I saw Mark Antony offer him a crown; and, as I told you, he put it by once; but, for all that, to my thinking, he would fain have had it. Then he offered it to him again. Then he put it by again; but, to my thinking, he was very loth to lay his fingers off it. And then he offered it the third time; he put it the third time by; and still, as he refused it, the rabblement hooted, and clapped their chopped hands, and threw up their sweaty night-caps, and uttered such a deal of stinking breath because Cæsar refused the crown, that it had almost choked Cæsar; for he swooned and fell down at it: And, for mine own part, I durst not laugh, for fear of opening my lips, and receiving the bad air. [Goes R.
Cas. [R. c.] But soft, I pray you! What! Did Cæsar swoon?
Casca. [R.] He fell down in the market-place, and foamed at mouth, and was speechless. Bru. [L. C.] 'Tis very like; he hath the falling sickness.
Cas. No, Cæsar hath it not; but you, and I, And honest Casca, we've the falling sickness.
Casca. I know not what you mean by that; but I am sure Cæsar fell down. If the tag-rag people did not clap him, and hiss him, according as he pleased and displeased them, as they used to do the players in the theatre, I am no true man. Bru. What said he when he came unto himself?
Casca. [goes to BRUTUS.] Marry, before he fell down, when he perceived the common herd was glad he refuse 1 the crown, he plucked me ope his doublet, and ofered them his throat to cut. An' I had been a man of any occupation, if I would not have taken him at a word, I would I might go to hell among the rogues:-and so he fell. When he came to himself again, he said, If he had done or said anything amiss, he desired their worships to think it was his infirmity. Three or four wenches, where I stood, cried, "Alas, good soul!" and forgave him with all their hearts: But there's no heed to be taken of them; if Cæsar had stabbed their mothers, they would have done no less.
Bru. And after that he came thus sad away? Casca. Aye.
Cas. Did Cicero say anything? Casca. Aye, he spoke Greek. Cas. To what effect?
Casca. Nay, an' I tell you that, I'll ne'er look you i' the face again: But those that understood him smiled at one another, and shook their heads; but for mine own part, it was Greek to me. Fare you well. There was more foolery yet, if I could remember it. [Going L. Cas. Will you sup with me to-night, Casca ? Casca. [L.] No; I am promised forth. Cas. Will you dine with me to-morrow? Casca. Aye; if I be alive, and your mind hold, and your dinner worth the eating.
Cas. Good; I will expect you. Casca. Do so: Farewell both.
Bru. [L. C.] What a blunt fellow is this grown to be! He was quick mettle when he went to school. Cas. [c.] So he is now, in execution
Of any bold or noble enterprise, However he puts on this tardy form. This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit, Which gives men stomach to digest his words With better appetite.
Bru. And so it is. For this time I will leave you.
To-morrow, if you please to speak with me, I will come home to you; or, if you will, Come home to me, and I will wait for you. Cas. [c.] I will do so.
Bru. [R. c.] Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this:
Brutus had rather be a villager, Than to repute himself a son of Rome Under these hard conditions as this time Is like to lay upon us. Fare you well. Cas. [c.] Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see, Thy honorable metal may be wrought From that it is disposed: Therefore 'tis meet That noble minds keep ever with their likes: For who so firm that cannot be seduced? Cæsar doth bear me hard; but he loves Brutus : If I were Brutus, now, and he were Cassius, He should not humor me. I will this night, In several hands, in at his windows throw, As if they came from several citizens, Writings all tending to the great opinion That Rome holds of his name: wherein obscurely Cæsar's ambition shall be glanced at: And, after this, let Cæsar seat him sure; For we will shake him, or worse days endure. [Exit L.
SCENE I.-Rome. A Street. Thunder and Light- ning. Enter CASSIUS, R., meeting CASCA, L. Cas. [R.] Who's there? Casca. [L.] A Roman. Cas. [c.] Casca, by your voice
Casca. [c.] Cassius, what night is this? Cas. A very pleasing night to honest men. Casca. Whoever knew the heavens menace so? Cas. Those that have known the earth so full
Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man Most like this dreadful night,
That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars As doth the lion in the capitol:
A man no mightier than thyself, or me, In personal action, yet prodigious grown, And fearful, as these strange eruptions are. Casca. "Tis Cæsar that you mean; is it not, Cassius?
Cas. Let it be who it is; for Romans now Have thewes and limbs like to their ancestors; But, woe the while! our fathers' minds are dead, And we are governed with our mothers' spirits; Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish.
