Non senza gran cagion stamane uscito
Si per tempo di casa è il mio consorte.—Ces., p. 28.
In Shakespeare we read:
Portia— ... You’ve ungently, Brutus,
Stole from my bed.
Plutarch says: “So when the day was come, Brutus went out of his house with a dagger by his side under his long gown, that nobody saw nor knew but his wife only.” (Marcus Brutus, p. 116.) Thus, according to the biographer, the conspiracy had been perfected days before and Portia by this time evidently knew of it.
Neither is there any warrant in the histories for Portia’s prayer for Brutus:
“O Brutus,
The heavens speed thee in thine enterprise!”—Act II., Sc. IV.
Similarly, in Pescetti, Portia’s last words are a blessing on Brutus:
“Và, che ti scorga, e ti difenda Giove.”—P. 58.