ado, defiance. The epithet 'fearful'
probably means that fear is behind the attempt to intimidate
by display and brag. Dr. Wright interprets 'bravery' as
'ostentation,' 'display.']

[Page 145]

_Enter a_ Messenger

MESSENGER. Prepare you, generals:
The enemy comes on in gallant show;
Their bloody sign of battle is hung out,
And something to be done immediately. 15

ANTONY. Octavius, lead your battle softly on,
Upon the left hand of the even field.

OCTAVIUS. Upon the right hand I; keep thou the left.

ANTONY. Why do you cross me in this exigent? 19

OCTAVIUS. I do not cross you; but I will do so. [_March_]

[Note 14: /bloody sign./ "The next morning, by break of day,
the signal of battle was set out in Brutus' and Cassius' camp,
which was an arming scarlet coat."--Plutarch, _Marcus
Brutus_.]

[Note 17: Plutarch tells that Cassius, though the more
experienced soldier, allowed Brutus to lead the right wing.
"Shakespeare made use of this incident, but transferred to the
opposite camp, in order to bring out the character of Octavius
which made Antony yield. Octavius really commanded the left
wing."--Clar.]

[Note 19: /exigent:/ exigency. So in _Antony and Cleopatra_,
IV, xiv, 63.]

[Note 20: /I will do so:/ I will do as I have said. Not 'I
will cross you.' At this time Octavius was but twenty-one
years old, and Antony was old enough to be his father. At the
time of Caesar's death, when Octavius was in his nineteenth
year, Antony thought he was going to manage him easily and
have it all his own way with him; but he found the youngster
as stiff as a crowbar, and could do nothing with him. Caesar's
youngest sister, Julia, was married to Marcus Atius Balbus,
and their daughter Atia, again, was married to Caius Octavius,
a nobleman of the plebeian order. From this marriage sprang
the present Octavius, who afterwards became the Emperor
Augustus. He was mainly educated by his great-uncle, was
advanced to the patrician order, and was adopted as his son
and heir; so that his full and proper designation at this time
was Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus. The text gives a right
taste of the man, who always stood firm as a post against
Antony, till the latter finally knocked himself to pieces
against him.]

[Page 146]

_Drum._ _Enter_ BRUTUS, CASSIUS, _and their_ Army;
LUCILIUS, TITINIUS, MESSALA, _and others_

BRUTUS. They