but none, as it strikes me, which may not have arisen from the use of the same materials by the two poets. And there are essential differences also;-Lord Sterline taking no notice of the speeches of Brutus and Antony.

Shakspeare's play commences with the disaffection of the tribunes, who are represented as the adherents of Pompey, the offer of the crown to Cæsar by Mark Antony, and the stirring up of Brutus by his brother-in-law Cassius, to rise against Cæsar. All this, with the placards thrown into the house of Brutus, is taken from Plutarch, but the depreciation of the personal bravery of the dictator, as one of the means used by Cassius to excite his friend,* is Shakspeare's own.

It has been strangely said to be taken from Suetonius,† who relates the story of Cæsar saving himself by swimming, at the same time holding his writings above the water, to keep them dry. But this is mentioned by Suetonius, among the instances of his fortitude or constancy. Plutarch‡ tells the story without comment, but certainly with no view to depreciate Cæsar. Speaking generally, the topic may be said to be judiciously chosen by one who wished to excite jealousy of a man in power; but the

* Act, i. Sc. 2. ↑ Jul. 64.

‡ North, 609.

selection is certainly not appropriate. The remainder of the scene is skilful.

Cæsar's apprehension of spare and reflecting men, like Cassius, has better authority ;*

Let me have men about me that are fat; Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep of nights : Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look;

He thinks too much, such men are dangerous."

Again,

"He reads much;

He is a great observer, and he looks

Quite through the deeds of men. He loves no plays,

As thou dost, Antony; he hears no musick :
Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort,

As if he mock'd himself, and scorn'd his spirit,
That could be mov'd to smile at any thing."

The reflections of Brutus, on the eve of the Ides of March, are well imagined ;

"It must be by his death; and, for my part, I know no personal cause to spurn at him,

But for the general. He would be crown'd:

How that might change his nature, there's the question.

It is the bright day that brings forth the adder;
And that craves wary walking. Crown him? That—
And then I grant we put a sting in him,

* North, 819.

That at his will he may do danger with.
The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins
Remorse from power: and to speak truth of Cæsar,
I have not known when his affections sway'd
More than his reason. But 'tis a common proof,
That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber-upward turns his face :
But when he once attains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back;
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend: so Cæsar may;
Then, lest he may, prevent. And since the quarrel
Will bear no colour, for the thing he is,
Fashion it thus; that what he is, augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities :
And therefore think him as a serpent's egg,

Which hatch'd, would as his kind grow
And kill him in the shell."

And,

mischievous;

"Since Cassius first did whet me against Cæsar, I have not slept.

Between the acting of a dreadful thing,

And the first motion, all the interim is

Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream:
The genius, and the mortal instruments,
Are then in council; and the state of man,
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
The nature of an insurrection."*

*Act ii. Sc. 1.

Portia's expostulation with her husband for his want of confidence in her, when she exhibits the self-inflicted wound, by which she thought to convince him of her constancy, is from Plutarch.

66 I grant, I am a woman, but withal,

A woman that lord Brutus took to wife;
I grant, I am a woman; but withal,
A woman well-reputed, Cato's daughter.
Think you, I am no stronger than my sex,
Being so father'd and so husbanded?

Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose them :
I have made strong proof of my constancy,
Giving myself a voluntary wound

Here, in the thigh; can I bear that with patience, And not my husband's secrets ?”*

The exclusion of Cicero from the conspiracy, and all the circumstances preliminary to the murder, including the dreams of Calphurnia, and Cæsar's apprehensions of evil on that particular day, rest upon the same authority. And Plutarch represents Cæsar as abandoning all notion of safety or defence, so soon as he found that Brutus was among his assailers.

Commentators have been puzzled,† by the insertion of Cæsar's address to Brutus, "Et tu,

* Act ii. Sc. 1. North, 821, 822. + Bosw. 78.

Brute." It is not in North, nor in Lord Sterline's play; nor even in Suetonius, where the phrase is, "And thou, my son," and the original is not in Latin, but in Greek. Where Shakspeare found it, I cannot divine.

The apparent reconciliation between Mark Antony and the murderers of his friend, is justified by Plutarch's statement that they supped together. But it is chiefly in the orations of Brutus and Antony that Shakspeare improves upon his original.

"The next morning, Brutus and his confederates came into the market-place to speak unto the people, who gave them such audience that it seemed they neither approved nor allowed the fact, for by their great silence they shewed that they were sorry for Cæsar's death, and also that they did reverence Brutus. Now, the senate granted general pardon for all that was past, and to pacify every man, ordained besides that Cæsar's funeral should be honoured as a god, and established all things that he had done; and gave certain provinces also, and convenient honours unto Brutus and his confederates, whereby every man thought that all things were brought to peace and quietness again. But when they had opened Cæsar's testament, and found a liberal legacy of money bequeathed unto every citizen of Rome; and

* North, 823.