By means whereof, this breaft of mine hath buried
Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.
Tell me, good Brutus, can you fee your face?
BRU. No, Caffius: for the eye fees not itself,"
But by reflection, by fome other things.
CAS. 'Tis juft:

And it is very much lamented, Brutus,

That you have no fuch mirrors, as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye,

That you might fee your fhadow. I have heard,
Where many of the best refpect in Rome,
(Except immortal Cæfar,) speaking of Brutus,
And groaning underneath this age's yoke,
Have wifh'd that noble Brutus had his eyes.
BRU. Into what dangers would you lead me,
Caffius,

That you would have me seek into myself
For that which is not in me?

CAS. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepar'd to hear:
And, fince you know you cannot see yourself
So well as by reflection, I, your glass,

Will modeftly difcover to yourself

That of yourself which you yet know not of.

8 the eye fees not itself,] So, Sir John Davies in his poem entitled Nofce Teipfum, 1599:

"Is it because the mind is like the eye,

"Through which it gathers knowledge by degrees; "Whofe rays reflect not, but fpread outwardly;

"Not feeing itself, when other things it fees?"

Again, in Marfton's Parafitafter, 1606:

"Thus few ftrike fail until they run on shelf;

"The eye fees all things but its proper felf." STEEVENS.

Again, in Sir John Davies's poem:

the lights which in my tower do fhine,

"Mine eyes which fee all objects nigh and far, "Look not into this little world of mine;

"Nor fee my face, wherein they fixed are." MALONE,

And be not jealous of me, gentle Brutus :
Were I a common laugher, or did use
To ftale with ordinary oaths my love
To every new protefter; if you know
That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard,
And after fcandal them; or if you know
That I profess myfelf in banqueting
To all the rout, then hold me dangerous.

[Flourish, and fhout.

BRU. What means this fhouting? I do fear, the

people

Choose Cæfar for their king.

CAS.

Ay, do you fear it?

Then must I think you would not have it fo.

BRU. I would not, Caffius; yet I love him well:But wherefore do you hold me here fo long? What is it that you would impart to me? If it be aught toward the general good, Set honour in one eye, and death i' the other, And I will look on both indifferently: ' For, let the gods fo fpeed me, as I love The name of honour more than I fear death.

CAS. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, As well as I do know your outward favour. Well, honour is the fubject of my story.— I cannot tell, what you and other men

9a common laugher,] Old Copy-laughter. Corrected by Mr. Pope. MALONE.

2 To ftale with ordinary oaths my love &c.] To invite every new protefter to my affection by the stale or allurement of cuftomary oaths. JOHNSON.

3 And I will look on both indifferently:] Dr. Warburton has a long note on this occafion, which is very trifling. When Brutus first names honour and death, he calmly declares them indifferent ; but as the image kindles in his mind, he fets honour above life. Is not this natural? JOHNSON.

Think of this life; but, for my single self,
I had as lief not be, as live to be

In awe of fuch a thing as I myself.

I was born free as Cæfar; fo were you :
We both have fed as well; and we can both
Endure the winter's cold, as well as he.
For once, upon a raw and gufty day,
The troubled Tiber chafing with her fhores,
Cæfar faid to me, Dar'ft thou, Caffius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,*
And frim to yonder point?-Upon the word,
Accouter'd as I was, I plunged in,

And bade him follow: fo, indeed, he did.
The torrent roar'd; and we did buffet it
With lufty finews; throwing it aside
And ftemming it with hearts of controverfy.
But cre we could arrive the point propos'd,'
Cæfar cry'd, Help me, Caffius, or I fink.

I, as Æneas, our great ancestor,

Did from the flames of Troy upon his fhoulder The old Anchifes bear, fo, from the waves of Tiber Did I the tired Cæfar: And this man

Is now become a god; and Caffius is

A wretched creature, and muft bend his body,
If Cæfar carelessly but nod on him.

