ACT IV., SCENE 3

_Brutus’s Tent_

_Enter_ BRUTUS _and_ CASSIUS

CAS. That you have wrong’d me doth appear in this: You have condemn’d and noted Lucius Pella For taking bribes here of the Sardians; Wherein my letters, praying on his side, Because I knew the man, were slighted off. BRU. You wrong’d yourself to write in such a case. CAS. In such a time as this it is not meet That every nice offence should bear his comment. BRU. Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself Are much condemn’d to have an itching palm; 10 To sell and mart your offices for gold To undeservers. CAS. I an itching palm! You know that you are Brutus that speak this, Or, by the gods, this speech were else your last. BRU. The name of Cassius honours this corruption, And chastisement doth therefore hide his head. CAS. Chastisement! BRU. Remember March, the ides of March remember: Did not great Julius bleed for justice sake? What villain touch’d his body, that did stab, 20 And not for justice? What, shall one of us, That struck the foremost man of all this world But for supporting robbers, shall we now Contaminate our fingers with base bribes, And sell the mighty space of our large honours For so much trash as may be grasped thus? I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon, Than such a Roman. CAS. Brutus, bay not me; I’ll not endure it; you forget yourself, To hedge me in; I am a soldier, I, 30 Older in practice, abler than yourself To make conditions. BRU. Go to; you are not, Cassius. CAS. I am. BRU. I say you are not. CAS. Urge me no more, I shall forget myself; Have mind upon your health, tempt me no farther. BRU. Away, slight man! CAS. Is’t possible? BRU. Hear me, for I will speak. Must I give way and room to your rash choler? Shall I be frighted when a madman stares? 40 CAS. O ye gods, ye gods! must I endure all this? BRU. All this! ay, more: fret till your proud heart break; Go show your slaves how choleric you are, And make your bondmen tremble. Must I budge? Must I observe you? must I stand and crouch Under your testy humour? By the gods, You shall digest the venom of your spleen, Though it do split you; for, from this day forth, I’ll use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter, When you are waspish. CAS. Is it come to this? 50 BRU. You say you are a better soldier; Let it appear so; make your vaunting true, And it shall please me well: for mine own part, I shall be glad to learn of noble men. CAS. You wrong me every way; you wrong me, Brutus; I said, an elder soldier, not a better: Did I say ‘better’? BRU. If you did, I care not. CAS. When Caesar lived, he durst not thus have moved me. BRU. Peace, peace! you durst not so have tempted him. CAS. I durst not! 60 BRU. No. CAS. What, durst not tempt him! BRU. For your life you durst not. CAS. Do not presume too much upon my love; I may do that I shall be sorry for. BRU. You have done that you should be sorry for. There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats, For I am arm’d so strong in honesty That they pass by me as the idle wind, Which I respect not. I did send to you For certain sums of gold, which you denied me: 70 For I can raise no money by vile means: By heaven, I had rather coin my heart, And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash By any indirection: I did send To you for gold to pay my legions, Which you denied me: was that done like Cassius? Should I have answer’d Caius Cassius so? When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous, To lock such rascal counters from his friends, 80 Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts; Dash him to pieces! CAS. I denied you not. BRU. You did. CAS. I did not: he was but a fool that brought My answer back. Brutus hath rived my heart: A friend should bear his friend’s infirmities, But Brutus makes mine greater than they are. BRU. I do not, till you practise them on me. CAS. You love me not. BRU. I do not like your faults. CAS. A friendly eye could never see such faults. 90 BRU. A flatterer’s would not, though they do appear As huge as high Olympus. CAS. Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come, Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius, For Cassius is aweary of the world: Hated by one he loves; braved by his brother; Check’d like a bondman; all his faults observed, Set in a note-book, learn’d, and conn’d by rote, To cast into my teeth. O, I could weep My spirit from mine eyes! There is my dagger, 100 And here my naked breast; within, a heart Dearer than Plutus’ mine, richer than gold: If that thou be’st a Roman, take it forth; Strike, as thou didst at Caesar; for, I know, I, that denied thee gold, will give my heart: When thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him better Than ever thou lovedst Cassius. BRU. Sheathe your dagger: Be angry when you will, it shall have scope; Do what you will, dishonour shall be humour. O Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb 110 That carries anger as the flint bears fire; Who, much enforced, shows a hasty spark, And straight is cold again. CAS. Hath Cassius lived To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus, When grief, and blood ill-temper’d, vexeth him? BRU. When I spoke that, I was ill-temper’d too. CAS. Do you confess so much? Give me your hand. BRU. And my heart too. CAS. O Brutus! BRU. What’s the matter? CAS. Have not you love enough to bear with me, When that rash humour which my mother gave me 120 Makes me forgetful? BRU. Yes, Cassius; and, from henceforth, When you are over-earnest with your Brutus. He’ll think your mother chides, and leave you so.

