Cin. O pardon, Sir, it doth; and yon grey lines
That fret the clouds, are messengers of day.

Casca. You shall confess that you' are both deceiv'd.
Here, as I point my sword, the sun arises;
Which is a great way growing on the south,
Weighing the youthful season of the year.

Some two months hence, up higher toward the north
He first presents his fire; and the high east
Stands, as the Capitol, directly here. 26

Bru. Give me your hands all over, one by one.
Cas. And let us swear our resolution. 27

Bru. No, not an oath: If not the face of men, 28
The sufferance of our souls, the time's abuse,

If these be motives weak, break off betimes,
And every man hence to his idle bed;

30

So let high-sighted 29 tyranny range on,
Till each man drop by lottery. But if these,
As I am sure they do, bear fire enough
To kindle cowards, and to steel with valour
The melting spirits of women, then, countrymen,
What need we any spur but our own cause,
To prick us to redress? what other bond,
Than secret Romans, that have spoke the word,
And will not palter? 31 and what other oath,

Than honesty to honesty engag'd,

That this shall be, or we will fall for it?

Swear priests, and cowards, and men cautelous, 32
Old feeble carrions, and such suffering souls

That welcome wrongs; unto bad causes swear

26) Von Brutus' Garten aus betrachtet, liegt der eigentliche Ost in gerader Richtung mit dem Capitol.

27) Mit ihrem Entschlusse hatte Cassius mittlerweile in leisem Gespräch den Brutus bekannt gemacht.

28) Wenn nicht das, was unsere Mienen zeigen, was unsere Seelen leiden und was die Gegenwart Verkehrtes hat, wenn die darin liegenden Beweggründe schwach sind und es noch ausserdem eines Eides bedarf, uns zum Handeln zu treiben das ist der leitende Gedanke dieses Satzes, der, wie oft bei Sh., anakoluthisch ausgedrückt ist. 29) high-sighted ist die Tyrannei, welche von oben verächtlich niederblickt auf ihre Opfer, wie sie hinstürzen, je nachdem das Loos sie nacheinander trifft.

30) these scil. these motives.

31) die mit dem Worte, das sie einmal gegeben haben, kein zweideutiges Spiel treiben.

So in Coriolanus (A. 3, Sc. 1) this paltering becomes not Rome.

in Eid nehmen, Jemanden schwören lassen. cautelous schlau be

Such creatures as men doubt; 33 but do not stain
The even virtue of our enterprize,

Nor the insuppressive mettle of our spirits,

To think that, or our cause, or our performance,
Did need an oath; when every drop of blood,
That every Roman bears, and nobly bears,
Is guilty of a several bastardy, 34

If he do break the smallest particle

Of any promise that hath pass'd from him.

Cas. But what of Cicero? Shall we sound him? 35
I think he will stand very strong with us.
Casca. Let us not leave him out.
Cin.

No, by no means.

Met. O let us have him: for his silver hairs
Will purchase us a good opinion, 36

And buy men's voices to commend our deeds:
It shall be said, his judgment rul'd our hands;
Our youths, and wildness, shall no whit appear,

But all be buried in his gravity.

Bru. O! name him not; let us not break with him; For he will never follow any thing

That other men begin.

Casca. Indeed, he is not fit.

Dec. Shall no man else be touch'd, but only Cæsar?

Cas. Decius, well urg'd. I think it is not meet, Mark Antony, so well belov'd of Cæsar,

Should outlive Cæsar: We shall find of him

A shrewd contriver; and, you know, his means,

If he improve them, may well stretch so far

As to annoy us all; which to prevent,

Let Antony and Cæsar fall together.

37

Bru. Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius,

To cut the head off, and then hack the limbs;

Like 38 wrath in death, and envy afterwards:

33) Diejenigen Geschöpfe, welche man beargwöhnt, denen man nicht traut, die lasst auf schlechte Sachen vereidigen. Den bad causes wird dann even virtue of our enterprize gegenübergestellt: die gerade, alle Winkelzüge verschmähende Tugend unseres Unternehmens. 34) Jeder einzelne Tropfen Bluts in einem wortbrüchigen Römer ist der eines Bastards. Der Nachdruck ruht, wie auch der Vers zeigt, auf him. opinion Renommee.

