The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Cæsar

by William Shakespeare

[V.136] He only, in | He, onely in Ff.

[V.137] general ... And Ff | generous.... Of Craik.

[V.138] This refers to the old doctrine of the four elements, earth, water, air, and fire, a right proportion of which was supposed to be the principle of all excellence in nature. Shakespeare has many allusions to the doctrine, which was a commonplace of the sixteenth century. It is this common property in the idea which invalidates the importance of the argument for the date of Julius Cæsar drawn from a similar passage in Drayton's revised version of his Mortimeriados (1596-1597) published in 1603 under the title of The Barons' Wars.

[V.139] With all F₃F₄ | Withall F₁F₂.

[V.140] Most like a soldier. Cf. with these words of Octavius the speech of Fortinbras with which Hamlet closes:

Let four captains

Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage;

For he was likely, had he been put on,

To have prov'd most royally.

[V.141] ordered Ff | order'd Pope.