conspirators did not venture to propose the matter to him. In
Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_, the attitude of the conspirators to
Cicero is described thus: "For this cause they durst not
acquaint Cicero with their conspiracy, although he was a man
whom they loved dearly and trusted best; for they were afraid
that he, being a coward by nature, and age also having
increased his fear, he would quite turn and alter all their
purpose, and quench the heat of their enterprise (the which
specially required hot and earnest execution), seeking by
persuasion to bring all things to such safety, as there should
be no peril."]

[Page 54]

CASSIUS. Decius, well urg'd: I think it is not meet, 155
Mark Antony, so well belov'd of Caesar,
Should outlive Caesar: we shall find of him
A shrewd contriver; and, you know, his means,
If he improve them, may well stretch so far
As to annoy us all; which to prevent, 160
Let Antony and Caesar fall together.

BRUTUS. Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius,
To cut the head off and then hack the limbs,
Like wrath in death and envy afterwards;
For Antony is but a limb of Caesar. 165
Let's be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.
We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar,
And in the spirit of men there is no blood:
O, that we then could come by Caesar's spirit,
And not dismember Caesar! But, alas, 170
Caesar must bleed for it! And, gentle friends,
Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;
Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods,
Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds:
And let our hearts, as subtle masters do, 175
Stir up their servants to an act of rage,
And after seem to chide 'em. This shall make
Our purpose necessary and not envious;
Which so appearing to the common eyes,
We shall be call'd purgers, not murderers. 180

[Note 166: /Let's/ Ff | Let us Theobald.]

[Note 168: /men/ Ff | man Pope.]

[Note 169: /spirit/ F1 | spirits F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 177: /'em/ F1 F2 F3 | them F4.]

[Note 157: /of him:/ in him. The "appositional genitive." See
Abbott, Sect. 172.]

[Note 164: /envy:/ malice. Commonly so in Shakespeare, as in
_The Merchant of Venice_, IV, i, 10. So 'envious' in the sense
of 'malicious' in l. 178.]

[Note 175-177: So the king proceeds with Hubert in _King
John_. And so men often pro