[I.145] he loves no plays. "In his house they did nothing but feast, dance, and masque; and himself passed away the time in hearing of foolish plays, and in marrying these players, tumblers, jesters, and such sort of people."—Plutarch, Marcus Antonius.
[I.146] The power of music is repeatedly celebrated by Shakespeare, and sometimes in strains that approximate the classical hyperboles about Orpheus, Amphion, and Arion. What is here said of Cassius has an apt commentary in The Merchant of Venice, V, 1, 83-85:
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils.
[I.147] This is one of the little touches of invention that so often impart a fact-like vividness to Shakespeare's scenes.
[I.148] Scene V Pope.
[I.149] sad. The word is used here probably in its early sense of 'weary' (as in Middle English) or 'resolute' (as in Chaucer and old Ballads). In 2 Henry IV, V, i, 92, is the expression "a jest with a sad brow," where 'sad' evidently means 'wise,' 'sage.'
[I.150] there was a crown offer'd him. In the Life of Marcus Antonius Plutarch gives a detailed and vivid description of this scene.
[I.151] a-shouting Dyce | a shouting Ff | a' shouting Capell.