CAS. Cowards die many times before their deaths;"

The valiant never taste of death but once.

Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,

It seems to me most strange that men fhould fear; Seeing that death, a necessary end,'

Will come, when it will come.

Re-enter a Servant.

What say the augurers?

SERV. They would not have you to stir forth to

day.

Plucking the entrails of an offering forth,
They could not find a heart within the beaft.

7 Corwards die many times before their deaths;] So, in the ancient tranflation of Plutarch, fo often quoted:

"When fome of his friends did counfel him to have a guard for the fafety of his perfon; he would never consent to it, but faid, it was better to die once, than always to be affrayed of death." STEEVENS.

So, in Marfton's Infatiate Countefs, 1613:

"Fear is my vaffal; when I frown, he flies,

"A hundred times in life a coward dies."

Lord Effex, probably before any of these writers, made the fame remark. In a letter to lord Rutland, he obferves, " that as he which dieth nobly, doth live for ever, fo he that doth live in fear, doth die continually." MALONE.

8 that I yet have heard,] This fentiment appears to have been imitated by Dr. Young in his tragedy of Bufiris King of Egypt:

9

Didft thou e'er fear?

"Sure 'tis an art; I know not how to fear:
""Tis one of the few things beyond my power;

"And if death must be fear'd before 'tis felt,
"Thy master is immortal."-

-STEEVENS.

death, a necessary end, &c.] This is a fentence derived from the ftoical doctrine of predeftination, and is therefore improper in the mouth of Cæfar. JOHNSON.

CES. The gods do this in fhame of cowardice: " Cæfar fhould be a beast without a heart,

If he should stay at home to-day for fear.
No, Cæfar fhall not: Danger knows full well,
That Cæfar is more dangerous than he.

We were two lions litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible;
And Cæfar fhall go forth.*

2

in fhame of cowardice:] The ancients did not place courage but wisdom in the heart. JOHNSON.

3 We were -] In old editions:

We heare

The copies have been all corrupt, and the paffage, of course, unintelligible. But the flight alteration, I have made, [We were] reftores fenfe to the whole; and the fentiment will neither be unworthy of Shakspeare, nor the boaft too extravagant for Cæfar in a vein of vanity to utter that he and danger were two twin-whelps of a lion, and he the elder, and more terrible of the two.

Mr. Upton recommends us to read:

We are

This resembles the boaft of Otho:

THEOBALD.

Experti invicem fumus, Ego et Fortuna. Tacitus.

STEEVENS.

It is not eafy to determine, which of the two readings has the beft claim to a place in the text. If Theobald's emendation be adopted, the phrafeology, though lefs elegant, is perhaps more Shakfperian. It may mean the fame as if he had written,-We two lions were litter'd in one day, and I am the elder and more terrible of the two. MALONE.

Cæfar fhall go forth.] Any speech of Cæfar, throughout this fcene, will appear to difadvantage, if compared with the following fentiments, put into his mouth by May, in the seventh book of his Supplement to Lucan:

Plus me, Calphurnia, luctus

Et lachrymæ movere tuæ, quam triftia vatum
Refponfa, infauftæ volucres, aut ulla dierum
Vana fuperftitio poterant. Oftenta timere

Si nunc inciperem, quæ non mihi tempora pofthac
Anxia tranfirent? quæ lux jucunda maneret?
Aut quæ libertas? fruftra fervire timori

(Dum nec luce frui, nec mortem arcere licebit)

CAL

Alas, my lord,

Your wisdom is confum'd in confidence.

Do not go forth to-day: Call it my fear,
That keeps you in the house, and not your own.
We'll fend Mark Antony to the fenate-houfe;
And he shall fay, you are not well to-day :
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.

CAS. Mark Antony fhall fay, I am not well;
And, for thy humour, I will stay at home.

Enter DECIUS.

Here's Decius Brutus, he shall tell them so.
DEC. Cæfar, all hail! Good morrow, worthy
Cæfar:

I come to fetch you to the fenate-house.

