onwards the
speeches of Brutus strangely adumbrate those of Hamlet.]

[Note 12: /the general/: the general public, the community at
large. Cf. _Hamlet_, II, ii, 457, "pleas'd not the million; 't
was caviare to the general." See III, ii, 89, and V, v,
71-72.]

[Note 14: The sunshine of royalty will kindle the serpent in
Caesar. The figure in 32-34 suggests that 'bring forth' may
here mean 'hatch.']

[Note 17: /do danger with/: do mischief with, prove dangerous.
Cf. _Romeo and Juliet_, V, ii, 20: "neglecting it May do much
danger."]

[Note 19: /Remorse./ Constantly in Shakespeare 'remorse' is
used for 'pity' or 'compassion.' Here it seems to mean
something more, 'conscience,' 'conscientiousness.' So in
_Othello_, III, iii, 468:

Let him command,
And to obey shall be in me remorse,
What bloody business ever.

The possession of dictatorial power is apt to stifle or sear
the conscience, so as to make a man literally remorseless.]

[Note 20: /affections sway'd/ passions (inclinations)
governed.]

[Note 21: /proof:/ experience. So in _Twelfth Night_, III, i,
135.]

[Note 23: Warburton put a hyphen between 'climber' and
'upward.' Delius, however, would connect 'upward' with
'whereto' and 'turns.']

[Note 26: /base degrees/: lower steps. 'Degrees' is here used
in its original, literal sense for the rounds, or steps, of
the ladder.]

[Note 28: /prevent/: anticipate.--/quarrel/: cause of
complaint.]

[Note 29-34: /colour/: pretext, plausible appearance. The
general meaning of this somewhat obscure passage is, Since we
have no show or pretext of a cause, no assignable ground or
apparent ground of complaint, against Caesar, in what he is,
or in anything he has yet done, let us assume that the further
addition of a crown will quite upset his nature, and
metamorphose him into a serpent. The strain of casuistry used
in this speech is very remarkable. Coleridge found it
perplexing. On the supposition that Shakespeare meant Brutus
for a wise and good man, the speech seems unintelligible. But
Shakespeare must have regarded him simply as a well-meaning
but conceited and shallow idealist; and such men are always
cheating and puffing themselves with the thinnest of sophisms,
feeding on air and conceiving themselves inspired, or
"mistaking the giddiness of the head for the illumination of
the Spirit."]

[Page 44-45]

_Re-enter_ LUCIUS

LUCIUS. The taper burneth in your closet, sir.