a plural noun immediately precedes the verb, although such noun be not the subject of the verb."

111-113. It has been said that there is an apparent contradiction between the sentiments Brutus expresses in this and in his former speech; but there is no real one. Brutus had laid down to himself, as a principle, to abide every chance and extremity of war; but when Cassius reminds him of the disgrace of being led in triumph through the streets of Rome, he acknowledges that to be a trial which he could not endure. The passage seems designed to indicate a struggle between the speculative and the practical in the mind of Brutus. Experience is at length growing too strong for his philosophy; and he here wavers between his cherished ideal of right and the suggestions of a pressing exigency. But what shall we say of the remark with which he closes his oration showing "the reason of our Cæsar's death"? He there says, "I have the same dagger for myself, when it shall please my country to need my death." Were these discrepancies or variations of temper and purpose intended by the Poet as a part of Brutus's character, or were they mere slips of memory in Shakespeare?

Scene III.

20. Cassius is now on a hill: he therefore means a hill somewhat higher than that he is on.

31. Now some light:-White and Hudson print 'light, but, as Rolfe points out, "the word (A. S. lihtan) is not a contraction of alight, and is common enough in prose."

43. hilts-This plural for hilt was common in Shakespeare's time. So in Richard III., I. iv. 155: "Hilts of thy sword." Shakespeare applies hilts to a single weapon five times, and three times he has hilt.

61. Sink to night:—Craik takes this “to be an expression of the same kind with sink to rest," a far nobler sense, as he observes, than that given by those who print, as some do, to-night.

105. His funerals:-The plural was the commoner form in Shakespeare's day, and is generally used by him. For an example of this use see the first note under III. iii. of this play.

Scene V.

19. And this last night, etc.:-So Plutarch's Life of Cæsar: "The second Battell being at hand, this Spirit appeared again

unto him, but spake never a word." We read in the Life of Brutus: "The Romans called the Valley between both Camps the Philippian Fields."

68-70. This was the noblest Roman, etc.:-Plutarch, in the Life of Brutus, declares: "It was said that Antonius spake it openly divers times, that he thought, that of all them that had slain Cæsar, there was none but Brutus onely that was moved to do it, as thinking the act commendable of it self: but that all the other Conspiratours did conspire his death for some private malice or envy, that they otherwise did bear unto him."

73-75. His life was gentle, etc. :-There is a likeness between this passage and one in Drayton's Barons' Wars, which appears in this form in the edition of 1603:

"Such one he was (of him we boldly say)

In whose rich soule all sovereign powers did sute,

In whom in peace the elements all lay

So mixt, as none could sovereigntie impute;

As all did gouerne, yet all did obey,

His liuely temper was so absolute,

That 't seem'd, when Heaven his modell first began,
In him it shew'd perfection in a man."

This stanza appeared unaltered in four subsequent editions; but in a fifth, in 1619, it was given with the following slight variations:

:

"He was a man (then boldly dare to say,)

In whose rich Soule the Virtues well did sute:

In whom, so mix'd the Elements all lay,

That none to one could Sou'reigntie impute;
As all did gouerne, so did all obay;

He of a temper was so absolute,

As that it seem'd, when Nature him began,

She meant to shew all that might be in Man."

In the original version of The Barons' Wars (1596), which Drayton entirely recast before 1603, there is no trace of this stanza. From these facts Malone concluded that "Drayton was the copyist [of Shakespeare] as his verses originally stood," and that "in the altered stanza he certainly was." But even if the likeness between the passages in question must necessarily be the consequence of imitation on the part of one poet, it would not follow

that Drayton was the copyist, for we know that Shakespeare was ready enough to take a hint or even a thought from any quarter. But this resemblance implies no imitation on either side. For the notion that man was composed of the four elements, earth, air, fire, and water, and that the well-balanced mixture of these produced the perfection of humanity, was commonly held during the sixteenth, and the first half, at least, of the seventeenth century, the writers of which period worked it up in all manner of forms. See Ben Jonson's Cynthia's Revels, II. iii.: "A creature of a most perfect and divine temper, one in whom the humours and elements are peaceably met, without emulation of precedency." Many other resemblances quite as striking occur in the use of this idea. It is not improbable that Drayton, in correcting his poem again for the edition of 1619, changed "Heaven his model first began" to "Nature him began" with the passage from Julius Cæsar, consciously or unconsciously, in mind.

Questions on Julius Caesar.

1. What was the date at which Julius Cæsar was probably written?

2. Where did Shakespeare derive the materials for this play? 3. How many days are taken up by the action?

ACT FIRST.

4. How is the popular worship of Cæsar shown by the first Scene? What is the attitude of the tribunes towards him?

5. What was the nature of the office of tribune in the Roman state?

6. How does the mob pictured in this play contrast with the one in Coriolanus?

7. What was the course (ii. 4.) that Antony was to run?

8. What part of Cæsar's nature is seen in his words to Calpurnia? What effect have the words of the Soothsayer upon him?

9. In what character is Brutus first presented? What phase of his own character does Cassius try to impress in lines 71-78?

10. What is the problem that the career of Cæsar presents to Cassius? What does Cassius wish to illustrate by the incidents of the flood and the fever? What is Cassius's personal motive? II. Indicate the effect of the shouting upon Brutus.

12. What is the dramatic purpose (line 192 et seq.) of Cæsar's singling out Cassius for comment? What does he say of him? Why should these two natures be antipathetic?

13. What observation of the returning procession does Brutus make that prepares for the recital of Casca?

14. With what is Cæsar chargeable in this Scene? Show the difference between treason and revolution as illustrated by the scene that Casca describes.

15. What effect has Sc. ii. in predisposing the minds of the spectators?

16. What is the effect (Sc. iii.) of the supernatural background for the conspiracy?

17. Show what else besides the winning of Casca to the conspiracy is effected by Cassius's argument with him.

18. Does the Act close with the implication that Brutus is won over to the conspiracy? What is foreshadowed by the frequent reference throughout the Act to the ides of March?

ACT SECOND.

19. How does Brutus reason about the ambition of Cæsar? What does he say (i. 61 et seq.) about his life since Cassius had first suggested the opposition to Cæsar?

20. Before the oath is proposed (line 113), what indication is given of the state of mind of the conspirators? How does Brutus answer the proposition that they swear their resolution? What does this reveal of his character?

21. Why does Brutus exclude Cicero from the group of conspirators? On what motive does he save Mark Antony? What later speech of his is foreshadowed?

22. What effect is secured by contrast of this scene with the sleeping boy?

23. How does Portia add to our knowledge of Brutus? What kind of a woman is she?

24. How does Sc. ii. provide a contrast with the preceding? How at the end of this Scene are the minds of the spectators further disposed in favour of the conspirators?

25. What purpose of the senators does Decius report? How does this dramatically affect the matter of the conspiracy?

26. Show in what ways Scs. iii. and iv. prepare for the tragic episode of the first Scene of the next Act.

ACT THIRD.

27. Note the dramatic effect of the first line of the Act. What is Cæsar's mental attitude in speaking the line?

28. Does Shakespeare intend any final impression concerning the justice of the conspiracy before the blow is struck?

29. How does the plot come near dissolution upon the minute almost of execution? Who saves the situation, and how?

30. What is the immediate effect upon Cassius and Brutus of Cæsar's death?