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النشر الإلكتروني

So let it be with Cæsar.

The noble Brutus

Hath told you, Cæsar was ambitious;
If it were so, it was a grievous fault;
And grievously hath Cæsar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus, and the rest,
(For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men ;)
Come I to speak in Cæsar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;

And Brutus is an honourable man.

He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Cæsar seem ambitious?

When that the poor have cried, Cæsar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Yet he did thrice refuse.

Was this ambition?

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.

I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause;
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
O, judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason!-Bear with me:
My heart is in the coffin there with Cæsar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
But yesterday the word of Cæsar might
Have stood against the world: now lies he there,
And none so poor to do him reverence.

O masters, if I were dispos'd to stir

Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,
I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong,
Who, you all know, are honourable men:
I will not do them wrong; I rather choose
To wrong the dead, to wrong myself, and you,

Than I will wrong such honourable men.
But here's a parchment, with the seal of Cæsar,
I found it in his closet, 'tis his will:

Let but the commons hear this testament,
(Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read,)
And they would go and kiss dead Cæsar's wounds,
And dip their napkins in his sacred blood;
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,

And, dying, mention it within their wills,
Bequeathing it as a rich legacy,

Unto their issue.

4th. Cit. We'll hear the will: Read it, Mark Antony. Cits. The will, the will! we will hear Cæsar's will. Ant. Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it;

It is not meet you know how Cæsar loved you.
You are not wood, you are not stones, but men;
And, being men, hearing the will of Cæsar,
It will inflame you, it will make you mad:
'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs;
For if you should, O, what would come of it!

4th. Cit. Read the will; we'll hear it, Antony; you shall read us the will; Cæsar's will!

Ant. Will you be patient? Will you stay awhile? I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it.

I fear I wrong the honourable men

Whose daggers have stabb'd Cæsar: I do fear it.

4th. Cit. They were traitors: Honourable men! Cits. The will! the testament!

2nd. Cit. They were villians, murderers: The will! read the will!

Ant. You will compel me, then, to read the will?
Then make a ring about the corpse of Cæsar,
And let me shew you him that made the will.
Shall I descend? and will you give me leave?
Cits. Come down.

Ant. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.
You all do know this mantle: I remember

The first time ever Cæsar put it on;

'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent,

That day he overcame the Nervii :

Look! in this place ran Cassius' dagger through:
See, what a rent the envious Casca made:
Through this, the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd;
And, as he pluck'd his curséd steel away,
Mark how the blood of Cæsar follow'd it,
As rushing out of doors, to be resolv'd
If Brutus so unkindly knock'd or no;

For Brutus, as you know, was Cæsar's angel:
Judge, O you gods, how dearly Cæsar lov'd him!
This was the most unkindest cut of all:

For when the noble Cæsar saw him stab,
Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms,
Quite vanquish'd him: then burst his mighty heart.
And, in his mantle muffling up his face,

Even at the base of Pompey's statue,

Which all the while ran blood, great Cæsar fell.
O what a fall was there, my countrymen!
Then I, and you, and all of us fell down,
Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us.
O, now you weep; and, I perceive, you feel
The dint of pity: these are gracious drops.
Kind souls, what weep you, when you but behold
Our Cæsar's vesture wounded? Look you here,
Here is himself, marr'd, as you see, with traitors.
1st. Cit. O piteous spectacle!

2nd. Cit. O noble Cæsar!

3rd. Cit. O woeful day!

4th. Cit. O traitors, villians!

1st. Cit. O most bloody sight!

Cits. We will be revenged; revenge; about,-seek,— burn,-fire,-kill,-slay!—let not a traitor live.

Ant. Stay, countrymen.

1st. Cit. Peace there:-Hear the noble Antony. 2nd. Cit. We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll die with him.

Ant. Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you

up

To such a sudden flood of mutiny.

They that have done this deed are honourable;

S. VI.

C

What private griefs they have, alas! I know not,
That made them do it; they are wise and honourable,
And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you.

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 know full well,
That gave me public leave to speak of him.
For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,
To stir men's blood: I only speak right on;

I tell you that which you yourselves do know;
Shew you sweet Cæsar'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 Cæsar, that should move
The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.

SUMATRANS.

THE populations of Sumatra exhibit different degrees of civilization to an extent found in few areas of equal size: the difference in their religious creeds being proportionately broad. There are the extreme forms of rude paganism; there are traces of the Indian forms of religion; and there is Mahometanism. There are the Lubus, one of the wildest, rudest, and weakest of all the populations. The position of the Lubus in Sumatra is that of the Bushmen of South Africa, for they are a fragmentary population, driven into the more inaccessible districts by tribes stronger than themselves; without arts and without settled habitations.

The next are Battas, whose civilization is some degrees above that of the Lubu. A great part of their present

area belonged to this last named population, who are, probably, Battas in the very lowest stage of development. These require further notice. They belong to the northern half of Sumatra, though without reaching the northern extremity of the island.

The rivers in the Batta country are inconsiderable, so are the forests, for the country is an elevated platform-dry, exposed, and parched.

The luxuriant vegetation of so many regions in this part of the world, finds no place here; and instead of it, we have sand, hardened clay, bare rocks swept by strong currents of wind and exposed to an equatorial

sun.

The Battas are cannibals; they are also a lettered population. It is believed that this combination of rudeness and civilization occurs nowhere else, a combination which, however, is beyond doubt.

66

On the Batta cannibalism, hear so competent an authority as Marsden. They," the Battas, "do not eat human flesh as the means of satisfying the cravings of nature, for there can be no want of sustenance to the inhabitants of such a country and climate, who reject no animal food of any kind; nor is it sought after as a gluttonous delicacy.

"The Battas eat it as a species of ceremony, as a mode of shewing their detestation of certain crimes by an ignominious punishment, and as a savage display of revenge and insult to their unfortunate enemies. The objects of this barbarous repast are prisoners taken in war, (especially if badly wounded,) the bodies of the slain, and offenders condemned for certain capital crimes, especially for adultery. Prisoners unwounded (but they are not much disposed to give quarter) may be ransomed or sold as slaves, where the quarrel is not inveterate; and the convicts, there is reason to believe, rarely suffer when their friends are in cir cumstances to redeem them by the customary equivalent of eighty dollars. These are tried by the people of the tribe where the offence was committed, but cannot be executed until their own particular rajah

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