Casca. Indeed, they say the senators to-morrow Mean to establish Cæsar as a king; And he shall wear his crown by sea and land, In every place, save here in Italy.
Cas. I know where I will wear this dagger, then; Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius! If I know this, know all the world besides, That part of tyranny that I do bear, I can shake off at pleasure. Casca. So can I:
So every bondman in his own hand bears The power to cancel his captivity.
Cas. And why should Cæsar be a tyrant, then? Poor man! I know he would not be a wolf, But that he sees the Romans are but sheep: He were no lion, were not Romans hinds. Those that with haste will make a mighty fire,
Begin it with weak straws: What trash is SCENE II.-Rome.
What rubbish, and what offal, when it serves For the base matter to illuminate
So vile a thing as Cæsar! But, oh, grief, Where hast thou led me! I, perhaps, speak this Before a willing bondman; then, I know, My answer must be made. But I am armed, And dangers are to me indifferent.
Casca. You speak to Casca; and to such a
That is no fleering tell-tale. Hold my hand: Be factious for redress of all these griefs; And I will set this foot of mine as far
As who goes farthest.
Cas. There's a bargain made.
Now, know you, Casca, I have moved already Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans
To undergo, with me, an enterprise
Of honorable, dangerous consequence: And I do know, by this, they stay for me
In Pompey's porch: [Thunder and lightning. For now, this fearful night,
There is no stir or walking in the streets; And the complexion of the element
Is favored, like the work we have in hand, Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible.
[Going R. Casca. Stand close awhile; for. here comes one in haste.
Cas. 'Tis Cinna; I do know him by his gait; He is a friend.
Enter CINNA, L.
Cinna, where haste you so?
and lightning. Enter BRUTUS, R. s. E. Bru. [c.] What, Lucius! ho!-
I cannot, by the progress of the stars, Give guess how near to-day. Lucius, I say! I would it were my fault to sleep so soundly. When, Lucius, when? Awake, I say! What, Lucius! Enter LUCIUS, R. S. E.
Luc. Called you, my lord?
Bru. Get me a taper in my study, Lucius; When it is lighted, come and call me here. Luc. I will, my lord. [Exit R. S. E.
Bru. [pausing c.] It must be by his death; and for my part,
I know no personal cause to spurn at him, But for the general. [Lightning during the whole of this speech.] He would be crowned:
How that might change his nature, there's the question.
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder; And that craves wary walking. Crown him?— That;-
And then, I grant, we put a sting in him, That, at his will, he may do danger with. The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins Remorse from power: And to speak truth of Cæsar, I have not known when his affections swayed More than his reason. But 'tis a common proof That lowliness is young ambition's ladder, Whereto the climber upward turns his face; But, when he once attains the upmost round, He then unto the ladder turns his back, Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
Cinna. [L. c.] To find out you. Who's that? By which he did ascend: So Cæsar may;
Cas. Am I not stayed for? Tell me. Cinna. Yes,
You are. Oh, Cassius, if you could but win The noble Brutus to our party-
Cas. Be you content. Good Cinna, take this paper,
And, look you, lay it in the prætor's chair, Where Brutus may but find it: and throw this In at his window: set this up with wax Upon old Brutus' statue; all this done,
Repair to Pompey's porch, where you shall find us. Is Decius and Trebonius there?
Cinna. All but Metullus Cimber; and he's gone To seek you at your house. Well, I will hie, And so bestow these papers as you bade me.
Cas. That done, repair to Pompey's theatre. [Exit CINNA, R. Come, Casca, you and I will yet, ere day, See Brutus at his house; three parts of him Is ours already; and the man entire, Upon the next encounter, yields him ours. Casca. Oh, he sits high in all the people's hearts: And that which would appear offense in us, His countenance. like richest alchemy, Will change to virtue and to worthiness.
Cas. Him, and his worth, and our great need of him,
You have right well conceited. Let us go; For it is after midnight; and, ere day, We will awake him, and be sure of him.
[Thunder and lightning. Exeunt L.
Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel Will bear no color for the thing he is,
Fashion it thus; that what he is, augmented, Would run to these, and these extremities: And therefore think him as a serpent's egg, Which, hatched, would, as his kind, grow mis- chievous,
And kill him in the shell.
Enter LUCIUS, r.
Luc. The taper burneth in your closet, sir. Searching the window for a flint, I found This paper, thus sealed up; and, I am sure, It did not lie there when I went to bed.
Bru. Get you to bed again; it is not day. Is not to-morrow, boy, the Ides of March? Luc. I know not, sir.