4

Dar'ft thou, Caffius, now

Leap in with me into this angry flood,] Shakspeare probably recollected the story which Suetonius has told of Cæfar's leaping into the fea, when he was in danger by a boat's being overladen, and fwimming to the next fhip with his Commentaries in his left hand." Holland's Tranflation of Suetonius, 1606, p. 26. So alfo, ibid. P. 24: "Were rivers in his way to hinder his paffage, crofs over them he would, either fwimming, or elfe bearing himfelf upon blowed leather bottles." MALONE.

5 But ere we could arrive the point propos'd,] The verb arrive is ufed, without the prepofition at, by Milton in the fecond book of Paradife Loft, as well as by Shakspeare in the Third Part of King Henry VI. A& V. fc. iii:'

He had a fever when he was in Spain,
And, when the fit was on him, I did mark
How he did shake: 'tis true, this god did shake:
His coward lips did from their colour fly;"
And that fame eye, whofe bend doth awe the world,
Did lose his luftre: I did hear him groan:
Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans
Mark him, and write his fpeeches in their books,
Alas! it cry'd, Give me fome drink, Titinius,
As a fick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me,
A man of fuch a feeble temper' fhould
So get the start of the majestick world,
And bear the palm alone.

BRU. Another general shout!

[Shout. Flourish.

I do believe, that these applauses are

For fome new honours that are heap'd on Cæfar. CAS. Why, man, he doth beftride the narrow world,

thofe powers, that the

queen

"Hath rais'd in Gallia, have arriv'd our coaft."

STEEVENS.

His coward lips did from their colour fly ;] A plain man would have faid, the colour fled from his lips, and not his lips from their colour. But the falfe expreffion was for the fake of as falfe a piece of wit: a poor quibble, alluding to a coward flying from his colours. WARBURTON.

-feeble temper-] i. e. temperament, conftitution.

STEEVENS.

8 get the start of the majestick world, &c.] This image is extremely noble: it is taken from the Olympic games. The majeftick world is a fine periphrafis for the Roman empire: their citizens fet themselves on a footing with kings, and they called their dominion Orbis Romanus. But the particular allufion feems to be to the known ftory of Cæfar's great pattern Alexander, who being afked, Whether he would run the courfe at the Olympic games, replied, Yes, if the racers were kings. WARBURTON.

That the allufion is to the prize allotted in games to the foremost in the race, is very clear. All the reft exifted, I apprehend, only in Dr. Warburton's imagination. MALONE.

Like a Coloffus; and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs, and peep about
To find ourselves difhonourable graves.
Men at fome time are mafters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

Brutus, and Cæfar: What fhould be in that Cæfar?
Why should that name be founded more than yours?
Write them together, yours is as fair a name;
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;
Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with them,
Brutus will start a spirit as foon as Cæfar. [Shout.
Now in the names of all the gods at once,
Upon what meat doth this our Cæfar feed,
That he is grown fo great? Age, thou art fham'd:
Rome, thou haft loft the breed of noble bloods!
When went there by an age, fince the great flood,
But it was fam'd with more than with one man?
When could they say, till now, that talk'd of Rome,
That her wide walks encompass'd but one man?
Now is it Rome indeed, and room enough,
When there is in it but one only man.

O! you and I have heard our fathers fay,

8

and we petty men

Walk under his huge legs,] So, as an anonymous writer has obferved, in Spenfer's Faery Queen, B. IV. c. x.

But I the meanest man of many more,

"Yet much difdaining unto him to lout,
"Or creep between his legs." MALONE.

9 Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;] A fimilar thought occurs in Heywood's Rape of Lucrece, 1614:

"What diapafon's more in Tarquin's name,

"Than in a subject's? or what's Tullia

"More in the found, than fhould become the name
"Of a poor maid?" STEEVENS.

2 Brutus will fart a fpirit as foon as Cæfar.] Dr. Young, in his Bufiris, appears to have imitated this paffage:"

66

Nay, ftamp not, tyrant; I can ftamp as loud,

"And raise as many dæmons with the found." STEEVENS.