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