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And that which would appear offence in us,
His countenance 1), like richest alchemy 2),
Will change to virtue and to worthiness.

CASSIUS.

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Him, and his worth, and our great need of him,

You have right well conceited 3). Let us go,

For it is after midnight; and, ere day,
We will awake him, and be sure of him.

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[Exeunt.

I cannot, by the progress of the stars,
Give guess how near to day. Lucius,

I say!

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I would it were my fault to sleep so soundly.
When, Lucius, when 4)? Awake, I say: what, Lucius!

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Get me a taper in my study, Lucius:

1) His countenance is hier: zijn steun, zijn medewerking. 2) De alchemie, de kunst om metalen te veranderen, heet hier richest, als in staat het onedelste metaal in het fijnste goud te veranderen. 3) d. i. daarvan hebt ge u een zeer goede voorstelling gevormd. 4) De beteekenis van dit when, when, met het vraagteeken er achter, is zeer eenvoudig: wanneer komt ge dan toch? wanneer zult ge mij dan toch hooren? Ook in Rich. II. (I. 1.) vinden we: When, Harry, when? waar Schlegel het met recht, als een vraag van ongeduld, door Nun, Heinrich, nun? vertaalt.

When it is lighted, come and call me here.

I will, my lord.

LUCIUS.

BRUTUS.

[Exit.

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

But for the general 1). He would be crown'd:

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

It is the bright day that brings forth 2) the adder;

And that craves wary walking. Crown him!
And then, I grant, we put a sting in him,
That at his will he may do danger with.
The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins

that 3)!

Remorse 4) from power; and, to speak truth of Cæsar,
I have not known when his affections sway'd

More than his reason. But 't is 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 5)
By which he did ascend. So Cæsar may:

Then, lest he may, prevent: and, since the quarrel
Wil bear no colour for the thing he is,
Fashion it thus: that what he is, augmented,

1) The general is hier geen adjectief, waarbij dan cause zou moeten worden verstaan, maar een substantief, in den zin van het algemeen belang. In die beteekenis, die het thans niet meer heeft, komt het ook elders bij Shakespeare voor.

2) To bring forth vertale men hier niet door voortbrengen, maar door aan het licht brengen, te voorschijn doen komen. Zoo heet het in Job XXXVIII. 11. The thing that is hid bringeth he forth to sight."

3) d. i. hem te kronen! Ja, dat is het juist !

4) Remorse staat hier in de niet meer gebruikelijke beteekenis van pity, tenderness, mededoogen, menschelijk gevoel.

5) d. i. trappen. In dien zin is het woord verouderd.

Would run to these and these extremities;

And therefore think him as a serpent's egg,

Which, hatch'd, would, as his kind 1), grow mischievous, And kill him in the shell.

Re-enter LUCIUS.

LUCIUS.

The taper burneth in your closet, Sir.
Searching the window for a flint, I found
This paper, thus seal'd up; and, I am sure,

It did not lie there when I went to bed. [Gives him the letter.

BRUTUS.

Get you to bed again; it is not day.

Is not to-morrow, boy, the ides of March?

I know not, Sir.

LUCIUS.

BRUTUS.

Look in the calendar, and bring me word.

I will, Sir.

LUCIUS.

BRUTUS.

[Exit.

The exhalations 2), whizzing in the air,

Give so much light that I may read by them.

1) Kind is hier niet soort, zoodat as his kind zou zijn like the rest of his species, maar natuur, en as his kind dus according to his nature. Johnson vestigde reeds de aandacht op deze beteekenis.

2) The exhalations zijn hier niet: de uitdampingen, maar: de vurige luchtverschijnselen. In Romeo and Jul. lezen we:

Yon light is not day-light; I know it, I:
It is some meteor that the sun exhales,
To be to thee this night a torch-bearer,
And light thee on thy way to Mantua.

[Opens the letter, and reads.

>> Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake, and see thyself.
Shall Rome, &. Speak, strike, redress!
Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake!"

Such instigations have been often dropp'd
Where I have took them up.

>> Shall Rome, &. »Thus must I piece it out:

Shall Rome stand under one man's awe? What! Rome?

My ancestor did from the streets of Rome

The Tarquin drive, when he was call'd a king.

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Speak, strike, redress!" Am I entreated

To speak and strike? O Rome! I make thee promise,
If the redress will follow, thou receiv'st

Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus!

Re-enter LUCIUS.

LUCIUS.

Sir, March is wasted fourteen days.

BRUTUS.

[Knocking within.

'T is good. Go to the gate; somebody knocks. [Exit LUCIUS. Since Cassius first did whet me against Cæsar,

I have not slept.

Between the acting of a dreadful thing

And the first motion 1), all the interim is
Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream:
The Genius and the mortal instruments 2)

1) The first motion is the first inward suggestion towards, the first intention.

2) d. i. de goede geest, die van de daad tracht af te houden, en de organen, die het bloedig opzet willen uitvoeren en daarom mortal heeten. Zoo althans moet het hier worden opgevat, om de tegenstelling met the genius. Op zich zelf kunnen the mortal instruments even goed de sterfelijke, lichamelijke werktuigen, hetzelfde als the corporal agents beteekenen. Immers mortal is subject to death even goed als procuring death. Maar dan zou de tegenstelling moeten zijn met the mind, niet met the genius.

Are then in council; and the state of man,
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then

The nature of an insurrection.

Re-enter LUCIUS.

LUCIUS.

Sir, 't is your brother Cassius 1) at the door,
Who doth desire to see you.

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No, Sir; their hats are pluck'd about their ears,
And half their faces buried in their cloaks,
That by no means I may discover them
By any mark of favour 2).

BRUTUS.

Let them enter. [Exit LUCIUS.

They are the faction. O conspiracy!

Sham'st thou to show thy dangerous brow by night,
When evils are most free? O! then, by day

Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough

To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, conspiracy;
Hide it in smiles and affability:

For if thou hath thy native semblance on,
Not Erebus itself were dim enough

To hide thee from prevention 3).

1) Cassius had Junia, Brutus' zuster, tot vrouw.

2) d. i. door eenig kenteeken van hun gelaat, door eenigen gelaatstrek. 3) d. i. om u zoo te verbergen, dat gij voor verhindering, voor voorkoming veilig waart.

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