A few words of introduction are first necessary. We should understand the play as a whole, and be conversant with the events that lead up to this particular scene; further, we should bear in mind the tense, splenetic character of Cassius, and the calm, controlled, stoical disposition of Brutus.

l. 1.--In Scene 2 we get the keynote to Cassius’ manner. He is so full of his supposed wrong that he pays no heed to the surroundings, and bluntly plunges into the matter in hand. Brutus restrains him, and together they move to the former’s tent. No sooner do they enter than again Cassius bursts forth.

l. 4.--Cassius is piqued that his letters should have failed to shield Lucius Pella from the punishment for his wrongdoing.

l. 5.--Subordinate and explanatory.

l. 6.--Brutus’s answer is simple and direct, yet without feeling.

l. 8.--_Nice_ is equivalent to unimportant, small. There is a touch of contempt in this speech.

l. 9.--Again we note the directness of Brutus’s statement, and the absence of feeling. Note, too, that he in no way seeks to soften his charges.

l. 12.--Imagine the surprise and rage of Cassius. There will be a sweeping upward inflection on _I_. It is only with the utmost effort that the fiery Cassius can control himself.

l. 15-16.--Paraphrased, these lines mean, The name of Cassius is associated with this corruption, and hence the hands of justice are tied. For, to bring the corrupters to trial would be to drag in Cassius with them.

l. 17.--Do you dare to use the term _chastisement_ in connection with _my_ name?

l. 18.--Unmoved by the anger of Cassius, Brutus proceeds calmly and perhaps too ruthlessly to arraign his friend.

l. 21.--Observe the high moral standard of Brutus.

l. 21-26.--Rising inflections throughout.

l. 27.--Observe the contempt.

l. 28.--During the speech of Brutus, Cassius can scarcely contain himself. Never has any one dared to arraign him. Now he is even forgetting the deference he has been wont to show to one whom he recognizes as his superior.

l. 32-34.--Rapidly, as the passion of the men rises.

l. 35-36.--Now Cassius begins to threaten.

l. 37.--There is no anger in this. Brutus knows that Cassius is beside himself, and brushes him aside as one would brush an insignificant dust speck from his clothing.

l. 38.--Such treatment Cassius cannot understand. The line is exclamatory rather than interrogative. It is equivalent to, Can I believe my ears?

l. 38.--Brutus now begins to assert himself. It is a new aspect of his character, which we can comprehend only when we learn, as we do later, that Portia is dead.

l. 40.--Brutus must be greatly moved to call his dearest friend a madman.

l. 41.--The strain of listening to such words is becoming too great for Cassius to bear.

l. 42.--Brutus seems almost to enjoy the terrible lesson he is reading Cassius. It is well-nigh incredible that the thoughtful, loving husband of Portia, and the considerate master of Lucius, should speak thus to any one, let alone his best friend.

l. 50.--There seems to be no feeling but surprise in this, surprise verging on bewilderment. As Brutus grows more passionate Cassius seems to subside.

l. 51-54.--It is Brutus now who appears to lose self-control. Cassius never said he was a better soldier.

l. 55-57.--Anger and bewilderment give way to a sense of having been wronged: the last sentence is almost pathetic in its humility.

l. 57.--Anger and contempt.