Bru. Look in the calendar, and bring me word. [Lightning. Exit LUCIUS, R. The exhalations, whizzing in the air, Give so much light, that I may read by them. [Opens the paper, holds up, and reads. "Brutus, thou sleep'st; awake and see thyself, Shall Rome, &c. Speak, strike, redress! Brutus, thou sleep'st; awake"-
Such instigations have been often dropped Where I have took them up.
"Shall Rome, &c." Thus must I piece it out:- Shall Rome stand under one man's awe? What? Rome!
My ancestors did from the streets of Rome The Tarquin drive, when he was called a king. Speak, strike, redress!" Am I entreated then To speak and strike? Oh, Rome? I make thee
If the redress will follow, thou receivest Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus.
Luc. Sir, March is wasted fourteen days. Bru. "Tis good. [Knocking without, L. Go to the gate; somebody knocks. [Exit LUCIUS, L. Since Cassius first
Did whet me against Cæsar, I've not slept. Between the acting of a dreadful thing And the first motion, all the interim is Like a phantasma or a hideous dream; The genius and the mortal instruments Are then in counsel; and the state of man, Like to a little kingdom, suffers then The nature of an insurrection.
Some two months hence up higher towards the north He first presents his fire; and the high east Stands, as the Capitol, directly here.
[BRUTUS and CASSIUS come forward. Bru. Give me your hands all over, one by one. Cas. And let us swear our resolution.
Bru. [c.] No, not an oath; if not the faiths of men The sufferance of our souls, the times' abuse- If these be motives weak, break off betimes, And every man hence to his idle bed; So, let high-sighted tyranny range on, Till each man drop by lottery. But if these, As I am sure they do, bear fire enough
To kindle cowards, and to steel with valor The melting spirits of women, then, countrymen,
Luc. Sir, 'tis your brother Cassius at the door, What need we any spur but our own cause Who doth desire to see you.
Hide it in smiles and affability;
For if thou put thy native semblance on, Not Erebus itself were dim enough
To hide thee from prevention.
Enter CASSIUS, L., followed by TREBONIUS, DECIUS, CASCA, CINNA and METELLUS, with their faces muffled in their gowns.
Cas. [crossing R.] I think we are too bold upon your rest:
Good morrow, Brutus. Do we trouble you?
Bru. I have been up this hour-awake all night. Know I these men that come along with you? Cas. [R. Yes, every man of them; and no man here
But honors you; and every one doth wish You had but that opinion of yourself Which every noble Roman bears of you. This is Trebonius. [c.]
[They all uncover their faces. Bru. [R. c.] He is welcome hither.
Cas. [c.] This, Decius.
Bru. [c.] He is welcome, too.
Cas. This, Casca; this, Cinna;
And this, Metellus Cimber.
Bru. [L. c.] They're all welcome. What watchful cares do interpose themselves Betwixt your eyes and night!
Cas. Shall I entreat a word? [BRUTUS and CASSIUS retire back and talk apart. Dec. [R.] Here lies the east; doth not the day break here?
Tre. Oh, pardon, sir, it doth; and yon gray lines That fret the clouds are messengers of day. Casca. [R. C.] You shall confess that you are both deceived.
Here, as I point my hand the sun arises; Which is a great way growing on the south, Weighing this youthful season of the year.
To pick us to redress?
Unto bad causes swear
Such creatures as men doubt; but do not stain The even virtue of our enterprise,
Nor the insuppressive mettle of our spirits.
To think that or our cause or our performance Did need an oath, when every drop of blood That every Roman bears, and nobly bears, Is guilty of a several bastardy
If he do break the smallest particle
Of any promise that hath passed from him. [Goes L. Cas. [R. c.] But what of Cicero? Shall we sound him?
I think he will stand very strong with us. Met. Let us not leave him out.
Cinna. [R.] No, by no means.
Tre. [R.] Oh, let us have him; for his silver hairs
Will purchase us a good opinion,
And buy men's voices to commend our deeds. Bru. [returns, L.] Oh, name him not; let us not break with him,
For he will never follow anything That other men begin.
Cas. Then leave him out. Casca. Indeed, he is not fit.
Dec. Shall no man else be touched but only Cæsar?
Cas. Decius, well urged. I think it is not meet Mark Antony, so well beloved of Cæsar, Should outlive Cæsar. We shall find of him A shrewd contriver; and, you know, his means, If he improves them, may well stretch so far As to annoy us all; which to prevent, Let Antony and Cæsar fall together.
