Se feit impudemment eslever un image
Entre les Rois, aussi il a eu le loyer
Par une mesme main qu’eut Tarquin le dernier.”
(Lines 1017 ff.)
[117]. There is no doubt that Pescetti found in Muretus the hints for some of Brutus’ speeches, but his loans from his predecessor do not affect the argument.
[118]. But, as usual, Pescetti fails to take full advantage of this motif. During the wordy progress of the drama we lose sight of Antony, and only a few lines at the end suggest him as the Nemesis of the conspirators.
[119]. See section on Portia.
[120]. In regard to Antony and the Popilius Lena episode.
[121]. In Muretus she has no place in the action. Brutus refers to her in his soliloquy: Act II., lines 107 ff.
Brutus— “. . . Haec parum si te movent,
Tua jam, vir ut sis, te satis conjux monet,
Fidem cruore quae tibi obstrinxit suam,
Testata sic se avunculi prolem tui.
Si ab exequendis te avocat coeptis timor,
Animusque pigro torpet ignavus gelu,
Ex femina perdisce, quid deceat virum.”