l. 58.--Cassius’ passion is again beginning to rise.

l. 59-62.--Note the increasing astonishment in the speeches of Cassius, and the superciliousness of Brutus.

l. 63-64.--A threat uttered not so much in anger as in fear that he may not be able to control his feelings.

l. 65.--_Have_ and _should_ are the emphatic words.

l. 65-82.--This speech needs no commentary. It is a plain and unmistakable arraignment, uttered in unequivocal language, and in simple, direct manner.

l. 82.--Cassius is pained that his friend should so misunderstand him. From now to line 93 Cassius seems to throw himself upon the mercy of his friend, while the latter repels his advances, each time with greater harshness.

l. 93-107.--Cassius’ heart is broken. If his best friend can so wantonly misunderstand him, what can he hope from his enemies? There is nothing left to live for, and he would eagerly welcome death even at the hands of Antony. The passage is overflowing with heartbreak, and gains our sympathy for one who else would seem but a crafty, self-seeking schemer.

l. 107.--The speech of Cassius brings Brutus back to himself. Here is the real Brutus, full of tenderness and love.

To understand fully the unusual display of feeling in this scene we should read further to the stage direction, _Re-enter Lucius, with wine and taper_.

FOOTNOTES:

[15] Let it be understood once for all that the various elements in expression should be the spontaneous outcome of the mental action. As has been so often stated, to tell a pupil to use a rising inflection or to emphasize this word or that, is a violation of the fundamental principle of correct teaching.

[16] The stanzas are numbered as in the original poem.

INDEX TO SUBJECTS

Antithesis, rhetorical, 143.

Atmosphere, 184; examples illustrating, 185; analysis of a selection illustrating, 193; of description, psychology of, 199.

Central idea, 138; study of, a logical process, 141.

Character, contrast of, 207.

Climaxes, 212; of significance, 212, 214, 215; of intensity, 213; gradation of, 216.

Complexity, defined, 11.

Contrasts, 205; two kinds of, 211.

Criteria of vocal expression, 17.

Criterion of force, 101.

Criterion of pitch, 42.

Criterion of quality, 80.

Criterion of time, 19.

Emotion, 172; affects quality, 82; how to develop, 172; contrast of, 205.

Emotional transitions, examples of, 162.

Emphasis, rules for, 139; drills in, 140.

Expression, complexity of, 178

Figurative interrogation, 61.

Force, criterion of, 101; pedagogical aspects of, 112.

Grouping, 28, 128; independent of punctuation, 28; extract from Legouvé on, 40.

Hints on readings, 254.

Imagination and quality, 84.

Imitation, 227; not art, 189; tendency toward, 191.

Inflections, meaning of, 57; rising, 57; falling, 63; circumflex, examples of, 67.

Intangibility, defined, 11.

Interpretation, literary, 231; vocal, 232.

Key, defined, 45; reasons for, 49; dependent upon degree of tension, 54.

Literary interpretation, 231; analysis of a selection illustrating, 284.

Melody, 43, 54; analysis of a selection illustrating, 71; of long sentences, 77.

Mental attitude of the reader, 117.

Mental technique, 129.

Methods, mechanical, 9; “get-the-thought,” 9; laxity of, 13; concluding remarks on, 224.

Momentary completeness, 61, 136; drills in, 65; analysis of a selection illustrating, 256.

Movement, analysis of selection illustrating, 266.

Pause, as related to time, 27; an expressive element, 32; examples of, 35.

Pedagogical aspects, of time, 38; of pitch, 75; of quality, 98; of force, 112.

Phases, studies in, 163.

Phrases, subordinate, 150.

Pitch, criterion of, 42; meaning of, 42; Raymond’s definition of, 42; melody of, 42; analysis of a selection illustrating, 71; pedagogical aspects of, 75; low, 107.

Primary reading, the teaching of, 118.

Punctuation, effect upon reading, 30.

Purpose of the reading lesson, 12.

