ANTONY, OCTAVIUS, _and_ LEPIDUS, _seated at a table_

ANTONY. These many then shall die; their names are p.r.i.c.k'd.

OCTAVIUS. Your brother too must die; consent you, Lepidus?

[Note: _Rome._ _A room ... house_ Ff omit.--ANTONY, OCTAVIUS ... _table_ Malone

Enter Antony, Octawius, and Lepidus. Ff.]

[Note: SCENE I. The Folios give no indication of place, but that Shakespeare intended the scene to be in Rome is clear from ll.

10, 11, where Lepidus is sent to Caesar's house and told that he will find his confederates "or here, or at the Capitol." In fact, however, the triumvirs, Octavius, Antonius, and Lepidus, met in November, B.C. 43, some nineteen months after the a.s.sa.s.sination of Caesar, on a small island in the river Rhenus (now the Reno), near Bononia (Bologna). "All three met together in an island environed round about with a little river, and there remained three days together. Now, as touching all other matters they were easily agreed, and did divide all the empire of Rome between them, as if it had been their own inheritance. But yet they could hardly agree whom they would put to death: for every one of them would kill their enemies, and save their kinsmen and friends. Yet, at length, giving place to their greedy desire to be revenged of their enemies, they spurned all reverence of blood and holiness of friendship at their feet. For Caesar left Cicero to Antonius's will; Antonius also forsook Lucius Caesar, who was his uncle by his mother; and both of them together suffered Lepidus to kill his own brother Paulus. Yet some writers affirm that Caesar and Antonius requested Paulus might be slain, and that Lepidus was contented with it."--Plutarch, _Marcus Antonius_.]

[Note 1: /p.r.i.c.k'd./ So in III, i. 217. See note, p. 95, l.

217.]

[Page 117]

LEPIDUS. I do consent--

OCTAVIUS. p.r.i.c.k him down, Antony.

LEPIDUS. Upon condition Publius shall not live, Who is your sister's son, Mark Antony. 5

ANTONY. He shall not live; look, with a spot I d.a.m.n him.

But, Lepidus, go you to Caesar's house; Fetch the will hither, and we shall determine How to cut off some charge in legacies.

LEPIDUS. What, shall I find you here? 10

OCTAVIUS. Or here, or at the Capitol. [_Exit_ LEPIDUS]

ANTONY. This is a slight unmeritable man, Meet to be sent on errands: is it fit, The three-fold world divided, he should stand One of the three to share it?

OCTAVIUS. So you thought him; 15 And took his voice who should be p.r.i.c.k'd to die, In our black sentence and proscription.

ANTONY. Octavius, I have seen more days than you: And though we lay these honours on this man, To ease ourselves of divers slanderous loads, 20 He shall but bear them as the a.s.s bears gold, To groan and sweat under the business, Either led or driven, as we point the way; And having brought our treasure where we will, Then take we down his load and turn him off, 25 Like to the empty a.s.s, to shake his ears And graze in commons.

[Note 10: /What/, Johnson

What? Ff.]

[Note 23: /point/ F1

print F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 4-5: According to Plutarch, as quoted above, this was Lucius Caesar, not Publius; nor was he Antony's nephew, but his uncle by the mother's side. His name in full was Antonius Lucius Caesar.]

[Note 6: /with a spot I d.a.m.n him:/ with a mark I condemn him.]

[Note 12: /slight unmeritable:/ insignificant, undeserving. In Shakespeare many adjectives, especially those ending in _-ful_, _-less_, _-ble_, and _-ive_, have both an active and a pa.s.sive meaning. See Abbott, -- 3.]

[Note 27: /commons./ This is a thoroughly English allusion to such pasture-lands as are not owned by individuals, but occupied by a given neighborhood in common. In 1614 Shakespeare protested against the inclosure of such 'common fields' at Stratford-on-Avon.]

[Page 118]

OCTAVIUS. You may do your will; But he's a tried and valiant soldier.

