e conquerors can but make a fire of him; 55
For Brutus only overcame himself,
And no man else hath honour by his death.

LUCILIUS. So Brutus should be found. I thank thee, Brutus,
That thou hast prov'd Lucilius' saying true. 59

[Note 50: [_Runs_ ...] | Ff omit.]

[Note 52: Scene IX Pope.]

[Page 167]

OCTAVIUS. All that serv'd Brutus, I will entertain them.
Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me?

STRATO. Ay, if Messala will prefer me to you.

OCTAVIUS. Do so, good Messala.

MESSALA. How died my master, Strato?

STRATO. I held the sword, and he did run on it. 65

MESSALA. Octavius, then take him to follow thee,
That did the latest service to my master.

ANTONY. This was the noblest Roman of them all:
All the conspirators, save only he,
Did that they did in envy of great Caesar; 70
He only, in a general honest thought
And common good to all, made one of them.
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, 'This was a man!' 75

[Note 64: /my master/ F1 | my Lord F3.]

[Note 71: /He only, in/ | He, onely in Ff.]

[Note 71-72: /general ... And/ Ff | generous.... Of Craik.]

[Note 60: /will entertain them:/ will take them into my
service.]

[Note 62: /prefer:/ recommend. Cf. _The Merchant of Venice_,
II, ii, 155.]

[Note 68: Cf. Antony's soliloquy on Caesar, III, i, 257-258.]

[Note 69-70: "Antonius spake ... that of all them that had
slain Caesar, there was none but Brutus only that was moved
... thinking the act commendable of itself; but that all the
other conspirators did conspire his death for some private
malice or envy that they otherwise did bear unto
him."--Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_.]

[Note 73-74: This refers to the old doctrine of the four
elements, earth, water, air, and fire, a right proportion of
which was supposed to be the principle of all excellence in
nature. Shakespeare has many allusions to the doctrine, which
was a commonplace of the sixteenth century. It is this common
property in the idea which invalidates the importance of the
argument for the date of _Julius Caesar_ drawn from a similar
passage in Drayton's revised version of his _Mortimeriados_
(1596-1597) published in 1603 under the title of _The Barons'
Wars_.]

[Page 168]

OCTAVIUS. According to his virtue let us