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And with the brands fire all the traitors houses.
Take up the body.

2 Pleb. Go fetch fire.

3 Pleb. Pluck down benches.

4 Pleb. Pluck down forms, windows, any thing. [Exeunt Plebeians with the body. Ant. Now let it work; Mischief, thou art afoot, Take thou what course thou wilt!-How now, fellow ?

Enter a Servant.

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

Ser. He and Lepidus are at Cæfar's houfe.
Ant. And thither will I ftraight, to visit him;
He comes upon a wish. Fortune is merry,
And in this mood will give us any thing.

Ser. I heard him fay, Brutus and Caffius
Are rid, like madmen, through the gates of Rome.
Ant. Belike, they had fome notice of the people,
How I had mov'd them. Bring me to Octavius.

[Exeunt.

Enter Cinna the Poet, and after him the Plebeians.

Cin. I dreamt to-night, that I did feaft with Cafar, And things unluckily charge my fantafy;

I have no will to wander forth of doors:

Yet fomething leads me forth.

1 Pleb. What is your name ?

2 Pleb. Whither are you going? you dwell?

3 Pleb. Where do

4. Pleb. Are you a married man, or a bachelor? 2 Pleb. Anfwer every man directly.

I 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 dwell am I a married man, or a bachelor? then to answer every man directly and briefly, wifely and truly; wifely, I say I am a bachelor.

z Pleb.

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2 Pleb. That's as much as to say, they are fools that marry; you'll bear me a bang for that, I fear; proceed directly.

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

1 Pleb. As a friend, or an enemy ?

Cin. As a friend,

2 Pleb. That matter is anfwered directly.
4 Pleb. For your dwelling; briefly.
Cin. Briefly, I dwell by the Capitol.
3- Pleb. Your name, Sir, 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 verses, tear him for hi bad verses.

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. Some to Decius's houfe, And fome to Cafca's, fome to Ligarius: away, go.

[Exeunt

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SCENE, a fmall Island near Mutina. (24) Enter Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus.

T

ANTONY.

HESE many then shall die, their names are prickt.
Oa. Your brother too muft die; confent you,
Lepidus ?

Lep.

(24) SCENE, a fmall Island.] Mr. Rowe, and Mr. Pope after him, have mark'd the scene here to be at Rome. The old copies fay, nothing of the place. Shakespeare, I dare fay, knew from Plutarch,

C 6

that

Lep. I do confent.

Oct., Prick him down, Antony.

Lep. Upon condition, Publius fhall not live; (25)

Who is your fifter's fon, Mark Antony

I

[him. Ant. He fhall not live; look, with a spot, I damn

But, Lepidus, go you to Cefar's houfe;

Fetch the Will'hither, and we shall determine `
How to cut off fome charge in legacies.
Lep. What? fhall I find you here?
08. Or here, or at the Capitol.

[Exit Lepidus.

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

The three-fold world divided, he should stand
One of the three, to fhare it ?

Oa. So you thought him;

And took his voice who fhould be prickt to die,
In our black fentence and profcription.

Ant. O&avius, I have feen more days than you;
And though we lay thefe honours on this man,
To ease our felves of divers fland'rous loads ;
He fhall but bear them, as the afs bears gold,
To groan and fweat under the business,
Or led or driven, as we point the way;

And having brought our treafure where we will,
Then take we down his load, and turn him off,
Like to the empty ass, to shake his ears,
And graze in commons.

Qa. You may do your will;

But he's a try'd and valiant foldier.

Ant. So is my horfe, Octavius: and, for that,

that these Triumvirs met, upon the proscription, in a little island: which Appian, who is more particular, fays, lay near Mutina upon the river Lavinius.

(25) Upon condition, Publius fhall not live.] I don't know whom our author means by this Publius. I know, that one Publius Silicius, as he is call'd by Plutarch, (and Sicilius Coronas by Dion Caffius) fetl under this profcription: but the three perfons, about whom the Triumvirs had fo particular a fquabble, were Cicero, whofe life Antony infifted on; Paulus, who was condemn'd by his own brother Lepi dus, according to fome accounts; and Lucius Caefar, Antony's uncle by the mother's fide, whose blood Octavius demanded,

I do appoint him ftore of provender.
It is a creature that I teach to fight,
To wind, to ftop, to run directly on;
His corporal motion, govern'd by my fpirit.
And, in fome tafte, is Lepidus but fo;

He must be taught, and train'd, and bid go forth;
A barren-fpirited fellow, one that feeds
On abject Orts, and imitations; (26)
Which, out of ufe, and ftal'd by other men,
Begin his fashion. Do not talk of him,
But as a property. And now, Octavius,
Liften great things-Brutus and Caffius
Are levying powers; we must straight make head.
Therefore let our alliance be combin'd;

Our best friends made, and our best means stretcht out;
And let us presently go fit in council,

How covert matters may be best disclos'd,

And open perils fureft answered.

Qa. Let us do fo; for we are at the stake,

And bay'd about with many enemies;

And fome, that smile, have in their hearts, I fear,
Millions of mifchiefs.

(26) A barren-fpirited fellow, one that feeds

On Objects, Arts, and imitations, &c.]

[Exeunt.

'Tis hard to conceive, why he should be call'd a barren-spirited fellow, that could feed either on Objects, or Arts: that is, as 1 prefume, form his ideas and judgment upon them: ftale and obfolete imitation, indeed, fixes fuch a character. I am perfuaded, to make the poet con fonant to himself, we muft read, as I have restored the text,

On abject Orts,

i. e. on the fcraps and fragments of things rejected and defpifed by others. The word Orts (which, as Skinner tells us, is of Teutonic derivation, and fignifies fragmenta, menfae reliquiae) is not so much antiquated, tho' corrupted in the pronunciation, but that children are warn'd to this day of leaving Orts on their plate. Our author has ufed the word in feveral other paffages. As in Timon of Athens, the thief fays;

It is fome poor fragment, some flender Ort of his remainder. And, in Troilus;

The fractions of her faith, Orts of her love,

The fragments, fcraps, &c.

And likewife in his poem, call'd Tarquin and Lucrece, Stanz. 141.

Let him have time a beggar's Orts to crave,

SCENE before Brutus's Tent, in the camp near Sardis.

Drum. Enter Brutus, Lucilius, and foldiers: Titinius and Pindarus meeting them.

Bru.

TAND, ho!

STAN

Luc. Give the word, ho! and stand ! Bru. What now, Lucilius ? is Caffius near? Luc. He is at hand, and Pindarus is come To do you falutation from his master.

Bru. He greets me well. Your master, Pindarus, In his own change, or by ill officers,

Hath given me fome worthy caufe to wish

Things done, undone; but if he be at hand,
I fhall be fatisfied.

Pin. I do not doubt,

But that my noble mafter will appear,
Such as he is, full of regard and honour.
Bru. He is not doubted. A word, Lucilius
How he receiv'd you, let me be refolv❜d.

Luc. With courtefy, and with refpect enough;
But not with fuch familiar instances,

Nor with fuch free and friendly conference,.
As he hath us'd of old,

Bru. Thou hath defcrib'd

A hot friend, cooling; ever note, Lucilius,
When love begins to ficken and decay,
It ufeth an enforced ceremony.

There are no tricks in plain and fimple faith:
But hollow men, like horses hot at hand,
Make gallant fhew and promise of their mettle :
But when they should endure the bloody fpur,
They fall their creft, and, like deceitful jades,
Sink in the trial. Comes his army on?

Luc. They mean this night in Sardis to be quarter'd ;
The greater part, the horfe in general,
Are come with Caffius.

[Low march within.

Enter

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