Sect.
193.]

[Page 37]

CASSIUS. I know where I will wear this dagger then;
Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius. 90
Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong;
Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat:
Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass,
Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron,
Can be retentive to the strength of spirit; 95
But life, being weary of these worldly bars,
Never lacks power to dismiss itself.
If I know this, know all the world besides,
That part of tyranny that I do bear
I can shake off at pleasure. [_Thunder still_]

CASCA. So can I: 100
So every bondman in his own hand bears
The power to cancel his captivity.

CASSIUS. And why should Caesar be a tyrant then?
Poor man! I know he would not be a wolf,
But that he sees the Romans are but sheep: 105
He were no lion, were not Romans hinds.
Those that with haste will make a mighty fire
Begin it with weak straws: what trash is Rome,
What rubbish and what offal, when it serves
For the base matter to illuminate 110
So vile a thing as Caesar! But, O grief,
Where hast thou led me? I perhaps speak this
Before a willing bondman; then I know
My answer must be made. But I am arm'd,
And dangers are to me indifferent. 115

[Note 95: Can repress by force man's energy of soul.]

[Note 101: /bondman./ The word 'cancel' in the next line shows
that Casca plays on the two senses of 'bond.' Cf. _Cymbeline_,
V, iv, 28.]

[Note 107-108: The idea seems to be that, as men start a huge
fire with worthless straws or shavings, so Caesar is using the
degenerate Romans of the time to set the whole world a-blaze
with his own glory. Cassius's enthusiastic hatred of "the
mightiest Julius" is irresistibly delightful. For a good hater
is the next best thing to a true friend; and Cassius's honest
gushing malice is surely better than Brutus's stabbing
sentimentalism.]

[Note 112-115: The meaning is, Perhaps you will go and tell
Caesar all I have said about him, and then he will call me to
account for it. Very well; go tell him; and let him do his
worst. I care not.]

[Page 38]

CASCA. You speak to Casca, and to such a man
That is no fleering tell-tale. Hold, my hand:
Be factious for redress of all these grie