Makes me forgetful?
Bru. Yes, Cassius; and, from henceforth,
When you are over-earnest with your Brutus.
He’ll think your mother chides, and leave you so.
A few words of introduction are first necessary. We should understand the play as a whole, and be conversant with the events that lead up to this particular scene; further, we should bear in mind the tense, splenetic character of Cassius, and the calm, controlled, stoical disposition of Brutus.
l. 1.—In Scene 2 we get the keynote to Cassius’ manner. He is so full of his supposed wrong that he pays no heed to the surroundings, and bluntly plunges into the matter in hand. Brutus restrains him, and together they move to the former’s tent. No sooner do they enter than again Cassius bursts forth.
l. 4.—Cassius is piqued that his letters should have failed to shield Lucius Pella from the punishment for his wrongdoing.
l. 5.—Subordinate and explanatory.
l. 6.—Brutus’s answer is simple and direct, yet without feeling.
l. 8.—Nice is equivalent to unimportant, small. There is a touch of contempt in this speech.