Quality, criterion of, 80; physics of, 80; effect of emotion upon, 82; Rush’s classification of, 82; orotund, 83; imagination and, 84; elevated feelings in relation to, 85; normal, 90; examples of normal, 91; aspirated, 92; dark, 94; bright, 94; examples of dark, 95; examples of bright, 97; pedagogical aspects of, 98; William L. Tomlins on, 100.

Reading and literature, relation of, 10.

Requisites for the teacher of reading, 10.

Rhythm, analyses of selections illustrating, 236, 244, 254; study in, 232; meaning of, 238.

Sight reading, 120.

Skip, psychology of the, 56.

Stress, defined, 101; radical, 101; final, 102; degrees of, 103; Raymond’s definition of radical, 104; Raymond’s definition of final, 105; median, 106; examples of radical, 107; examples of final, 109; examples of median, 110.

Subordinate phrases, 150.

Subordination, 149.

Succession of ideas, 132.

Suggestive lesson, 121, 130, 136, 147, 155, 167, 173, 197, 209, 221.

Teacher of reading, requisites for, 10.

Teaching reading, mechanical method of, 9; “get-the-thought” method of, 9; laxity of methods of, 13; concluding remarks on method of, 224.

Technique, defined, 226.

Time, criterion of, 19; Raymond’s definition of, 19; psychology of, 19; expansive paraphrase to reveal, 20; examples of slow, 21; examples of fast, 23; analysis of selection illustrating, 26; relation of quantity to, 27; relation of pause to, 27; pedagogical aspects of, 38.

Transitions, 159, 160; emotional examples of, 162.

Values, 157; examples of, 157; analysis of a selection illustrating, 256.

Vocal expression, criteria of, 17.

Vocal interpretation, 232.

Voice, defects in, 81.

INDEX TO FIRST LINES OF SELECTIONS

A fool, a fool!--I met a fool, 48.

A land of streams, 240.

Alas! my noble boy! 95.

Among the exploits of marvelous, 152.

And as a hungry lion, 79.

And do you now put on your best attire, 140.

And now go bring your sharpest torments, 110.

And the evening star was shining, 87.

And the old Tartar came upon the sand, 185.

And thus King Priam supplicating, 165.

And you,--you who are, 152.

Antonio, I am married to a wife, 44.

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, 110.

As thro’ the land at eve we went, 200.

As when a boar or lion, 164.

As when some hunter in the spring, 203.

At Atri in Abruzzo, 78, 154.

At Flores in the Azores, 284.

At the moment when death, 38.

Awake, my soul! Not only passive praise, 87.

Before a quarter pole was pass’d, 24.

Blessings on thee, little man, 175.

Blow trumpet, for the world, 201.

Blow winds, and crack your cheeks! 94, 242.

Bury the great Duke, 87.

But in the gloom they fought, 107.

But Rustum eyed askance the kneeling youth, 201.

But when public taste, 79.

But when the gray dawn stole into his tent, 28.

Did your letters pierce, 188.

Ferood, and ye, Persians and Tartars, hear! 162.

Figure to yourself a cataract, 22.

For even then, Sir, even before, 112.

Fresh as the flower, whose modest worth, 153.

Gloriously, Max! gloriously! 28.

Great have thy sufferings been, 166.

Gusty and raw was the morning, 193.

Half a league, half a league, 236.

Haste thee, nymph, 48, 239.

Hear the sledges with the bells, 98.

Hector, thou almost ever chidest me, 164.

Here are old trees, 239.

He spoke, and Sohrab kindled, 202.

He spoke; but Rustum gazed, 162.

Him the Almighty power, 242.

Ho! gallant nobles of the League, 112.

However as the sun baked, 151.

How lovely are thy dwellings fair! 23.

How now, Tubal! 205.

How the robin feeds her young, 176.

I can not tell what you and other men, 180.

I come, I come ye have called, 239.

If there be three in all your company, 207.

If you have tears, prepare to shed them now, 162.

I had a dream, 47.

I know that virtue to be in you, 217.

In 1815 M. Charles Myriel, 58.

In his early manhood, 153.

In the furrowed land, 134.

I sprang to the stirrup, 232.

