And with the brands fire all the traitors' houfes
Take up the body.

2 Pleb. Go, fetch fire.

4

Pleb, Pluck down forms, windows, any thing."

[Exeunt Plebeians with the body. Ant. Now let it work: Mifchief, thou art a-foot, Take thou what courfe thou wilt.

How now, fellow?

X

Enter a Servant.

Ser. Sir, Octavius is already come to Rome.
Ant. Where is he?

Ser. He and Lepidus are at Cæfar's house.

Ant. And thither will I ftraight to vifit him... He comes upon a wifh. Fortune is merry,

And in this mood will give us any thing.

Ser. I heard him fay, Brutus and Caffius

A

.

Are rid like madmen through the gates of Rome voor i Ant. Belike, they had fome notice of the people, a How I had mov'd them. Bring me to Octavius.

[Exeunt.

The first f. omits all.

C. inferts the before benches. ↑ The firft f.-Exit for Exeunt.

The fo's omit with the body.. ^_

1. The fo's and C. omit 4.

z, P.TH, W. and 7. omit Sire

y C. reads them for him. Him evidently refers to Oavius, who, as he was.comsing into Rome, had feen Brutus and Caffus, riding like madmen through the gates, and had related the fame in the prefence of the fervant.

SCENE

Cin. I dreamt to-night, that I did feaft with Cafar, And things unlucky charge my fantasy :

с

I have no will to wander forth of doors,
Yet fomething leads me forth.

Enter the Plebeians.

1 Pleb. What is your name?

с

2 Pleb. Whither are you going?

3 Pleb. Where do you f dwell?

4 Pleb. Are you a married man, or a bachelor?

2 Pleb. Answer every man directly.

1 Pleb. Ay, and briefly.

4 Pleb. Ay, and wifely.

-3 Pleb. Ay, and truly, you were best.

Cin. What is my name? Whither am I going? Where

do 4 dwell? Am I a married man, or a bachelor? Then to

Az In P. H. W. and 7. this is fcené 7;

in C. fcene 3.

d No direction here in the editions before C; the direction in them, for the

a This description of the fcene first Plebeians' entrance, being placed as

given by C.

b Here all but C. add, and after him the Plebeians.

All editions but W. and C. read

unluckily for unlucky.

above-mentioned.

• First and 2d fo's, Whether for Wbi

ther.

f C. live for drvell,

G.3

anfwer

anfwer every man directly, and briefly, wifely, and truly. Wifely I fay, I am a bachelor,

2 Pleb. That's as much as to fay, they are fools that marry: You'll bear me a bang for that, I fear: Proceeddirectly,

Cin. Direfly, I am going to Cafar's funeral.

1 Pleb. As a friend, or an enemy?

Cin. As a friend.

z Pleb. That matter is anfwer'd directly.
4 Pleb. For your dwelling-briefly.
Cin. Briefly, I dwell by the capitol.
3 Pleb. Your name, fir-truly,
Cin. Truly, my name is Cinna.

1 Pleb. Tear him to pieces, he's a confpirator,
Cin. I am Cinna the poet, I am Cinna the poet.

4 Pleb, Tear him for his bad verfes, tear him for his bad verfes,

Cin. I am not Cinna the confpirator.

4 Pleb. It is no matter, his name 's Cinna; pluck but his name out of his heart, and turn him going,

3 Pleb. Tear him, tear him. Come, brands, ho! fire brands! to Brutus', to Caffius', burn all! fome to Decius houfe, and fore to Cafca's, fome to Ligarius': Away,

i Roma

Enter Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus.

THE

HESE many then fhall die; their names are prickt.

Qa. Your brother too muft die; confent you, Lepidus? Lep, I do confent:

Oa. Prick him down, Antony.

Lep.

i No defcription of the feene in the fo's or W'; R. P. and C. fix the scene at Rome; H. at a small iẞand in the little river Rhenus near Bononią; T (followed by 7.) at a small island near Muting, and fays, “Shakespears, I dare fay, knew "from Plutarch, that thefe Triumvirs “met, upon the prescription, in a little "ifland: which Appian, who is more “particular, fays, lay near Mutina up“ on the River Lavinius." T.

But what if Shakespeare knew all this? Is a poet obliged to follow hikory exact◄

ly? May he not fometimes deviate from
it, provided he makes his own work
confiftent with itself?. What though the
old copies fay nothing of the place here?
yet it is implied in a pasage, a very few
lines from the very beginning of this
scene, that Shakespeare meant to fix it
at Rome: Antony fays,

But, Lepidus, go you to Cæfar's house ;
Fetch the will. hither, and we shall de-

termine

How to cut off fome charge in legacies.
Lep. What, shall I find you here?

08

Lep. Upon condition 1 Publius shall not live,

Who is your fifter's fon, Mark Antony.

Ant. He shall not live; look, with a spot I m damn him.

But, Lepidus, go you to Cafar's house;

Fetch the will hither, and we shall determine

How to cut off fome charge in legacies.

Lep. What, fhall I find you here?
O, Or here, or at the capitol.

Ant. This is a flight, unmeritable man,
Meet to be fent on errands: Is it fit,

[Exit Lepidus.

The three-fold world divided, he fhould ftand
One of the three to fhare it?

07. Or here, or at the capitol. What does Antony fend Lepidus on a journey (not to fay, voyage alfʊ) from an island near Matina or Bononia, to fetch the will from Cæfar's houfe in Rome, and direct him to come again to him to this fame island, and if he did not meet with him there, to return to the capitol at Rome? For this will be the import of the above paffage, according to T. H. and J. and Lepidus will appear to be a man meet to be fent on errands, with a witness. Befides, fuppofing this ifland to be the fcene, Qavius, should rather have faid, Or bere, or at Rome; for the direction, at the capitol, is too particular, and not agreeable to the common forms of speech on such an occasion; it is the fame as if, two friends being at Paris, one should fay to the other, "You will find me gisher here (at Paris) or in Chestfide.

C." makes it a Room in Antony's bouse at
Rome.

* Grey in his notes on Shakespeare conjectures marry for many.

1 Antony let down Cicero's name in the lift of the profcribed: Octavius infifted on Antony's facrificing Lucius, bis uncle by the mother's fide: And Lepidus gave up his own brother, L. Æmilius Paulus. As 'tis not uncommon to blunder in proper names, I make no doubt but in the room of Publius we should place Lucius, Antony's uncle by his mother's fide and then a trifling correc tion fets right the other line.

Lepidus. Upon condition Lucius fhall

not live.%
You are his fifter's fon, Mark Antory.

• Upton's Crit. Obf. cd. 2. p. 245. m The three first tä's, dam for damn: