Abstract

N the First Folio text of Julius Caesar, two episodes have speech-tags materially different from those elsewhere in the * ; I q 4 play. Bibliographical evidence indicates that these variants were derived from printers' copy and that their presence in * f t the copy may have stemmed from revision. Other evidence not only makes revision likely but suggests rewriting of a significant kind. Hence, if the result is tenable, a study of accidentals in the text opens the way to value judgments upon Shakespeare's art and its development. Although inquiry will extend slightly beyond them, the two points of speechtag variance are II. i. 86-228 and IV. iii. I29-i66. Since the passage in Act IV contains a long-suspected revision I shall deal with it first, and in doing so shall try to clarify the relationship of speech-headings to the history of a text. Thus, a covering of familiar ground in Act IV will prepare for the unfamiliar and more difficult question of revision in Act II.

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