Act 5, Scene 3

Another part of the field.

[Alarum. Enter Cassius and Titinius.]
Caius Cassius
2349 O, look, Titinius, look, the villains fly!
2350 Myself have to mine own turn'd enemy:
2351 This ensign here of mine was turning back;
2352 I slew the coward, and did take it from him.
Titinius
2353 O Cassius, Brutus gave the word too early;
2354 Who, having some advantage on Octavius,
2355 Took it too eagerly: his soldiers fell to spoil,
2356 Whilst we by Antony are all enclosed.
[Enter Pindarus.]
Pindarus
2357 Fly further off, my lord, fly further off;
2358 Mark Antony is in your tents, my lord:
2359 Fly, therefore, noble Cassius, fly far' off.
Caius Cassius
2360 This hill is far enough.—Look, look, Titinius;
2361 Are those my tents where I perceive the fire?
Titinius
2362 They are, my lord.
Caius Cassius
2363 Titinius, if thou lovest me,
2364 Mount thou my horse and hide thy spurs in him,
2365 Till he have brought thee up to yonder troops
2366 And here again; that I may rest assured
2367 Whether yond troops are friend or enemy.
Titinius
2368 I will be here again, even with a thought.
[Exit.]
Caius Cassius
2369 Go, Pindarus, get higher on that hill:
2370 My sight was ever thick: regard Titinius,
2371 And tell me what thou notest about the field.—
[Pindarus goes up.]
Caius Cassius
2372 This day I breathed first: time is come round,
2373 And where I did begin, there shall I end;
2374 My life is run his compass.—Sirrah, what news?
[Above.]
Pindarus
2375 O my lord!
Caius Cassius
2376 What news?
[Above.]
Pindarus
2377 Titinius is enclosed round about
2378 With horsemen, that make to him on the spur:
2379 Yet he spurs on. Now they are almost on him.—
2380 Now, Titinius!—Now some 'light. O, he 'lights too:
2381 He's ta'en;
[Shout.]
Pindarus
2382 and, hark! they shout for joy.
Caius Cassius
2383 Come down; behold no more.—
2384 O, coward that I am, to live so long,
2385 To see my best friend ta'en before my face!
[Pindarus descends.]
Caius Cassius
2386 Come hither, sirrah:
2387 In Parthia did I take thee prisoner;
2388 And then I swore thee, saving of thy life,
2389 That whatsoever I did bid thee do,
2390 Thou shouldst attempt it. Come now, keep thine oath;
2391 Now be a freeman; and with this good sword,
2392 That ran through Caesar's bowels, search this bosom.
2393 Stand not to answer: here, take thou the hilts;
2394 And when my face is cover'd, as 'tis now,
2395 Guide thou the sword.—Caesar, thou art revenged,
2396 Even with the sword that kill'd thee.
[Dies.]
Pindarus
2397 So, I am free, yet would not so have been,
2398 Durst I have done my will.—O Cassius!
2399 Far from this country Pindarus shall run,
2400 Where never Roman shall take note of him.
[Exit.]
[Re-enter Titinius with Messala.]
Messala
2401 It is but change, Titinius; for Octavius
2402 Is overthrown by noble Brutus' power,
2403 As Cassius' legions are by Antony.
Titinius
2404 These tidings would well comfort Cassius.
Messala
2405 Where did you leave him?
Titinius
2406 All disconsolate,
2407 With Pindarus his bondman, on this hill.
Messala
2408 Is not that he that lies upon the ground?
Titinius
2409 He lies not like the living. O my heart!
Messala
2410 Is not that he?
Titinius
2411 No, this was he, Messala,
2412 But Cassius is no more.—O setting Sun,
2413 As in thy red rays thou dost sink to night,
2414 So in his red blood Cassius' day is set,
2415 The sun of Rome is set! Our day is gone;
2416 Clouds, dews, and dangers come; our deeds are done!
2417 Mistrust of my success hath done this deed.
Messala
2418 Mistrust of good success hath done this deed.
2419 O hateful Error, Melancholy's child!
2420 Why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men
2421 The things that are not? O Error, soon conceived,
2422 Thou never comest unto a happy birth,
2423 But kill'st the mother that engender'd thee!
Titinius
2424 What, Pindarus! where art thou, Pindarus?
Messala
2425 Seek him, Titinius, whilst I go to meet
2426 The noble Brutus, thrusting this report
2427 Into his ears: I may say, thrusting it;
2428 For piercing steel and darts envenomed
2429 Shall be as welcome to the ears of Brutus
2430 As tidings of this sight.
Titinius
2431 Hie you, Messala,
2432 And I will seek for Pindarus the while.—
[Exit Messala.]
Titinius
2433 Why didst thou send me forth, brave Cassius?
2434 Did I not meet thy friends? And did not they
2435 Put on my brows this wreath of victory,
2436 And bid me give it thee? Didst thou not hear their shouts?
2437 Alas, thou hast misconstrued every thing!
2438 But, hold thee, take this garland on thy brow;
2439 Thy Brutus bid me give it thee, and I
2440 Will do his bidding.—Brutus, come apace,
2441 And see how I regarded Caius Cassius.—
2442 By your leave, gods: this is a Roman's part:
2443 Come, Cassius' sword, and find Titinius' heart.
[Dies.]