Bru. [c.] Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius,
To cut the head off and then hack the limbs, Like wrath in death and envy afterwards. Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius. We all stand up against the spirit of Cæsar, And in the spirit of men there is no blood. Oh that we then could come by Cæsar's spirit, And not dismember Cæsar! But, alas, Cæsar must bleed for it! And, gentle friends, Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully; Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods, Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds. And for Mark Antony, think not of him; For he can do no more than Cæsar's arm, When Cæsar's head is off.
Cas. Yet I do fear him;
For in the engrafted love he bears to Cæsar- Casca. There is no fear in him; let him not die; For he will live, and laugh at this hereafter.
Bru. Peace! count the clock.
Cas. The clock hath stricken three. Tre. 'Tis time to part.
Cas. But it is doubtful yet
[Clock strikes. And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air To add unto his sickness? No, my Brutus; You have some sick offense within your mind, Which, by the right and virtue of my place,
Whe'r Cæsar will come forth to-day or no; For he is superstitious grown of late, Quite from the main opinion he held once Of fantasy, of dreams and ceremonies. It may be these apparent prodigies, The unaccustomed terror of this night, And the persuasion of his augurers, May hold him from the Capitol to-day.
Dcc. [R. C.] Never fear that. If he be so resolved I can o'ersway him; for he loves to hear That unicorns may be betrayed with trees, Lions with toils, and men with flatterers. But, when I tell him he hates flatterers, He says he does-being then most flattered. Let me work-
For I can give his humor the true bent- And I will bring him to the Capitol.
Cas. Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him. Bru. By the eighth hour. Is that the uttermost? Casca. [L. c.] Be that the uttermost, and fail not then.
Tre. Caius Ligarius doth bear Cæsar hard, Who rated him for speaking well of Pompey. I wonder none of you have thought of him.
Bru. Now, good Trebonius, go along by him; He loves me well, and I have given him reasons; Send him but hither, and I'll fashion him.
Cas. [L.] The morning comes upon us; we'll leave you, Brutus ;
And, friends, disperse yourselves; but all remember What you have said, and show yourselves true Romans.
Bru. Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily. Let not our looks put out our purposes; But bear it, as our Roman actors do, With untired spirits and formal constancy; And so, good morrow to you every one. [Exeunt L., all but BRUTUS, muffling their faces in their gowns again.
Enter PORTIA, R., as they are taking leave of BRUTUS.
Bru. [R.] Portia, what mean you? Wherefore rise you now?
It is not for your health thus to commit Your weak condition to the raw, cold morning. Por. [c.] Nor for yours, either. You've un- gently, Brutus, [BRUTUS goes to her. Stole from my bed; and yesternight, at supper, You suddenly arose, and walked about, Musing and sighing, with your arms across; And, when I asked you what the matter was, You stared upon me with ungentle looks, And, with an angry wafture of your hand, Gave sign for me to leave you. So I did, Fearing to strengthen that impatience Which seemed too much enkindled. Dear my lord, Make me acquainted with your cause of grief. Bru. [goes R.] I am not well in health, and that is all.
Por. Brutus is wise, and, were he not in health, He would embrace the means to come by it. Bru. [returns, c.] Why, so I do. Good Por- tia, go to bed.
And will he steal out of his wholesome bed,
I ought to know of: And, upon my knees, [Kneels, I charm you, by my once commended beauty, By all your vows of love, and that great vow Which did incorporate and make us one, That you unfold to me, yourself, your half, Why you are heavy: and what men to-night Have had resort to you; for here have been Some six or seven, who did hide their faces Even from darkness.
Bru. [raising her.] Kneel not, gentle Portia. Por. Ishould not need, if you were gentle, Brutus. Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus, Is it excepted I should know no secrets That appertain to you? Am I yourself, But, as it were, in sort, or limitation; To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed, And talk to you sometimes? Dwell I but in the suburbs
Of your good pleasure? If it be no more, Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife. [Goes R. C. Bru. [c.] You are my true and honorable wife: As dear to me as are the ruddy drops That visit my sad heart.
[Embraces her. Por. If this were true, then should I know this
I grant I am a woman: but, withal, A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife: I grant I am a woman; but, withal, A woman well reputed; Cato's daughter; Think you I am no stronger than my sex, Being so fathered and so husbanded? Tell me your counsels. I will not disclose them: I have made strong proof of my constancy, Giving myself a voluntary wound
Here, in the thigh: Can I bear that with patience, And not my husband's secrets?
Came smiling, and did bathe their hands in it. These she applies for evils imminent;
Cal. [c.] What mean you, Cæsar? Think you And on her knee
You shall not stir out of your house to-day. Cæsar. Cæsar shall forth: The things that threatened me
Ne'er looked but on my back; when they shall see The face of Cæsar, they are vanished.
