BRUTUS. Sheathe your dagger; Be angry when you will, it shall have scope; CASSIUS. Hath Cassius lived To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus, When grief, and blood ill-tempered, vexeth him? BRUTUS. When I spoke that, I was ill-tempered, CASSIUS. Have not you love enough to bear with me, When that rash humor which my mother gave me Makes me forgetful? BRUTUS. Yes, Cassius; and from henceforth, When you are over-earnest with your Brutus, He'll think your mother chides, and leave you so. CASSIUS. I did not think you could have been so angry. 1 dishonor shall be humor: i.e., what would be dishonor in other men shall be set down to humorto caprice - in you. 8 much enforcéd, when greatly provoked. As the flint must be struck sharply before it gives a spark, so must Brutus before his 2 with a lamb. To whom is the anger bursts forth; and even then reference? he is as cool as the flint. BRUTUS. O Cassius, I am sick of many griefs! CASSIUS. Of your philosophy1 you make no use, If you give place to accidental evils. BRUTUS. No man bears sorrow better. Portia 2 is dead. CASSIUS. Ha! Portia? BRUTUS. She is dead. CASSIUS. HOW 'scaped I killing, when I cross'd you so? 3 Oh, insupportable and touching loss!- Upon what sickness? BRUTUS. 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.5 CASSIUS. And died so? BRUTUS. CASSIUS. Even so. O ye immortal gods!— [They retire. 1 Your philosophy. Brutus be- | humor upon him; and Brutus was longed to a sect called Stoʻics, who were equally heedless of pleasure and of pain. From the Stoics we get the word stoical, meaning indifferent to misfortune. 2 Portia, Brutus's wife. too much of a man to mention it until after the reconciliation. This is one of the finest touches of pathos in the play. 4 That tidings. Shakespeare uses 'tidings" both as a singular and as a plural noun. 8 How 'scaped I killing? Cassius here acknowledges how for- 5 swallowed fire, took poison. bearing Brutus had been. Cassius But one Roman writer says that did not know how great a sor- after hearing of Brutus's defeat row was weighing Brutus down and death Portia swallowed redwhile he was venting his ill-hot coals. Next day the opposing armies meet on the plains of Philippi in Macedonia. The wing led by Brutus is successful against Octavius; but Antony defeats Cassius, who, ignorant of Brutus's success, kills himself in despair. Antony then turns on Brutus's force, and overpowers it. Rather than be taken prisoner, Brutus commands his servant to hold out his sword, while he, in Roman fashion, runs on its point, and dies. When Antony hears how Brutus thus met his end, he exclaims, in acknowledgment of the nobleness of the character of Brutus, This was the noblest Roman of them all: Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar; So mixed in him that Nature might stand up 2.-FALSTAFFIAN HUMOR. [SIR JOHN FALSTAFF is, perhaps, the greatest humorous character ever invented. He is a man at once young and old, enterprising and fat, a dupe and a wit, harmless and wicked, weak in principle and resolute by constitution, cowardly in appearance and brave in reality, a knave without malice, a liar without deceit, and a knight, a gentleman, and a soldier, without either dignity, decency, or honor. This is a character which, though it may be decomposed, could not have been formed upon any receipt whatever; it required the hand of Shakespeare himself to give to every particular part a relish of the whole, and of the whole to every particular part." 1 a general honest thought, a desire for the common good. 2 elements. See Glossary. 8 mixed, mingled, blended. Falstaff first makes his appearance in the play from which the following extracts are made, - the "First Part of King Henry IV." By Henry IV. is meant the English sovereign of that title, who reigned 1399-1413. Shakespeare represents the king's son, Prince Henry (afterwards Henry V.), as being, when heir-apparent, a sharer in the wild frolic of youth; and he surrounds him with a group of jolly roisterers, - Bardolph, Pistol, and the rest, with Falstaff as the lord of the revels.] I. A DOUBLE ROBBERY PLANNED. Scene: Apartment of FALSTAFF. I must give over this life, and I will give it over: an1 I do not, I am a villain! PRINCE. Where shall we take a purse to-morrow, Jack?2 FALSTAFF. Zounds! where thou wilt, lad. I'll make one: an I do not, call me villain, and baffle 5 me. 3 PRINCE. I see a good amendment of life in thee,from praying to purse-taking! FALSTAFF. Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no sin for a man to labor in his vocation. Enter POINS.7 8 Poins! Now shall we know if Gadshill have set a match.9—This is the most omnipotent villain that ever cried "Stand!" to a true man. 1 an, if. 5 baffle me, hang me up by the heels. 6 Hal, i.e., Henry, - the Prince. 7 Poins figures as the most gentlemanly of Falstaff's band of vaga 2 Jack. Falstaff has just been protesting that he has determined to give up his evil ways, to reform; and the Prince slyly tests his sincerity by asking when it is pro-bonds. posed to do the next bit of highway robbery. "Jack" is of course Falstaff, - Sir John. 8 Gadshill, the name of one of Falstaff's crew. 9 set a match: equivalent to the 3 make one, be one of the party. slang expression "put up a job;" 4 villain. See Glossary. i.e., to rob some party. PRINCE. Good morrow, Ned.1 POINS Good morrow, sweet Hal. Now, my lads, my lads, to-morrow morning, by four o'clock, early at Gadshill! There are pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings,3 and traders riding to London with fat purses. I have vizards for you all; you have horses for yourselves. Gadshill lies to-night in Rochester; I have bespoke supper to-morrow night in Eastcheap; we may do it as secure as sleep. If you will go, I will stuff your purses full of crowns; if you will not, tarry at home, and be hanged! FALSTAFF. Hear ye, Yedward: if I tarry at home, and go not, I'll hang you for going. POINS. You will, chops? 8 FALSTAFF. Hal, wilt thou make one? PRINCE. Who, I rob? I a thief? Not I, by my faith. FALSTAFF. There's neither honesty, manhood, nor good fellowship in thee, nor thou camest not of the blood royal, if thou darest not stand for ten shillings.9 PRINCE. Well, then, once in my days, I'll be a mad cap.10 FALSTAFF. Why, that's well said. 1 Ned; that is, Poins. 2 Gadshill, in Kent, about three miles from Rochester, on the road from London to Canterbury. 3 rich offerings offerings to the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket, at Canterbury. 4 vizards, masks. 5 lies, sleeps, stays. Head Tavern, where the Prince, Falstaff, and the boon companions used to sup. 7 Yedward, for Edward, i. e., Poins. 8 chops. Meaning whom? 9 stand for ten shillings. The word "royal" means a ten-shilling piece; so this is one of Falstaff's 6 Eastcheap, a street in London, | quips. in which was the famous Boar's 10 madcap. See Glossary. |