That made them do it! They are wise and honorable,
And will, no doubt, with reason answer you.

12. I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts! I am no orator, as Brutus is;

But, as you know me all, a plain, blunt man,
That love my friend-and that they knew full well,
That gave me public leave to speak of him!
For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
Action, nor utterance, nor power of speech,
To stir men's blood.

13. I only speak right on,

I tell you that which you yourselves do know—

Show you sweet Cesar's wounds, poor, poor dumb mouths, And bid them speak for me. But, were I Brutus,

And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony

Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue
In every wound of Cesar, that should move
The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.

LESSON CLI.

Othello's Apology for his Marriage.-TRAGEDY OF OTHELLO.

1. Most potent, grave and reverend seigniors :
My very noble and approv'd good masters :
That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter,
It is most true; true, I have married her :
The very head and front of my offending
Hath this extent; no more.

2.

Rude am I in speech,
And little bless'd with the set phrase of peace :
For since these arms of mine had seven years' pith,
Till now, some nine moons wasted, they have us'd
Their dearest action, in the tented field;
And little of this great world can I speak,
More than pertains to feats of broils and battle;
And therefore, little shall I grace my cause,
In speaking of myself. Yet by your patience,
I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver,

Of my whole course of love; what drugs, what charms,
What conjuration, and what mighty magic,
(For such proceedings I am charg'd withal)
I won his daughter with.

3. Her father lov'd me; oft invited me ; Still question'd me the story of my life

From year to year: the battles, sieges, fortunes,
That I had past.

I ran it through, e'en from my boyish days
To the very moment that he bade me tell it.
Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances:
Of moving accidents by flood and field :

Of hairbreadths 'scapes in the imminent deadly breach ;
Of being taken by the insolent foe,

And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence,
And with it all my travel's history.

4.

All these to hear

Would Desdemona seriously incline;

But still the house affairs would draw her thence;
Which ever as she could with haste despatch,
She'd come again, and with a greedy ear
Devour up my discourse. Which I observing,
Took once a pliant hour, and found good means
To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart,
That I would all my pilgrimage dilate;
Whereof by parcels she had something heard,
But not distinctly.

5.

I did consent;

And often did beguile her of her tears,

When I did speak of some distressful stroke

That my youth suffer'd. My story being done,

She gave me for my pains a world of sighs.

She swore in faith, 'twas strange, 'twas passing strange ;

'Twas pitiful; 'twas wond'rous pitiful;

She wish'd she had not heard it; yet she wish'd

That heaven had made her such a man.

She thank'd me,

6.
And bade me, if I had a friend that lov'd her,
I should but teach him how to tell my story,
And that would woo her. On this hint I spake ;
She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd;
And I lov'd her, that she did pity them.
This is the only witchcraft which I've us'd.

LESSON CLII.

*

Soliloquy of Hamlett on Death.-TRAGEDY OF HAMLET.

1. To be or not to be-that is the question,
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The stings and arrows of outrageous fortune-
Or to take arms against a sea of trouble ;
And, by opposing, end them? To die-to sleep-
No more? And, by a sleep, to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to.

Devoutly to be wish'd. To die—to sleep—

To sleep, perchance to dream-ay, there's the rub-
For, in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause.

3.

There's the respect,
That makes calamity of so long life;

For, who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despis'd love-the law's delay-
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes-
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin.

4.

Who would fardels‡ bear,
To groan and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
(That undiscover'd country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns) puzzles the will,

And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of?

5. Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprizes of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn away,
And lose the name of action.

Soliloquy, a speech made by one in solitude to himself. †A Prince of Denmark.

+ Fardel, a bundle, or little pack.

LESSON CLIII.

Cato's* Soliloquy on the Immortality of the Soul.-TRAGEDY OF CATO.

1. It must be so-Plato,† thou reasonest well! Else, whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, This longing after immortality?

Or, whence this secret dread, and inward horror,
Of falling into nought? Why shrinks the soul
Back on herself, and startles at destruction?
'Tis the divinity that stirs within us:

'Tis heaven itself that points out an hereafter,
And intimates Eternity to man.

2. Eternity!-thou pleasing, dreadful thought! Through what variety of untried being,

Through what new scenes and changes must we pass ?
The wide, th' unbounded prospect lies before me:
But shadows, clouds and darkness rest upon it.
Here will I hold. If there's a Power above us,
(And that there is, all nature cries aloud

Through all her works) he must delight in virtue ;
And that which he delights in must be happy.

But when? Or where? This world was made for Cesar.
I'm weary of conjectures-this must end them.

[Laying his hand on his sword.

3. Thus I am doubly arm'd, My death and life,||
My bane‡ and antidote]] are both before me.
This in a moment brings me to an end;
But this informs me I shall never die.
The soul, secur'd in her existence, smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself

* Marcus Portius Cato, an eminent Roman born 94 years B. C. He was a lover of Philosophy, and a brave general; and possessed great integrity, and the warmest attachment to his country. He boldly opposed the conspiracy of Cataline and the ambition of Julius Cesar. After the battle of Pharsalia, Cato fled to Utica in Africa, and being pursued by Cesar, he advised his friends to flee, and his son to trust to Cesar's clemency. He then retired to his apartment, and read Plato on the IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, twice over; and then stabbed himself with his sword, and died, aged 48,-B. C. 46 years.

A Grecian Philosopher.

The sword.

A book written by Plato.

Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years:
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth:
Unhurt amidst the war of elements,

The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds.

LESSON CLIV.

Speech of Catiline* before the Roman Senate, on hearing his sentence of banishment.-CROLY'S CATILINE.

1. "BANISHED from Rome!"-what's banished, but set free From daily contact of the things I loathe ?

'Tried and convicted traitor !'-Who says this?
Who'll prove it, at his peril, on my head?
"Banished!"—I thank you for't. It breaks my chain !
I held some slack allegiance till this hour-
But now my sword's my own.

Smile on, my lords;
I scorn to count what feelings, withered hopes,
Strong provocations, bitter, burning wrongs,
I have within my heart's hot cells shut up,
To leave you in your lazy dignities.

2. But here I stand and scoff you :-here I fling Hatred and full defiance in your face.

Your Consul'st merciful. For this all thanks.
He dares not touch a hair of Catiline.
"Traitor!' I go-but I return. This-trial!
Here I devote your senate! I've had wrongs,
To stir a fever in the blood of age,

Or make the infant's sinew strong as steel.

3. This day's the birth of sorrows!—This hour's work Will breed proscriptions.-Look to your hearths, my lords,

For there henceforth shall sit, for household gods,

Shapes hot from Tartarus !-all shames and crimes ;-
Wan Treachery, with his thirsty dagger drawn;
Suspicion, poisoning his brother's cup;
Naked Rebellion, with the torch and axe,
Making his wild sport of your blazing thrones;
Till Anarchy comes down on you like Night,
And Massacre seals Rome's eternal grave.

A Roman Senator accused of a conspiracy, and banished,
Marcus Tullius Cicero.