All. Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay! Let not a traitor live! Ant. Stay, countrymen. First Cit. Peace there! hear the noble Antony. 5 Sec. Cit. We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll die with him. Ant. Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up To such a sudden flood of mutiny. They that have done this deed are honorable : I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts: 15 But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man, That love my friend; and that they know full well That gave me public leave to speak of him: For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech, 20 To stir men's blood: I only speak right on; I tell you that which you yourselves do know; Show you you sweet sweet Cæsar's wounds, poor poor dumb mouths, And bid them speak for me: but were I Brutus, 25 Would ruffle up your spirits and put a tongue In every wound of Cæsar that should move All. We'll mutiny. First Cit. We'll burn the house of Brutus. Third Cit. Away, then! come, seek the conspirators. 5 Ant. Yet hear me, countrymen; yet hear me speak. All. Peace, ho! Hear Antony. Most noble Antony! Ant. Why, friends, you go to do you know not what : Wherein hath Cæsar thus deserved your loves? Alas, you know not: I must tell you, then : You have forgot the will I told you of. All. Most true. The will! Let's stay and hear the will. Ant. Here is the will, and under Cæsar's seal. To every Roman citizen he gives, To every several man, seventy-five drachmas. Sec. Cit. Most noble Cæsar! We'll revenge his death. Third Cit. O royal Cæsar! Ant. Hear me with patience. All. Peace, ho! Ant. Moreover, he hath left you all his walks, 10 15 20 25 First Cit. Never, never. Come, away, away! We'll burn his body in the holy place, And with the brands fire the traitors' houses. Fourth Cit. Pluck down forms, windows, anything. [Exeunt CITIZENS with the body.] Ant. Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot, Take thou what course thou wilt! to bury Cæsar: Shakespeare uses the phrase of his own country. In Rome bodies were burned, not buried. — answered: atoned for. — the general coffers: the public treasury.. on the Lu'percal: during the feast of Lupercus, a Roman god. — parchment: this word comes from Pergamus, a city in Asia Minor, where skins of sheep and goats were first prepared for use as writing material.—the commons: the common people. Roman citizens were divided into two classes, the patricians or aristocrats, and the plebeians or the commons. testament: will. — napkins: handkerchiefs. issue children. - hearse: bier. Nervii: "the bravest warriors of all the Belgæ." Cæsar's conquest of them was the most glorious victory of his campaign. - Cassius, Casca, Brutus: the chief conspirators. As rushing: as if rushing.-resolved: convinced. - most unkindest: this use of a double superlative was common until after the days of Queen Elizabeth.— statua : statue. dint power. This word meant originally a blow: then the mark of a blow and now force or strength, as when we say "by dint of."about about face! let us be off! — let me not stir you up: Antony knows that his own self-restraint and his appeal to the hearts of the people are his surest weapons. - wit: mental ability. The word meant originally the power to know. Its present meaning is much narrower. every several man: an emphatic phrase like our "each individual man.". seventy-five drachmas about eleven dollars. On this side Tiber: Shakespeare was mistaken. Cæsar's gardens were across the Tiber.— walk abroad: supply in. forms: benches. -ex'eunt: they go out (Latin), CHARACTER OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY (1814-1877) was an eminent American historian. His great work, "The Rise of the Dutch Republic," was the result of years of study. Much of Motley's life was spent abroad in literary research and in political service. In person, Orange was above the middle height, per- 3 fectly well made and sinewy, but rather spare than stout. His eyes, hair, beard, and complexion were brown. His head was small, symmetrically shaped, combining the alertness and compactness characteristic of the soldier, with the capacious brow furrowed prematurely with the 10 horizontal lines of thought, denoting the statesman and the sage. His physical appearance was, therefore, in harmony with his organization, which was of antique model. Of his moral qualities, the most prominent was his piety. 15 He was more than anything else a religious man. From his trust in God he ever derived support and consolation in the darkest hours. Implicitly relying upon Almighty wisdom and goodness, he looked danger in the face with a constant smile, and 20 endured incessant labors and trials with a serenity which seemed more than human. While, however, his soul was full of piety, it was tolerant of error. Sincerely and deliberately himself a convert to the Reformed Church, he was ready to extend freedom of worship to Catholics on the one hand, and to Anabaptists on the other, for no man ever felt more keenly than he that the Reformer who becomes in his 5 turn a bigot is doubly odious. His firmness was allied to his piety. His constancy in bearing the whole weight of struggle as unequal as men have ever undertaken, was the theme of admiration even to his enemies. The rock in the ocean, "tranquil amid 10 raging billows," was the favorite emblem by which his friends expressed their sense of his firmness. From the time when, as a hostage in France, he first discovered the plan of Philip to plant the Inquisition in the Netherlands, up to the last moment of his life, he 15 never faltered in his determination to resist that iniquitous scheme. This resistance was the labor of his life. To exclude the Inquisition, to maintain the ancient liberties of his country, was the task which he appointed to himself when a youth of three-and-twenty. 20 Never speaking a word concerning a heavenly mission, never deluding himself or others with the usual phraseology of enthusiasts, he accomplished the task, through danger, amid toils, and with sacrifices such as few men have ever been able to make on their country's altar25 for the disinterested benevolence of the man was as prominent as his fortitude. A prince of high rank and with royal revenues, he stripped himself of station, wealth, |