Brutus says quietly that he cannot die by traitors unless he brings
'em with him. (He sent one to Egypt later on.) Octavius says he
hopes he wasn't born to die on Brutus's sword; and Brutus says, in
effect, that even if he was any good he couldn't die more honourably.
Brutus: O, if thou wert the noblest of thy strain,
Young man, thou couldst not die more honourable.
Cassius: A peevish schoolboy, worthless of such honour,
Join'd with a masker and a reveller!
Octavius calls off his dogs, and tells them to come on to-day if they
dare, or if not, when they have stomachs.
Cassius: Why, now, blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark!
The storm is up, and all is on the hazard.
Yes, I reckon old Cassius ("old" in an affectionate sense) and Brutus
came out top dogs from that scrap anyway. And, yes, Antony _was_
good at orating. He was great at orating over dead men--especially
dead "friends" (as he called his rivals) and dead enemies. Brutus
was "the noblest Roman of them all" when Antony came across him
stiff later on. Now when I die---
Octavius, by the way, orated over Antony and his dusky hussy later on
in Egypt, and they were the most "famous pair" in the world. I
wonder whether the grim humour of it struck Octavius _then_: but
then that young man seemed to have but little brains and less humour.
But now they go to see about settling the matter with ironmongery.
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