A Probable Italian Source of Shakespeare's "Julius Cæsar". Alexander Boecker

in Plutarch. Both are to be found in Appian. It has been suggested^[11] that from him Shakespeare got the idea for Brutus’ exclamation, “Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all freemen?” Appian’s Brutus says: “We at his desire gaue him security, and as it should seeme, afrayde of himself, seking to make his Tyrany sure, we sware unto it. If he had required us to sware, not only to confirme the things past, but also to haue bene hys slaues in time to come, what woulde they then haue done that nowe lie in wayte for our liues? I suppose verye Romaines indeede, wyll rather choose certaine death as they haue oft done, than by an othe to abyde willing seruitude.”^[12]

      While it is possible that Shakespeare, following his custom in the composition of this particular play, may have derived this hint from the scattered pages of Plutarch, or indeed conceived it independently as a dramatic consequence of Brutus’ previously expressed attitude, yet the advantage of Appian’s account is manifest. Pescetti knew and used this account, and while the same idea does not occur in Brutus’ address in “Cesare” it is repeatedly expressed throughout the play. If we admit the possibility of Shakespeare’s derivation of the disputed hints through a careful selection from the pages of Plutarch, there can be no strong objection to granting him the exercise of a similar freedom in his perusal of Pescetti. It was a common enough practice of the Elizabethan dramatists to appropriate suitable material wherever and whenever they encountered it, a fact which must be borne in mind throughout this discussion.

      Shakespeare could have found his matter in Pescetti. There is nothing more repugnant to the Brutus of “Cesare” than the idea of slavery, and he voices his opinion time and again throughout the play. To quote but one instance: Cassius and Brutus are discussing liberty and Brutus says:

      “Il Tiranno è peggior dell’ omicida,

      Perchè la vita l’omicida toglie;

      Ma con la dignità toglie il possesso

      Della vita il Tiranno, e chi ad altrui,

      Non à se, vive, è viè peggior, che morte:

      Perciò saggio Caton, saggio et ardito,

      Ch’anzi morir, che viver servo elesse.”—Ces., p. 89.

      The possibility that the address of Antony, as recorded by Appian, furnished Shakespeare hints for the oration in the play, has recently been investigated by Prof. MacCallum.^[13] He concludes that while Appian’s account bears little resemblance to the oration, it nevertheless contains some parallels in details. Antony both in the history and in the drama calls attention to his friendship for Caesar; to the honors the latter had bestowed on his murderers; he proclaims his own readiness to avenge his benefactor’s death; he recites Caesar’s triumphs and the spoils he sent to Rome; he uncovers Caesar’s corpse and displays the bloodstained robe; he makes Caesar cite the names of those whom he had pardoned and advanced only to destroy him.

      Professor MacCallum confesses that the evidence is not very convincing, but that it is strengthened greatly by the apparent loans from the same author discernible in Shakespeare’s treatment of various passages in “Antony and Cleopatra.” The question at present is not whether the hints in “Julius Caesar” were derived from Appian, but whether they were derived from the English translation. The likelihood that Shakespeare knew and used this translation when he wrote his later tragedy, does not exclude the possibility that he was not acquainted with it when he composed the earlier work, nor that he received the hints attributed to Appian not at first hand, but through his knowledge of Pescetti’s drama.^[14]

      The Italian’s work contains no funeral oration by Antony, but the entire fifth act is dramatically parallel to the third act of “Julius Caesar.” In it we find Brutus’ speech to the people, the account of the assassination, the various laments for Caesar, a chorus singing Brutus’ praises and another singing those of Caesar. The entire act is founded upon Appian, and despite its comparative inferiority in dramatic treatment, is rich in suggestions which a better dramatist could use to great advantage. Caesar’s victories, his magnanimity to his enemies, their base treachery and Antony’s readiness to avenge his friend’s murder; in short, all the hints^[15] presumably derived by Shakespeare from the English translation of Appian are brought before us. Shakespeare could have found his material in Pescetti’s drama, and the supposition that he actually did do so is greatly strengthened by the fact that not only does the material under discussion reappear in “Julius Caesar”, but it reappears accompanied by certain individual touches peculiar alone to Pescetti’s treatment.

      Calpurnia’s speeches, the recitals of the Messengers, and the comments of the Chorus are the dramatic counterpart in “Cesare” of the speeches of Antony in “Julius Caesar.” Thus Calpurnia exclaims at the news of Caesar’s death:

      “O dolce, ò caro, ò mio fedel consorte,

      O di quanti mai Roma

      Produsse figli, più possente, e forte,

      O della nostra età sovrano pregio,

      O domator de’ ribellanti Galli,

      Del feroce German, del fier Britanno;

      O altrettanto dolce

      Al perdonar, quanto al combatter pronto,

      O stupor delle genti,

      O miracol del mondo,

      Le cui maravigliose,

      E soprumane prove

      Stancheran tutte le più dotte penne,

      E con stupor saranno

      Cantate, udite e lette

      Da quei, che dopo noi

      Verran mill’ anni, e mille.”—Ces., pp. 128–29.

      “Oimè quel, ch’ai nemici hà perdonato,

      Quel, ch’il maggior nemico hà pianto morto,

      È stat’ ei da coloro, a cui donata

      Avea la vita, indegnamente ucciso.”—Ces., p. 135.

      Here Caesar’s kindness to his enemies, his conquests, the sense of Rome’s irreparable loss are emphasized.

      “Here was a Caesar! when comes such another?”

      To Shakespeare, Pescetti’s work could hardly have been more than a recital of events connected with a notable occurrence in history, and while he needed no “Cesare” to point him towards the aim of Antony’s address, it is noteworthy that Calpurnia openly urges what Antony secretly wished, and towards which he shaped every sentence of his great oration. Shakespeare’s treatment is so vastly superior that attempts at comparison seem well nigh ridiculous; yet, when we consider how the great poet was able to transform the meanest hints into the mighty scenes we find in his greatest dramas,^[16] we may well hesitate to overlook similarities, however far removed they may seem from the matter under consideration. Thus Calpurnia exhorts the soldiers to vengeance:

      “O robusti, o magnanimi soldati,

      Che sotto la felice scorta, sotto

      Le fortunate, e gloriose insegne

      Del mio Cesare invitto

      Mille vittorie riportate avete,

      Date di mano all’ arme,

      Prendete il ferro, e’l fuoco,

      E l’empia, indegna morte, e’l fiero strazio

      Vendicate del vostro

      Signore, e Capitano:”—Pp. 133–34.

      Later on the Chorus of Soldiers exclaims:

      “Patirem noi, compagni,

      Ch’ invendicato resti

      Lui, per cui fatto abbiamo

      Di ricchezze e d’onor tanti guadagni?”—P. 143.

      “there were an Antony

      Would