t this time
childless; his only daughter, Julia, married to Pompey the
Great, having died some years before, upon the birth of her
first child, who also died soon after.]

[Page 10]

CAESAR. Set on; and leave no ceremony out. [_Flourish_]

SOOTHSAYER. Caesar!

CAESAR. Ha! who calls?

CASCA. Bid every noise be still. Peace yet again!

CAESAR. Who is it in the press that calls on me? 15
I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music,
Cry 'Caesar!' Speak; Caesar is turn'd to hear.

SOOTHSAYER. Beware the Ides of March.

CAESAR. What man is that?

BRUTUS. A soothsayer bids you beware the Ides of March.

CAESAR. Set him before me; let me see his face. 20

CASSIUS. Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar.

CAESAR. What say'st thou to me now? speak once again.

SOOTHSAYER. Beware the Ides of March.

CAESAR. He is a dreamer; let us leave him. Pass.

[_Sennet. Exeunt all but_ BRUTUS _and_ CASSIUS]

CASSIUS. Will you go see the order of the course? 25

[Note 11: [Flourish] Ff omit.]

[Note 25: Scene III Pope.]

[Note 18: /the Ides of March:/ March 15th.]

[Note 19: Coleridge has a remark on this line, which, whether
true to the subject or not, is very characteristic of the
writer: "If my ear does not deceive me, the metre of this line
was meant to express that sort of mild philosophic contempt,
characterizing Brutus even in his first casual
speech."--/soothsayer./ By derivation, 'truth teller.']

[Note 24: /Sennet./ This is an expression occurring repeatedly
in old stage directions. It is of uncertain origin (but cf.
'signature' in musical notation) and denotes a peculiar
succession of notes on a trumpet, used, as here, to signal the
march of a procession.]

[Page 11]

BRUTUS. Not I.

CASSIUS. I pray you, do.

BRUTUS. I am not gamesome: I do lack some part
Of that quick spirit that is in Antony.
Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires; 30
I'll leave you.

CASSIUS. Brutus, I do observe you now of late:
I have not from your eyes that gentleness
And show of love as I was wont to have:
You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand 35
Over your friend that loves you.

[Note 36: /friend/ F1 | Friends F2 F3.]

[Note 28: /gamesome:/ fond of games. Here as in _Cymbeline_,
I, vi, 60, the word seems to be used in