SCENE IV. 12. I yield to die. Dr Hugh Blair says: 'A line seems to be lost here to this purpose; as if the soldier had demanded"Whether there was yet much resistance on the part of the enemy?" 21-25. I dare. ... like himself. See V, v, 59. SCENE V. 40. Almost ended his life's history. There is a fine mark of Shakespearian tact here. He knew that Brutus had in his early years studied the philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato, both of whom taught that suicide, on any occasion, was a cowardly evasion and an irreligious act. He knew that he had blamed Cato severely for seeking death by his own hand, and hence Shakespeare refrains from making Brutus give any reason or excuse for his intended suicide. He shows him grief-worn and wearied, overcome by the apparent extremity of his affairs, and weakened by vigils and sleepless toil, sinking in spirit till he took the desperate and dismal course he did. It is deserving of remark that had not Cassius, in his hasty despair, resolved on self-destruction, he would have been made glad by tidings of the victory achieved by Brutus, and there would have been no occasion for his ignoble death, and less cause for the chagrin of Brutus. If even Brutus had maintained his philosophic fortitude for a single day longer, he would have heard that his camp, with fourteen thousand soldiers in it, was safe; and not long thereafter news would have reached him of the naval victory his forces had won. But murder required to be avenged, and the manes of Julius Cæsar were to be appeased, and hence Cassius the tempter fell, carrying out his previously-expressed vaunt, 'Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius' (I, iii, 90); and Brutus, once again misled by him, abridged his time of fearing death' (III, i, 106); so showing the truth of his own excla mation: 'O Julius Cæsar! thou art mighty yet; Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords 56. For Brutus only overcame himself, and no man else, etc. 'Two causes concurred to render Roman history more tragic in this respect [suicide] than that of Greece. The first was the greater intensity of the Roman character, imposing on itself tasks, and arrogating to itself claims, in the pursuit of which Fortune was indeed despised, but in the failure of which the Nemesis was both swift and tremendous. The magnitude of the theatre on which the Roman played his part, the grandeur of the issues involved in the various struggles, the consequent frequency of portentous crises in the national history, conspired to multiply the recurrence of tragic times, in which the proud spirit of the Roman, unlike the elastic spirit of the more supple Greek, refused to bend, and therefore could but break. The second cause which came to reinforce and sanction the tendency already native to the national character was the prevalence, during the most fervid and tumultuous period of Roman history, of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophies, both of which, although they had their origin in Greece, received their strongest historical impersonations from Rome; and although they differed in much, agreed in this, that each postulated for man liberty over his own life. Hence suicide became fashionable at Rome as the appropriate end, in certain circumstances, of a Roman citizen, and a 'Roman death' came to be another name for suicide'—W. D. Geddes' Phædo of Plato, note f, pp. 204-205. 75. This was a man. Compare Hamlet: 'He was a man, take him for all in all; I shall not look upon his like again '—I, ii, 191, 192. 'A combination and a form indeed, Where every god did seem to set his seal To give the world assurance of a man'-III, iv, 60-62. ACT V. Describe the interview between the rival generals at Philippi. What determination did Brutus and Cassius come to in case they were defeated? What were the results of the battle of Philippi? Describe the deaths of (1) Cassius, (2) Titinius, (3) Cato, (4)Brutus. What is the meaning of 'battles,' 'bosoms,' 'bravery,' ‘parley,' strain?' What were the doctrines of the Epicureans and the Stoics? GENERAL QUESTIONS. Write brief biographies of Julius Cæsar, Cassius, Brutus, and quote passages from Julius Cæsar in which each is characterised. Compare and contrast the opinions held by Shakespeare and Bacon regarding Julius Cæsar. Give quotations from Bacon's writings illustrative of Julius Cæsar. Draw out, in a tabular scheme, the passages in North's Plutarch and in Shakespeare's Julius Cæsar which mutually illustrate each other. Was the assassination of Julius Cæsar justifiable? Give an outline of the literature of Julius Cæsar's story. Compare the statements of Livy and the events in the play of Shakespeare. Is Calpurnia or Portia the finer female character? Was the conspiracy of Brutus and Cassius advantageous or disadvantageous? Is Brutus or Cæsar the chief character in this drama? Does the play of Julius Cæsar prove or disprove Shakespeare's alleged deficiency in classical knowledge? What lessons regarding life and conduct could be deduced from this play? WILLIAM COLLINS AND CO., PRINTERS, GLASGOW. London, Edinburgh, and Herriot Hill Works, Glasgow. SCHOOL AND COLLEGE CLASSICS. WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES, Fcap. 8vo. Shakespeare, Milton, SCHOOL Coleridge, RICHARD II., sewed 9d; cloth, HENRY VIII., sewed 9d; cloth, PARADISE LOST, Bks. I. and II., &c., sewed 9d; cl., CLASSICS, with Introduction and Notes. Wordsworth, LYRICAL BALLADS, . 0 2 PARADISE LOST, COMUS, 0 2 0 3 THE TRAVELLER AND THE DESERTED VILLAGE, 0 2 TASK, Books I. and II., 0 2 ODES AND ELEGY, 0 2 LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL, Cantos I. and II., 0 2 GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION. NEW ELEMENTARY GRAMMAR. 48 pp., Feap. 8vo, cloth, RICE. 128 pp., Fcap. 8vo, cloth limp, 9d; cloth, TEXT-BOOK OF ENGLISH COMPOSITION, with Exercises. 0 4 09 THOMAS MORRISON, A.M. 160 pp., Post 8vo, cloth, ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. By WALTER M'LEOD, F. C. P., F.R.G.S., Chelsea. Post 8vo, cloth, GEOGRAPHY. MY FIRST GEOGRAPHY, 64 pp., 18mo, cloth, OUTLINES OF MODERN GEOGRAPHY, 4 Maps, 12mo, cloth, |