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

      Di ripari fortissimi la casa,

      E si prepara alla difesa contra

      Chiunque oltraggio, ò scorno fargli tenti.

      Lepido s’è nell’ Isola con quattro

      Legion ritirato, et ha mandato

      Dicendo a Marcantonio, ch’egli è pronto

      Co’suoi soldati a far quanto da lui

      Gli sarà imposto: Onde si stima ch’egli

      Per vendicar la morte dell’ amico

      Debba spingergli addosso a congiurati,

      E lor tagliar a pezzi, e le lor case

      Arder, e rovinar da fondamenti.”—P. 148.

      Not only is Antony’s desire for vengeance intimated, but the ultimate fate of the conspirators, and the failure of their cause is distinctly foreshadowed. But most significant is the fact that Pescetti, here almost literally following Appian, makes Antony take refuge in his own house. In Shakespeare Antony is also made to take refuge in his own house. Cassius inquires:

      “Where is Antony?

      Trebonius—Fled to his house amazed.”—(Act III., Sc. I, 96.)

      This touch is certainly not derived from Plutarch. The biographer says (Julius Caesar, p. 101): “But Antonius and Lepidus, which were two of Caesar’s chiefest friends, secretly conveying themselves away, fled into other men’s houses and forsook their own.” Appian says: “Antony went to his owne house, entending to take advice for this case of Cesars.” (Appian, 1578, p. 141.)^[21]

      But one more supposed loan from Appian remains for investigation. This is to be found in the behavior of the conspirators immediately after the murder. Plutarch’s account is as follows: “Brutus and his confederates on the other side, being yet hot with this murder they had committed, having their swords drawn in their hands, came all in a troup together out of the Senate and went into the market-place, not as men that made countenance to fly, but otherwise boldly holding up their heads like men of courage, and called to the people to defend their liberty, and stayed to speak with every great personage whom they met on their way.” (Julius Caesar, p. 101, Skeat’s Ed.)

      In Shakespeare we read:

      “Caes.—Et tu Brute? Then fall, Caesar. (Dies)Cinna.—Liberty! freedom! Tyranny’s dead!

       Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets.Cas.—Some to the common pulpits and cry out

       ‘Liberty, freedom and enfranchisement!’ ”

      A little farther on Brutus exclaims:

      “Stoop, Romans, stoop,

      And let us bathe our hands in Caesar’s blood

      Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords:

      Then walk we forth, even to the market-place,

      And waving our red weapons o’er our heads,

      Let’s all cry ‘Peace, freedom and liberty!’ ”—III., I, 106.

      Plutarch mentions no sayings of the conspirators; there is no mention of the dripping swords. Shakespeare is here supposed to follow Appian, who says: “The murderers woulde haue sayde somewhat in ye Senate house, but no man would tarry to heare. They wrapt their gowns about their left armes as targets, and hauying their daggers bloudy, cryed they had kylled a King and a Tyranne, and one bare an hatte upon a speare, in token of Libertie. Then they exhorted them to the common wealth of their country and remembered olde Brutus, and the oth mode againste the old kings.” (Appian, 1578, p. 142.)^[22] Here we find the matter of the dripping swords, and an intimation of the cry of the Conspirators. But Pescetti, who followed Appian, supplies a still closer parallel. Here Brutus, after announcing the death of the tyrant, and after exhorting the people to rejoice in their reestablished liberties, turns to the conspirators and exclaims:

      “Ma scorriam per la terra,

       O voi, che fidelissimi compagni,

       Mi siete stati all’ onorata impresa,

       Con le coltella in mano,

       Del Tirannico sangue ancor stillanti

       E co’ pilei sù l’aste

       E ’l popolo di Marte

       Chiamiamo a libertade.Con.—Libertà, libertà, morto è il Tiranno:

       Libera è Roma, e rotto è il giogo indegno.”—Ces., pp. 116–17.

      Here we have the substance of Appian’s account. Here Brutus, as in Shakespeare, addresses his fellow conspirators. In the one case he refers to them as “most faithful companions,” in the other, as “Romans.” In both he exhorts them to the same purpose. In one they are to rove the streets with their dripping swords still in their hands, and to call the people of Rome to their reestablished liberty; in the other, they are exhorted to walk forth waving their red weapons over their heads, and to cry “Peace, freedom and liberty.” The cry of the chorus in Pescetti seems an answer to this appeal:

      “Libertà, libertà, morto è il Tiranno:

      Libera è Roma e rotto è il giogo indegno.”

      And this again is closely parallel to Cinna’s outburst,

      “Liberty! freedom! Tyranny is dead!

      Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets!”

      The latter part of this seems an echo of

      “E ’l popolo di Marte

      Chiamiamo a libertade.”—P. 116.

      “Cesare” contains no close parallel to Brutus’ exclamation:

      “Stoop, Romans, stoop,

      And let us bathe our hands in Caesar’s blood

      Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords:”

      But Pescetti indicates a similar savage desire:

      “E fu sì grande del ferir la voglia

      Recandosi ciascuno a somma gloria,

      Tinger la spada sua nel sacro sangue.”^[23]—P. 126.

      He does say that the conspirators besmeared their swords, and Shakespeare but intensified the scene by making the murderers literally bathe in the blood of their victim.^[24]

      In this case, as in the others, the material from Appian is to be found in Pescetti, and reappears in Shakespeare accompanied by touches due to Pescetti alone. We find further, that in all the cases wherein the influence of Appian has been suspected, Shakespeare could have derived his matter from Pescetti, who, we can positively affirm, used Appian as his source. The resemblance in Shakespeare between the scenes under discussion and the corresponding scenes in Pescetti is far stronger than the similarity to their alleged source in the English translation of Appian, for not only does Shakespeare make use of the same historical matter which Pescetti derived from the historian, but he includes individual touches found only in the Italian drama. The conclusion that Shakespeare derived from Pescetti the hints previously attributed to his acquaintance with the English translation of Appian seems, therefore, tentatively justifiable. This conclusion will be greatly strengthened by the evidence adducible from the other similarities existing between the two plays. Among these the treatment of the supernatural element in both dramas offers points of contact which will now be discussed.