ANTONY. So is my horse, Octavius; and for that I do appoint him store of provender: 30 It is a creature that I teach to fight, To wind, to stop, to run directly on, His corporal motion govern'd by my spirit.

And, in some taste, is Lepidus but so; He must be taught, and train'd, and bid go forth: 35 A barren-spirited fellow; one that feeds On objects, arts, and imitations, Which, out of use and stal'd by other men, Begin his fashion: do not talk of him But as a property. And now, Octavius, 40 Listen great things: Brutus and Ca.s.sius Are levying powers: we must straight make head: Therefore let our alliance be combin'd, Our best friends made, and our best means stretch'd out; And let us presently go sit in council, 45 How covert matters may be best disclos'd, And open perils surest answered.

[Note 37: /objects, arts/

Objects, Arts Ff

abject orts Theobald

abjects, orts Staunton Camb Globe.--/imitations/, Rowe

Imitations. Ff.]

[Note 38: /stal'd/ F3

stal'de F1 F2

stall'd F4.]

[Note 44: /and our best means (meanes) stretch'd out/ F2 F3 F4

our meanes stretch't F1

our best means strecht Johnson.]

[Note 32: /wind:/ wheel, turn. We have 'wind' as an active verb in _1 Henry IV_, IV, i, 109: "To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus."]

[Note 34: /in some taste:/ to some small extent. This meaning comes from 'taste' in the sense of 'a small portion given as a sample.']

[Note 37-39: As the textual notes show, modern editors have not been content with the reading of the Folios. The serious trouble with the old text is the period at the close of l. 37.

If a comma be subst.i.tuted the meaning becomes obvious: Lepidus is one who is always interested in, and talking about, such things--books, works of art, etc.--as everybody else has got tired of and thrown aside. Cf. Falstaff's account of Shallow, _2 Henry IV_, III, ii, 340: "'a came ever in the rearward of the fashion; and sung those tunes to the over-scutch'd huswives that he heard the carmen whistle, and sware they were his fancies or his good-nights." 'Stal'd' is 'outworn,' or 'grown stale'; and the reference is not to objects, etc., generally, but only to those which have lost the interest of freshness. 'Abjects' in the Staunton-Cambridge reading, is 'things thrown away'; 'orts,' 'broken fragments.']

[Note 40: /a property:/ a tool, an accessory. The reference is to a 'stage property.' Cf. Fletcher and Ma.s.singer, _The False One_, V, iii:

this devil Photinus Employs me as a property, and, grown useless, Will shake me off again.

Shakespeare uses 'property' as a verb in this sense in _Twelfth Night_, IV, ii, 99: "They have here propertied me."]

[Note 41: /Listen./ The transitive use is older than the intransitive.]

[Note 42: /make head:/ raise an armed force. 'Head' has often the meaning of 'armed force' in Shakespeare. So in sixteenth century literature and old ballads. It usually connotes insurrection.]

[Note 44: The reading adopted is that of the later Folios. It makes a normal blank verse line. Cf. II, i, 158-159.]

[Page 119]

OCTAVIUS. Let us do so: for we are at the stake, And bay'd about with many enemies; And some that smile have in their hearts, I fear, 50 Millions of mischiefs. [_Exeunt_]

[Note 48-49: The metaphor is from bear-baiting. Cf. _Macbeth_, V, vii, 1.]

[Page 120]

SCENE II. _Before_ BRUTUS'S _tent, in the camp near Sardis_

_Drum._ _Enter_ BRUTUS, t.i.tINIUS, LUCIUS, _and_ Soldiers; LUCILIUS _and_ PINDARUS _meet them_

BRUTUS. Stand, ho!

LUCILIUS. Give the word, ho! and stand.

BRUTUS. What now, Lucilius! is Ca.s.sius near?

LUCILIUS. He is at hand; and Pindarus is come To do you salutation from his master. 5