And sell the mighty space of our large honours, Cas. Brutus, bay not me; I'll not endure it: you forget yourself, Bru. Go to; you're not, Cassius. Bru. I say, you are not. Cas. Urge me no more, I shall forget myself; Have mind upon your health, tempt me no further. Bru. Away, slight man! Cas. Is't possible? Bru. Hear me, for I will speak. Must I give way and room to your rash choler? Shall I be frighted, when a madman stares? Cas. O ye gods! ye gods! Must I endure all this? Bru. All this? ay, more: Fret, till your proud beart Go, show your slaves how choleric you are, [break; And make your bondmen tremble. Must I budge? Must I observe you? Must I stand and crouch Under your testy humour? By the gods, You shall digest the venom of your spleen, Though it do split you: for, from this day forth, I'll use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter, When you are waspish. Cas. Is it come to this? Bru. You say, you are a better soldier : Let it appear so; make your vaunting true, And it shall please me well: For mine own part, I shall be glad to learn of noble men. Cas. You wrong me every way, you wrong me, Brutus I said, an elder soldier, not a better : Did I say, better? Bru. If you did, I care not. $; Cas. When Cæsar liv'd, he durst not thus have mov'd me. Bru. Peace, peace; you durst not so have tempted him. Cas. I durst not? That is, to limit my authority by your direction or censure. JOHNSON. That is, to know on what terms it is fit to confer the offices which are at m disposal. JOHNSON. VOL. VIII. C 2 Bru. No. Cas. What durst not tempt him? Cas. Do not presume too much upon my love, Bru. You have done that you should be sorry for That they pass by me, as the idle wind, For certain sums of gold, which you deny'd me ;- And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring To you for gold to pay my legions, Which you denied me: Was that done like Cassius? When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous, To lock such rascal counters from his friends, Cas. I denied you not. Bru. You did. Cas. I did not :-he was but a fool, That brought my answer back.--Brutus hath riv'd my heart. A friend should bear his friends infirmities, But Brutus makes mine greater than they are. Bru. I do not, till you practise them on me." Bru. I do not like your faults. Cas. A friendly eye could never see such faults. Bru. A flatterer's would not, though they do appear As huge as high Olympus. Cas. Come Antony, and young Octavius, come, Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius, For Cassius is aweary of the world : Hated by one he loves; brav'd by his brother; [6] This is a noble sentiment, altogether in character, and expressed in a manner inimitably happy. For to wring, implies both to get unjustly, and to use force in getting: and hard hands signify both the peasant's great labour and pains in acquir ing, and his great unwillingness to quit his hold. WARBURTON. 17] The meaning is this; I do not look for your faults, I only see them, and men tion them with vehemence, when you force them into my notice, by practising them on me. JOHNSON. Check'd like a bondman; all his faults observ❜d, Bru. Sheath your dagger: Be angry when you will, it shall have scope; Cas. Hath Cassius liv'd To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus, Cas. O Brutus ! Bru. What's the matter? Cas. Have you not love enough to bear with me, When that rash humour, which my mother gave me Makes me forgetful? Bru. Yes, Cassius; and, henceforth, When you are over-earnest with your Brutus, Luc. [within.] You shall not come to them. Cas. How now? What's the matter? Poet. For shame, you generals; what do you mean Love, and be friends, as two such men should be ; For I have seen more years, I am sure, than ye. Cas. Ha, ha; how vilely doth this cynick rhime t ? Bru. Get you hence, sirrah; saucy fellow, hence. Bru. I'll know his humour, when he knows his time: What should the wars do with these jigging fools ?9 Companion, hence ! Cas. Away, away, be gone. Enter LUCILIUS and TITINIUS. [Exit Poet. Bru. Lucilius and Titinius, bid the commanders Prepare to lodge their companies to-night. Cas. And come yourselves, and bring Messala with you Immediately to us. [Exe. LUCILIUS and TITINIUS Bru. Lucius, a bowl of wine. Cas. I did not think, you could have been so angry. Cas. Of your philosophy you make no use, If you give place to accidental evils. Bru. No man bears sorrows better:-Portia is dead. Cas. Ha! Portia ? Bru. She is dead. Cas. How scap'd I killing, when I cross'd you so ?— O insupportable and touching loss ! Upon what sickness? Bru. Impatient of my absence; And grief, that young Octavius with Mark Antony Have made themselves so strong;-for with her death That tidings came ;-With this she fell distract, And, her attendants absent, swallow'd fire. Cas. And died so? Bru. Even so. Cas. O ye immortal gods! Enter LUCIUS, with wine and tapers. Bru. Speak no more of her.-Give me a bowl of wine : -In this I bury all unkindness, Cassius. [Drinks --: Cas. My heart is thirsty for that noble pledge :- Re-enter TITINIUS with MESSALA. [Drinks Bru. Come in, Titinius :-Welcome, good Messala.Now sit we close about this taper here, And call in question our necessities, Cas. Portia, art thou gone ? Bru. No more, I pray you. Messala, I have here received letters, [8] That is, with these silly poets. A jig signified, in our author's time, a metrical composition as well as a dance. MALONE. That young Octavius, and Mark Antony, Mes. Myself have letters of the self-same tenour. Mes. That by proscription, and bills of outlawry, Have put to death an hundred senators. Bru. Therein our letters do not well agree ; Mes. Ay, Cicero is dead, And by that order of proscription. Had you your letters from your wife, my lord? Mes. Nor nothing in your letters writ of her? Mes. That, methinks, is strange. Bru. Why ask you? Hear you aught of her in yours? Mes. No, my lord. Bru. Now, as you are a Roman, tell me true. Mes. Then like a Roman bear the truth I tell : For certain she is dead, and by strange manner. Bru. Why, farewell, Portia.-We must die, Messala :With meditating that she must die once, I have the patience to endure it now. Mes. Even so great men great losses should endure: But yet my nature could not bear it so. Bru. Well, to our work alive. What do you think Of marching to Philippi presently? Cas. I do not think it good. Bru. Your reason? Cas. This it is: 'Tis better, that the enemy seek us : So shall he waste his means, weary his soldiers, Doing himself offence; whilst we, lying still, Are full of rest, defence, and nimbleness. Bru. Good reasons must, of force, give place to better The people, 'twixt Philippi and this ground, Do stand but in a forc'd affection; For they have grudg'd us contribution : |