The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Cæsar

by William Shakespeare

[I.226] roars | roares F₁ | teares F₂.

[I.227] This reads as if a lion were kept in the Capitol. But the meaning probably is that Cæsar roars in the Capitol, like a lion. Perhaps Cassius has the idea of Cæsar's claiming or aspiring to be among men what the lion is among beasts. Dr. Wright suggests that Shakespeare had in mind the lions kept in the Tower of London, "which there is reason to believe from indications in the play represented the Capitol to Shakespeare's mind." It is possible, too, that we have here a reference to the lion described by Casca in [ll. 20-22].

[I.228] prodigious: portentous. As in A Midsummer Night's Dream, V, i, 419: "Never mole, hare lip, nor scar, Nor mark prodigious."

[I.229] l. 79 Two lines in Ff.

[I.230] Let it be who it is: "no matter who it is."—Clar.

[I.231] thews | Thewes F₁F₂ | Sinews F₃F₄.

[I.232] thews: muscles. So in Hamlet, I, iii, 12, and 2 Henry IV, III, ii, 276. In Chaucer and Middle English the word means 'manners,' though in Layamon's Brut (l. 6361), in the singular, it seems to mean 'sinew' or 'strength.' See Skeat for a suggestive discussion.

[I.233] with: by. So in [III, ii, 196]. See Abbott, § 193.

[I.234] Can repress by force man's energy of soul.

[I.235] bondman. The word 'cancel' in the next line shows that Casca plays on the two senses of 'bond.' Cf. Cymbeline, V, iv, 28.