He said he was cast for a part in Julius Caesar, for that night, and if I should come I would see him.

IF I should come! I said I wouldn't miss it if I were dead.
I went away stupefied with astonishment, and saying to myself, 'How strange it is! WE always thought this fellow a fool; yet the moment he comes to a great city, where intelligence and appreciation abound, the talent concealed in this shabby napkin is at once discovered, and promptly welcomed and honored.' But I came away from the theater that night disappointed and offended; for I had had no glimpse of my hero, and his name was not in the bills.
I met him on the street the next morning, and before I could speak, he asked-- 'Did you see me ?' 'No, you weren't there.' He looked surprised and disappointed.

He said-- 'Yes, I was.

Indeed I was.

I was a Roman soldier.' 'Which one ?' 'Why didn't you see them Roman soldiers that stood back there in a rank, and sometimes marched in procession around the stage ?' 'Do you mean the Roman army ?--those six sandaled roustabouts in nightshirts, with tin shields and helmets, that marched around treading on each other's heels, in charge of a spider-legged consumptive dressed like themselves ?' 'That's it! that's it! I was one of them Roman soldiers.