CAS. And you are come in very happy time,
To bear my greeting to the fenators,

And tell them, that I will not come to-day :
Cannot, is false; and that I dare not, falser;
I will not come to-day: Tell them fo, Decius.
CAL. Say, he is fick.

CES.
Shall Cæfar fend a lie?
Have I in conqueft ftretch'd mine arm so far,
To be afeard to tell grey-beards the truth?
Decius, go tell them, Cæfar will not come.

DEC. Moft mighty Cæfar, let me know fome caufe,

Left I be laugh'd at, when I tell them fo.

CAS. The caufe is in my will, I will not come; That is enough to fatisfy the fenate.

Cogar, et huic capiti quod Roma veretur, arufpex
Jus dabit, et vanus femper dominabitur augur.

STEEVENS.

But, for your private fatisfaction,
Because I love you, I will let you know.
Calphurnia here, my wife, ftays me at home:
She dreamt to-night she saw my statua,
Which like a fountain, with a hundred spouts,
Did run pure blood; and many lufty Romans
Came fmiling, and did bathe their hands in it.
And these does the apply for warnings, portents,"
And evils imminent; and on her knee
Hath begg'd, that I will stay at home to-day.
Dec. This dream is all amifs interpreted;
It was a vifion, fair and fortunate:

Your ftatue spouting blood in many pipes,
In which so many fmiling Romans bath'd,
Signifies, that from you great Rome shall fuck
Reviving blood; and that great men fhall prefs
For tinctures, stains, relicks, and cognizance.

5 my ftatua,] See Vol, III. p. 275, n. 8; and Vol. X. p. 594, n. 5. STEEVENS.

6

warnings, portents,] Old copy, unmetrically,-warnings and portents. STEEVENS.

And evils imminent ;] The late Mr. Edwards was of opinion that we should read:

The alteration propofed by Mr. Edwards is needlefs, and tends to weaken the force of the expreffions, which form, as they now ftand, a regular climax. HENLEY.

8 and that great men fhall prefs

For tinctures, ftains, relicks, and cognizance.] This fpeech, which is intentionally pompous, is fomewhat confufed. There are two allufions; one to coats armorial, to which princes make additions, or give new tinctures, and new marks of cognizance; the other to martyrs, whofe reliques are preferved with veneration. The Romans, fays Decius, all come to you as to a faint, for reliques, as to a prince, for honours. JOHNSON.

I believe tinctures has no relation to heraldry, but means merely handkerchiefs, or other linen, tinged with blood. Bullokar in his

This by Calphurnia's dream is fignify'd.

CAS. And this way have you well expounded it. DEC. I have, when you have heard what I can fay:

And know it now; The fenate have concluded
To give, this day, a crown to mighty Cæsar.
If you fhall fend them word, you will not come,
Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock
Apt to be render'd, for fome one to fay,
Break up the fenate till another time,

When Cafar's wife fhall meet with better dreams."
If Cæfar hide himself, fhall they not whisper,
Lo, Cæfar is afraid?

Pardon me, Cæfar; for my dear, dear love
To your proceeding bids me tell you this;
And reason to my love is liable.

8

CES. How foolish do your fears feem now,

Calphurnia?

I am afhamed I did yield to them.

Give me my robe, for I will go :

go:

Expofitor, 1616, defines it "a dipping, colouring or staining of a thing.' So, in Act III. fc. ii:

"And dip their napkins," &c. MALONE.

I concur in opinion with Mr. Malone. At the execution of feveral of our ancient nobility, martyrs, &c. we are told that handkerchiefs were tinctured with their blood, and preferved as affectionate or falutary memorials of the deceased. STEEVENS.

When Cæfar's wife shall meet with better dreams.] So, in Lord Sterline's Julius Cæfar, 1607:

"How can we fatisfy the world's conceit,

"Whofe tongues ftill in all cars your praife proclaims? "Or fhall we bid them leave to deal in ftate,

"Till that Calphurnia first have better dreams?"

MALONE.

8 And reafon &c.] And reafon, or propriety of conduct and language, is fubordinate to my love. JOHNSON.