It is but a legend, I know, 47.

It is but change, Titinius, 144.

It is my purpose, therefore, 155.

Lars Porsena of Clusium, 266.

Lead out the pageant; sad and slow, 30.

Let me play the fool, 97.

Look! look! that livid flash! 240.

Meanwhile King Robert yielded to his fate, 44.

Messer Bernado del Nero was as inexorable, 37.

Most of all, fellow citizens, 85.

Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors, 179.

Mr. Speaker: The mingled tones of sorrow, 21.

My good blade carves the casques of men, 210.

Nay, curs’d be thou, 35.

Never, Iago. Like to the Pontic Sea, 94.

Next morning, waking with the day’s first beam, 219.

No one venerates the Peerage more than I do, 153.

Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruit, 32.

Often have I swept backward, in imagination, 21.

Oh, young Lochinvar is come out of the west, 254.

O, my offense is rank, 95.

Once more into the breach, dear friends, 50.

On Linden, when the sun was low, 170.

On the Mountains of the Prairie, 257.

O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, 216.

O, sing unto the Lord a new song, 112.

Over his keys the musing organist, 46.

O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I, 53.

Reputation, reputation, reputation! 181.

Sea-kings’ daughter from over the sea, 51.

Search creation round, 21.

See what a grace was seated, 86.

Sheltered by the verdant shores, 207.

She mounts her chariot with a trice, 97.

Sir, the gentleman inquires, 160.

Some of the softening effects, 37.

Soon after William H. Harrison’s nomination, 31.

Speak the speech, I pray you, 91.

Sweet and low, 200.

That you do love me, I am nothing jealous, 146.

That you have wronged me, 284.

The armaments which thunderstrike, 108.

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, 189, 231.

The empire of Blefuscu, 134.

The father came on deck, 175.

The Lord reigneth, 111.

The name and memory of Washington, 28.

Then he departed with them o’er the sea, 210.

Then it was that Jo, 151.

Then methought I heard a mellow sound, 25.

Then sing, ye birds, 241.

There’s a rogue at play in my sunlit room, 123.

The trumpet, the gallop, the charge, 164.

This too, thou know’st, 163.

Three quarters round your partners swing, 157.

Thou kingly Spirit, 111.

Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State, 86.

To be, or not to be, 52.

To whom replied King Arthur, 243.

Up from the meadows rich with corn, 71.

Venerable men! you have come down to us, 89.

Vengeance! plague! death! confusion! 161.

Whatever Lionel had said to his wife, 37.

What lesson shall those lips teach us, 89.

When a wind from the lands, 222.

Wherefore rejoice? What conquest, 26, 213.

Where sweeps round the mountains, 49.

While the Union lasts, 78.

Wrapped in a maze of thought, 22.

Yet his means are in supposition, 30.

Ye, who sometimes, in your rambles, 132.

You Heavens, give me patience, 96.

You think me a fanatic to-night, 22.

LIST OF POEMS AND SELECTIONS ANALYZED

Barbara Frietchie _Whittier_ 71 Charge of the Light Brigade _Tennyson_ 236 Horatius (The Lays of Ancient Rome) _Macaulay_ 266 How They Brought the Good News From Ghent to Aix _Robert Browning_ 212 The Fight of Paso del Mar _Bayard Taylor_ 193 The Peace-Pipe (Hiawatha) _Longfellow_ 256 The Quarrel Scene (Julius Caesar) _Shakespeare_ 284 The Revenge _Tennyson_ 244 Young Lochinvar _Scott_ 254

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources.

Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.

Pg 78: ‘throughout the earht’ replaced by ‘throughout the earth’. Pg 86: ‘_Hamlet_,’ replaced by ‘--_Hamlet_,’. Pg 112: ‘_Ps._ xcvi.,’ replaced by ‘--_Ps._ xcvi.,’. Pg 186: ‘Idyls of the King’ replaced by ‘Idylls of the King’. Pg 246: The poetry line number ‘55’ is repeated, and subsequent line numbering is off by one line; this has been left unchanged.