h-water mark.]

[Note 63: /where:/ whether. As in V, iv, 30, the 'where' of
the Folios represents the monosyllabic pronunciation of this
word common in the sixteenth century. In Shakespeare's verse
the 'th' between two vowels, as in 'brother,' 'other,'
'whither,' is frequently mute.--/basest metal./--The Folio
spelling is 'mettle,' and the word here may connote 'spirit,'
'temper.' If it be taken literally, the reference may be to
'lead.' Cf. 'base lead,' _The Merchant of Venice_, II, ix, 19.
In this case the meaning may be that even these men, though as
dull and heavy as lead, have yet the sense to be tongue-tied
with shame at their conduct. 'Mettle' occurs again in I, ii,
293; 'metal' (First Folio, 'mettle') in I, ii, 306.]

[Note 66: /images./ These images were the busts and statues of
Caesar, ceremoniously decked with scarfs and badges in honor
of his triumph.]

[Note 67: /ceremonies:/ ceremonial symbols, festal ornaments.
Cf. 'trophies' in l. 71 and 'scarfs' in I, ii, 282.
Shakespeare employs the word in the same way, as an abstract
term used for the concrete thing, in _Henry V_, IV, i, 109;
and, in the singular, in _Measure for Measure_, II, ii, 59.
"After that, there were set up images of Caesar in the city,
with diadems on their heads like kings. Those the two
tribunes, Flavius and Marullus, went and pulled
down."--Plutarch, _Julius Caesar_.]

[Page 8]

MARULLUS. May we do so?
You know it is the feast of Lupercal.

FLAVIUS. It is no matter; let no images 70
Be hung with Caesar's trophies. I'll about,
And drive away the vulgar from the streets:
So do you too, where you perceive them thick.
These growing feathers pluck'd from Caesar's wing
Will make him fly an ordinary pitch, 75
Who else would soar above the view of men,
And keep us all in servile fearfulness. [_Exeunt_]

[Note 69: /Lupercal./ The _Lupercalia_, originally a shepherd
festival, were held in honor of Lupercus, the Roman Pan, on
the 15th of February, the month being named from _Februus_, a
surname of the god. Lupercus was, primarily, the god of
shepherds, said to have been so called because he protected
the flocks from wolves. His wife Luperca was the deified
she-wolf that suckled Romulus. The festival, in its original
idea, was concerned with purification and fertilization.]

[Note 71: /Caesar's trophies./ These are the scarfs and badges
mentioned in