Impedisce sovente i suoi disegni.”—P. 49.
There is no historical warrant for Portia’s contemplated suicide at this time. In both dramas Brutus’ reply is the same in content:
“Do not defraud the world of thy rare worth,
But of thy Brutus the remembrance love;
From this fair prison strive not to breake forth,
Till first the fates have forc’d thee to remove.”—P. 269.
In Pescetti, Brutus says:
“Ma che accidente pensi tu, che possa
Addivenir, ch’armar contra te stessa
Le man ti stringa, e innanzi tempo l’alma