This Iulius to the Capitolie wente

Upon a day, as he was wont to goon,[6]

xv

And in the Capitolie anon him hente[7]

This false Brutus, and his othere foon[8]

And stikede him with boydekins[9] anoon

With many a wounde, and thus they lete him lye;

But never gronte[10] he at no strook but oon,

Or elles at two, but if[11] his storie lye.

The Monkes Tale, ll. 715-718. (Skeat's Chaucer.)

This literary and popular tradition is followed in Hamlet, III, ii, 107-111:

Hamlet. What did you enact?

Hamlet.

Polonius. I did enact Julius Cæsar: I was kill'd i' the Capitol: Brutus kill'd me.

Polonius.

Hamlet. It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a calf there.

Hamlet.

So also in Antony and Cleopatra:

Since Julius Cæsar,

Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted,

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