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Letter: Shakespearean tilt

Published 25 April 1998

From D. A. Latter

Shakespeare knew all about the annual tilt of the Earth
(Feedback, 4 April).
In Julius Caesar (Act 2, Scene 1), he writes:

Decius Brutus: Here lies the east: doth not the day break here?

Casca: No

Cinna: O, pardon, sir, it doth; and yon grey lines

That fret the clouds are messengers of day.

Casca: You shall confess that you are both deceived.

Here, as I point my sword, the sun arises,

Which is a great way growing on the south,

Weighing the youthful season of the year.

Some two months hence up higher towards the north

He first present his fire; and the high east

Stands, as the Capitol, directly here.

Farnham, Surrey

Issue no. 2131 published 25 April 1998

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