35)

36)

Die Verba purchase und buy zeigen, dass silver hier nicht bloss in uneigentlichem Sinne, sondern doppelsinnig steht.

37) to break with oder to

Einem ein Geheimniss mittheilen.

38) scil. our course will seem like etc. Unser Verfahren würde aussehen, als vollstreckten wir den Tod nicht unparteiisch, sondern im Zorn, und als hegten wir hinterher noch gehässige Leidenschaft (envy).

For Antony is but a limb of Cæsar.

Let us be sacrificers, but no butchers, Caius.
We all stand up against the spirit of Cæsar;
And in the spirit of men there is no blood:
0, that we then could come by Cæsar's spirit,
And not dismember Cæsar! But, alas!

Cæsar must bleed for it. And, gentle friends,
Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;
Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods,
Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds:
And let our hearts, as subtle masters do,
Stir up their servants 39 to an act of rage,
And after seem to chide them. This shall make
Our purpose necessary, and not envious; 40
Which so appearing to the common eyes,
We shall be call'd purgers, 41 not murderers.
And for Mark Antony, think not of him,
For he can do no more than Cæsar's arm,
When Cæsar's head is off.

Cas.

Yet I fear him: 42

For in the ingrafted love he bears to Cæsar,

Bru. Alas! good Cassius, do not think of him.

If he love Cæsar, all that he can do

Is to himself; 43 take thought, and die for Cæsar:
And that were much he should; for he is given
To sports, to wildness, and much company.

Treb. There is no fear in him; let him not die,
For he will live, and laugh at this hereafter.

Bru. Peace! count the clock.
Cas.

Treb. T is time to part.

[Clock strikes.

The clock hath stricken three.

39) Das Bild ist hier, wie bei Sh. öfter, mit der Sache vermengt, da servants sich eigentlich nur auf masters bezieht, und doch im Gegensatz zu our hearts hier zugleich darunter die Glieder verstanden werden, welche die Mordthat vollführen.

40) dadurch wird unser Vorhaben, wenn es ausgeführt ist, als eine Sache der Nothwendigkeit, und nicht der Bosheit erscheinen. gehässig, boshaft, wie eben

vorher (Vgl. Anm. 38) envy Bosheit. 41) Wie bei Sh. to purge oft

envious

heilen, steht, so ist hier purger Arzt. So in

Macbeth (A. 5, Sc. 3) and purge it to a sound and pristine health.

42) Die meisten Hgg. verwischen die Sh.'sche Pause zwischen Brutus' und Cassius' Reden, indem sie ein do vor fear einflicken.

sich selbst.

43) Er kann, wenn er sich Cäsar's Tod zu Herzen nimmt, uns nichts thun, sondern nur to take thought sich Gedanken machen, sich abhärmen, kommt auch in Holinshed's Chronik vor: now they are without service which caused them to take thought, insomuch that some died by the way.

Cas.

But it is doubtful yet, Whether 44 Cæsar will come forth to-day, or no:

For he is superstitious grown of late;

Quite from the main opinion he held once
Of fantasy, of dreams, and ceremonies. 45
It may be, these apparent prodigies,
The unaccustom'd terror of this night,
And the persuasion of his augurers,
May hold him from the Capitol to-day.

Dec. Never fear that: If he be so resolv'd,
I can o'ersway him; for he loves to hear,
That unicorns may be betray'd with trees, 46
And bears with glasses, elephants with holes,
Lions with toils, and men with flatterers;
But, when I tell him, he hates flatterers,
He says, he does, being then most flattered.
Let me work;

For I can give his humour the true bent,
And I will bring him to the Capitol.

47

Cas. Nay, we will all of us be there 48 to fetch him.
Bru. By the eighth hour: is that the uttermost?
Cin. Be that the uttermost, and fail not then.
Met. Caius Ligarius doth bear Cæsar hard, 49
Who rated him for speaking well of Pompey.
I wonder, none of you have thought of him.

