From jigging veins of rhyming mother wits,
And such conceits as clownage keeps in pay.
[IV.90] 'Companion' was often used contemptuously. Cf. Coriolanus, IV, v, 14; V, ii, 65. Cf. the way 'fellow' is often used to-day.
[IV.91] Scene IV Pope.
[IV.92] Enter Lucil. and Titin. Rowe.
[IV.93] [Exeunt ...] Rowe | Ff omit.
[IV.94] [Exit Lucius] Capell | Ff omit.
[IV.95] In his philosophy, Brutus was a mixture of the Stoic and the Platonist. What he says of Portia's death is among the best things in the play, and is in Shakespeare's noblest style. Profound emotion expresses itself with reserve. Deep grief loves not many words.
[IV.96] Strict harmony of construction would require 'impatience' for 'impatient' here, or 'griev'd' for 'grief' in the next line. Shakespeare is not very particular in such niceties. Besides, the broken construction expresses dramatically the deep emotion of the speaker.
[IV.97] distract: distracted. So in Hamlet, IV, v, 2. 'Distraught' is the form in Romeo and Juliet, IV, iii, 49. For the dropping of the terminal -ed of the participle in verbs ending in t or te, see Abbott, § 342.