The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-07
A GREAT WEEK IN PLAYLAND.
NOTABLE PRODUCTIONS BY MANS
FIELD AND BELASCO.
The Revival 81 Julius CRsar'-Mans.
neid's Conception OF Brutus-"1he
DARLING Of the Gods" Takes the
Town by storm-Nat Goodwtn's Play

nelds (OnceptIOn Ot DTutus iur
DARLING OF the Gods" Takes the
Town BY storm--Nat Goodwin's Play
Il am willing to believe that in frame, as
in other things. he Shakespeare belonged
10 his great generation and his great age;
that with him. as with Rabelais, Titan.
Michel Angelo and Rubens, the solid!,y Of
the muscles was a counterpoise to the sem
sibility Of the nerves; that in those davs the
human machine more severely tried and
more firmly constructed, could withstand
the storms of pas ion and the fire Of insptra-
ton that soul and body were still at equi-
librium; that genius was then a blossom
and not. as now. disease.
Thus Taine, In passage that forestalis
Lombroeo and the rest OF the genius
hating tribe Of pseudo-psychologic medi-
ocrities. And he, with his usual omni-
science. calmly puts his judicial finger on
the exact spot which ails modern men OF
genius II was the fine equipoise OF mental
and physical health that enabled the drama
tist Of dramatists TO create such fearful ana
wonderful shapes Of tragic beauty. he had
the sanity that his great predecessor Mar
lowe lacked; he had the fierce flame OF pas
sion that his great contemporary. Ben JON
sor. needed 70 make him the peer OF Shake
speare.
Yet the sacred fount did not always well
I'D at the bidding of this magician. His
JULIUS CG,o is. as GeoIg Brandes truth
fully deslues. "a miserable alicature'
Ha7 lit say. Of the charaoteri We do not
ad-,ie the representation here OF julius
Ca a., nor do we think it answers to the
nor,rai, zen in his commentaries. He
makes re eral vapou ing and ather pedfn'
tic spec hes. and does nothing In'eed' ne
his noth!n, 10 DO" Shakespeare al a ed
his Crsdr tina, his Brutus might be all me
greater. 1t was an excellent dramatic ex.
pedient. but il is very indiiiei ent history
-CGsdr was the pun est and most Attic
writer Of his country, and there Is no trace
OF intenperance, in thought OF expI etsion'
TIN ouehout the whole series OF his hoetili.ies'
He was the most generous Trend ne was
the most pa able enemy, he rose WIN
moderation. and he fell with dignity'
With such an apologist as Waiter savage
Iandor the cause Of CGscr il in safe hands
This grand old man and writer bel etes
Lord Brougham for speaking contempt
uously Of the great conqueror. tdsor.
he cries. must be stripped Of all his iaiIels
and left bald; some rude soldier WIN be-
nocking gestures must be thrust before
his triumph II lie fights he does not know
how 10 hold his sword; ii he speaks he
speaks vile Latin
-rM C1sdr, ibi Roma exclains d.
Quincy. quoting 'he ola maxim OF Roman
i,,isn,uderce. Rome has not been re-
peated neither has CGsdr. But 1t Is
Brandes who is loudest in defence. He
even holds out as testimony against The
Baconiqn fantasts the fact that Shakes
peare so misIepfesented Caesar,
This play is obviously Written by man
whose learning was in no sense on level
with his genius, so that It's faults. no less
than it's mel its, afford proof, however
superfu1us, that Shakespeare was him
self the author Of Shakespeare's works.
Here is war carried into the enemy's camp
with n vengeance, BrarCes believes that
-Julius Cesar was composed during the
even,ful ii nes Of the tssex and South
ampton conspiracy against Elizabeth, and
written With the picture Of their ill-starTed
attempt in his minds eye.
Chalmers and Malone set down the date
81 the actual composition Of 'Jrlius esar'
a. 1877. But Sidney Lee and B andes say
1871, the year before Hamlet appeared.
So Is il that the resemblances between
the character Of the antique fatidical con-
s2ira,Or and the Prince of Dreame $ are
too marked TO be overlooked. Goethe
has said 1only the man OF reflection has
a Conscience and both Brutns and Hamlet
are men of reflection bookish men. dreamers
Of schemes for the general and particular
81. @tl II
the two temper amentslly linked. Taey
both had in common the faculty-or DIS
eas,--of seeing visions. shadowy apparl-
tlons--the awful projection of the human
con science," as ID Quincy names It. There
was metaphysics mixed in the numbering
of Cdslr by Brutus, and Hamlet being
c tristan. had not the cruelty to send
b, llwaids his uncle's soul unshrived.
However. apart from the injustice done
u q sdr by the dramatist, there is enough
IA tn. accounts of the men TO be found
In Suetonius to have colored Shakespeare q
prejudccs. He calls him in another play
"a thrasonical braggart" b, cause Of the
! famous Veni, Iidi, Vici. He makes him a
s.pcrsttious weakliny contrary to the
express words of Sletonius: No re-
| ligous feare OF divine prodigies could ever
| fray him from any enterprise or stay him
| If II were once in hand" (iolland's trans
| lation) II is to Plutarch We must go for
! the source OF tho misconception. Plutarch
who despised Latin glory, Latir. literature
the latter he never took the pains to read
| in the vernacular; Plutarch who exalted
| Greece and the Greeks above all the world
Now, Shakespeare used North's version OF
| Plutarch TRANSLATED from the French Of
AmycO, which appeared in 1879. The re-
suit was as might be expected.
Suetonius had no love for C1iIs Juiu,
! Ca ar, as any SOCIOLOGY knows who has
been punished for translating too literally
the lines which begin,
| "Gagids casa, ,uo,cf,, Nieomedes Casdrem"
| Voltaire made a mess OF Shakespeare
| Cdsar in his tragedy La Mort de Cesar,
which, as Prof. Lounsbury tells us, was
, written az early as 1871 and presented
| In 1875 az tho College Of Harcourt and in
i7,3 at Paris. He initiates the English
bard in the scene where Brutus and CGsd,
address the populace. Last. but by nc
means least, that incorrigibe satirist who
tells unpalatable truths behind his smiling
Celtic mask. George Bernard Shaw, has
shown in his brilliant and delightful play
| -CRsar and Cleopatra,' very vital Dor.