Bru. Now, good Metellus, go along by him: 50

He loves me well, and I have given him reasons;
Send him but hither, and I'll fashion him.

Cas. The morning comes upon us: we 'll leave you,

And, friends, disperse yourselves; but all remember
What you have said, and show yourselves true Romans.

44) für whether, das die Fol. hier hat, setzen manche Hgg. das abgekürzte whe'r. Vgl A. 1, Sc. 1, Anm. 15.

45) ganz abweichend von der allgemeinen massgebenden Ansicht (main opinion), die er sonst über phantastische Einbildungen, Träume und traditionelle Gebräuche (ceremonies) hegte.

46) Das Einhorn soll mit dem Horne sich in den Baum festrennen, hinter welchem der Jäger, auf den es losstürzt, sich gestellt hat.

confound thee.

-

Auf diese Sage spielt Sh. auch in Timon of Athens (A. 4, Sc. 3) an: wert thou the unicorn, pride and wrath would So sollte man Bären fangen, indem man ihnen einen Spiegel vorhält, und Elephanten, indem sie in eine mit Rasen bedeckte Grube fallen. 47) Ich kann seine Stimmung so lenken, wie sie sein soll.

48) there bezieht sich nicht auf Capitol, sondern ist zu verstehen: bei Cäsar, in Casar's Hanse.

Die späteren Folioausgaben lesen hatred für hard, und

die früheren Hgg. folgen ihnen darin.

50) go along by him: gehe bei ihm, d. h. bei seinem Hause vorbei und sprich mit ihm.

51

Bru. Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily ;
Let not our looks put on our purposes;
But bear it as our Roman actors do,
With untir'd spirits and formal constancy: 52
And so, good-morrow to you every one.
Boy! Lucius! Fast asleep? It is no matter;
Enjoy the honey-heavy 53 dew of slumber:
Thou hast no figures, 54 nor no fantasies,
Which busy care draws in the brains of men;
Therefore, thou sleep'st so sonnd.

Por.

Enter PORTIA.

[Exeunt all but BRUTUS.

Brutus, my lord!

Bru. Portia, what mean you? Wherefore rise you now? It is not for your health thus to commit

Your weak condition to the raw-cold morning.

Por. Nor for yours neither. You have ungently, Brutus, Stole from my bed: and yesternight, at supper,

You suddenly arose, and walk'd about,

Musing and sighing, with your arms across;
And when I ask'd you what the matter was,
You star'd upon me with ungentle looks.

I urg'd you further; then you scratch'd your head,
And too impatiently stamp'd with your foot:
Yet I insisted, yet you answer'd not;

But, with an angry wafture of your hand,
Gave sign for me to leave you. So I did,
Fearing to strengthen that impatience,

Which seem'd too much enkindled; and, withal,
Hoping it was but an effect of humour,
Which sometime hath his hour with every man.
It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor sleep;
And, could it work so much upon your shape,
As it hath much prevail'd on your condition, 55

51) Unsere Mienen sollen nicht unser Vorhaben zur Schau tragen.
lich anlegen oder annehmen.

52) formal constancy

=

to put on äusser

geziemende, ehrsame Festigkeit. So gebraucht Sh. formal oft, z. B. in As you like it (A. 2, Sc. 7) with eyes severe and beard of formal cut. 53) Das Compositum bezeichnet zugleich die Süssigkeit und die Festigkeit des Schlafes, der wie ein Thau der Nacht auf den Schlummernden erquicklich und schwer niedergefallen ist.

54) In demselben Sinne

eingebildete Gestalten, Wahngebilde, gebraucht Sh. figures in Merry Wives of Windsor (A. 4, Sc. 2) if it be but to scrape the figures out of your husband's brain.

55) condition ist hier =

geistige Verfassung, wie das Wort vorher in Brutus' Rede

körperliche Verfassung, bedeutete: your weak condition etc.