Chapter CXXII: Act II

SC. 1. "Is not to-morrow, boy, the first of March?"

The correction of Theobald, _Ides_, has been universally and properly adopted; for 'first' _must_ have been a printer's error.

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"Brutus, thou sleepest: awake! Such instigations
Have been often dropped where I took them up."

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"_Speak, strike, redress!_--Am I entreated _then_?"

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"Sir, March is wasted fifteen days."

Theobald read _fourteen_, which was the exact number; but the error was the poet's.

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"No, not an oath. If not the face of men."

Warburton read _fate_, which Singer justifies; Mason _faith_.

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"When Cæsar's head is off.--Yet I _do_ fear him."

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SC. 2. "Fierce fiery warriors _did_ fight upon the clouds."

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"Horses do neigh, and dying men did groan."

The context demands the past tense here also. The 2nd folio properly therefore read _did_ for 'do.' See on Mer. of Ven. ii. 3.

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"We were two lions, litter'd in one day."

'Were' is Theobald's correction of _hear_ of the original. Upton read equally well, _are_.

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"For tinctures, stains, relics, and cognizances."

I am rather dubious of 'stains'; as the meaning is not clear.

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SC. 4. "The heart of woman is. O Brutus, _Brutus_!"