]

ANTONY. Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot, Take thou what course thou wilt!

_Enter a_ Servant

How now, fellow! 260

SERVANT. Sir, Octavius is already come to Rome.

ANTONY. Where is he?

SERVANT. He and Lepidus are at Caesar's house.

ANTONY. And thither will I straight to visit him: He comes upon a wish. Fortune is merry, 265 And in this mood will give us any thing.

SERVANT. I heard him say, Brutus and Ca.s.sius Are rid like madmen through the gates of Rome.