[Alarum. Re-enter Messala, with Brutus, young Cato, Strato, Volumnius, and Lucilius.]
Marcus Brutus
2444 Where, where, Messala, doth his body lie?
Messala
2445 Lo, yonder, and Titinius mourning it.
Marcus Brutus
2446 Titinius' face is upward.
Young Cato
2447 He is slain.
Marcus Brutus
2448 O Julius Caesar, thou art mighty yet!
2449 Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords
2450 In our own proper entrails.
[Low alarums.]
Young Cato
2451 Brave Titinius!
2452 Look whether he have not crown'd dead Cassius!
Marcus Brutus
2453 Are yet two Romans living such as these?—
2454 The last of all the Romans, fare thee well!
2455 It is impossible that ever Rome
2456 Should breed thy fellow.—Friends, I owe more tears
2457 To this dead man than you shall see me pay.—
2458 I shall find time, Cassius, I shall find time.—
2459 Come therefore, and to Thassos send his body:
2460 His funerals shall not be in our camp,
2461 Lest it discomfort us.—Lucilius, come;—
2462 And come, young Cato;—let us to the field.—
2463 Labeo and Flavius, set our battles on:—
2464 'Tis three o'clock; and Romans, yet ere night
2465 We shall try fortune in a second fight.
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 2350syntax grammar
“Myself have to mine own turn'd enemy”
Cassius means he has turned against one of his own men: 'I have made myself the enemy of one of mine own.' He has just killed his own standard-bearer for retreating. The inverted syntax ('have to mine own turn'd') is typical Elizabethan placement of a past participle.
TLN 2351archaic vocab
“This ensign here of mine was turning back”
'Ensign' here means the soldier who carried the battle standard (flag), not the flag itself. Abandoning the standard in Roman military practice was a grave act of cowardice; Cassius killed this man and seized the standard to prevent the flight spreading to the rest of the army.
classical Plutarch's Lives (North's Translation)
TLN 2372historical topical
“This day I breathed first: time is come round, And where I did begin, there shall I end; My life is run his compass.”
Cassius says that today is his birthday, and he will die on the day he was born. 'Run his compass' means completed its full circle (a compass draws a circle back to its starting point). Plutarch records that the battle of Philippi was indeed fought on Cassius's birthday.
classical Plutarch's Lives (North's Translation)
TLN 2387historical topical
“In Parthia did I take thee prisoner”
Parthia was a powerful empire east of Rome, roughly modern-day Iran and Iraq. Roman campaigns against Parthia were frequent and often disastrous; the most famous defeat was Crassus at Carrhae (53 BC). Cassius served in that campaign as quaestor and actually rescued some survivors. Pindarus, taken as a prisoner of war there, became Cassius's slave.
TLN 2391historical topical
“Now be a freeman; and with this good sword, That ran through Caesar's bowels”
Cassius offers Pindarus his legal freedom (manumission) in exchange for killing him. Roman law required a formal act to free a slave; Cassius's word here is a deathbed grant of liberty. The detail that this is the same sword used to stab Caesar ties the death of Cassius back to the assassination, suggesting Caesar's ghost is taking its revenge through that weapon.
historical The antique Roman: honourable suicide
TLN 2395classical allusion
“Caesar, thou art revenged, Even with the sword that kill'd thee.”
Cassius addresses the dead Caesar directly, acknowledging that Caesar is being avenged by the very weapon that killed him. This is the first of a series of moments in Act 5 in which the conspirators recognize that Caesar's spirit is undoing them. Cassius, who organized the assassination, dies on the assassination's own sword.
classical Plutarch's Lives (North's Translation)
TLN 2442historical topical
“By your leave, gods: this is a Roman's part”
'A Roman's part' means the proper duty of a Roman: to die by one's own hand rather than be captured or survive in dishonor. Titinius asks the gods' permission before taking his own life -- a Roman gesture acknowledging that suicide requires divine sanction even while asserting it as a civic duty. This is the Stoic-Roman ideal of honorable self-killing.
historical The antique Roman: honourable suicidehistorical Cato the Younger
TLN 2448classical allusion
“O Julius Caesar, thou art mighty yet! Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords In our own proper entrails.”
Brutus acknowledges that Caesar's ghost is still at work, causing the conspirators to die by their own weapons. 'Walks abroad' means 'moves freely through the world.' 'Our own proper entrails' means 'our very own guts' -- 'proper' here is an intensifier, not a compliment. This fulfills the Ghost's promise to meet Brutus 'at Philippi' (4.3).
classical Plutarch's Lives (North's Translation)
TLN 2454historical topical
“The last of all the Romans, fare thee well! It is impossible that ever Rome Should breed thy fellow.”
Brutus's eulogy declares Cassius uniquely irreplaceable -- 'the last of all the Romans' in the tradition of civic virtue and republican courage. The phrase does not mean Cassius was the last Roman alive, but the last of a type: the incorruptible republican soldier. This is the highest compliment one Roman could pay another in the play's value system.
historical The antique Roman: honourable suicide