Cal. Cæsar, I never stood on ceremonies, Yet now they fright me. There is one within, Recounts most horrid visions seen to-night: Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds, Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol: The noise of battle hurtled in the air,
And ghosts did shriek and gibber in the streets. Oh, Cæsar! these things are beyond all use, And I do fear them.
Cæsar. [c.] What can be avoided, Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods? Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
Hath begged that I will stay at home to-day. Dec. This dream is all amiss interpreted; It was a vision fair and fortunate: Your statue spouting blood in many pipes, In which so many smiling Romans bathed, Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck Reviving blood; and that great men shall press To you for tinctures, stains, and cognizance: This by Calphurnia's dream is signified.
Cæsar. And this way have you well expounded it. Dec. I have, when you have heard what I can say; And know it now: The senate have concluded To give, this day, a crown to mighty Cæsar. If you shall send them word you will not come, Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock Apt to be rendered, for some one to say "Break up the senate till another time, When Cæsar's wife shall meet with better dreams." If Cæsar hide himself, shall they not whisper,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear: "Lo, Cæsar is afraid"? Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
Enter FLAVIUS, R.
Fla. They would not have you to stir forth to-day: Plucking the entrails of an offering forth, They could not find a heart within the beast. Cæsar. [R. C.] The gods do this in shame of cowardice. [Exit FLAVIUS, R. Cæsar should be a beast without a heart, If he should stay at home to-day for fear: No; Cæsar shall go forth.
Cal. [L. C.] Alas, my lord!
Your wisdom is consumed in confidence.
Do not go forth to-day. Call it my fear
That keeps you in the house, and not your own: We'll send Mark Antony to the senate-house; And he shall say you are not well to-day: Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.
Cæsar. Mark Antony shall say I am not well: And, for thy humor, I will stay at home. Enter DECIUS, R.
Here's Decius; he shall go and tell them so. Dec. [R. C.] Cæsar, all hail! Good morrow, worthy Cæsar:
I come to fetch you to the senate-house.
Cæsar. And you are come in very happy time To bear my greeting to the senators, And tell them that I will not come to-day: Cannot, is false! and that I dare not, falser; I will not come to-day: Tell them so, Decius. Cal. Say he is sick.
Cæsar. Shall Cæsar send a lie?
Have I in conquest stretched mine arm so far, To be afeard to tell gray-beards the truth? Decius, go tell them Cæsar will not come.
Dec. Most mighty Cæsar, let me know some cause, Lest I be laughed at when I tell them so. Cæsar. The cause is in my will. I will not come: That is enough to satisfy the senate; But, for your private satisfaction, Because I love you, I will let you know. Calphurnia here, my wife, stays me at home. She dreamt to-night she saw my statue, Which, like a fountain with a hundred spouts, Did run pure blood; and many lusty Romans
Pardon me, Cæsar; for my dear, dear love To your proceeding, bids me tell you this; And reason to my love is liable.
Cæsar. How foolish do your fears seem now, Calphurnia!--
I am ashamed that I did yield to them— And look, where other friends are come to fetch me. [Exit CALPHURNIA, L. Enter CASCA and BRUTUS, r.
Casca. Good morrow, Cæsar. Cæsar. Welcome, Publius Casca. What, Brutus, are you stirred so early, too? I thank you for your pains and courtesy. Enter ANTONY, L.
See! Antony, that revels long o' nights, Is, notwithstanding, up. Good morrow, Antony. Ant. So to most noble Cæsar. Cæsar. Bid them prepare within;
I am to blame to be thus waited for. Enter CINNA, METELLUS, and TREBONIUS, R. Now, Cinna-now, Metellus-what, Trebonius ? I have an hour's talk in store for you: Be near me that I may remember you.
Tre. Cæsar, I will:-[Aside.]-And so near will I be,
That your best friends shall wish I had been further.
Cæsar. [L.] Good friends, go in and taste some wine with me;
And we, like friends, will straightway go together. [Exeunt all but BRUTUS, L. Bru. [R.] That every like is not the same, O Cæsar,
The heart of Brutus yearns to think upon.
ACT III. SCENE I.-Rome. A Street near the Capitol. Enter the SOOTHSAYER, R., reading a Scroll. Sooth. "Cæsar, beware of Brutus; take heed of Cassius; come not near Casca; have an eye to Cinna; trust not Trebonius; mark well Metellus Cimber; Decius loves thee not; thou hast wronged Caius Ligarius. There is but one mind
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