When he doth run his course.

Ant. Cæsar, my lord?

Antonius!

Cas. Forget not, in your speed, Antonius,
To touch Calpurnia; for our elders say,
The barren, touched in this holy chase,
Shake off their sterile curse.

I shall remember:

Ant.
When Cæsar says 'do this,' it is perform'd.
Cæs. Set on; and leave no ceremony out.

Sooth. Cæsar!

Cæs. Ha! who calls?

[Flourish.

Casca. Bid every noise be still: peace yet again!
Cas. Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music,
Cry 'Cæsar!' Speak; Cæsar is turn'd to hear.
Sooth. Beware the ides of March.

Cæs.

What man is that?
Bru. A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of
March.

Cas. Set him before me; let me see his face.
Cas. Fellow, come from the throng; look upon
Cæsar.

Cas. What say'st thou to me now? speak once
again.

4. run his course; the course of the Luperci, or priests of Lupercus, the god of fertility, at the Lupercalia, through the streets of the city. Plutarch's description (translated by North) is: That day there are divers noble men's sons, young men (and some of them magistrates themselves that govern them), which run naked through the city, striking in sport them they meet in their way, with leather thongs, hair and all on, to

IO

20

make them give place. And many noble women and gentlewomen also, go of purpose to stand in their way, and do put forth their hands to be stricken,

persuading themselves that being with child they shall have good delivery, and also being barren, that it will make them to conceive with child.'

9. sterile curse, curse of sterility. 18. the ides of March, March

15.

Sooth. Beware the ides of March.

Cas. He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass.
[Sennet. Exeunt all except

Brutus and Cassius.

Cas. Will you go see the order of the course?

Bru. Not I.

Cas. I pray you, do.

Bru. I am not gamesome: I do lack some

part

Of that quick spirit that is in Antony.

Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires;
I'll leave you.

Cas. Brutus, I do observe you now of late:
I have not from your eyes that gentleness
And show of love as I was wont to have :
You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand
Over your friend that loves you.

Bru.
Cassius,
Be not deceived: if I have veil'd my look,

I turn the trouble of my countenance

Merely upon myself. Vexed I am

Of late with passions of some difference,
Conceptions only proper to myself,

Which give some soil perhaps to my behaviours;
But let not therefore my good friends be grieved—
Among which number, Cassius, be you one-

Nor construe any further my neglect,

Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,
Forgets the shows of love to other men.

Cas. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion;

By means whereof this breast of mine hath buried

35. bear too stubborn and too strange a hand over, keep (like a restive horse) too severely and unkindly in check.

30

40

40. passions of some difference, conflicting emotions.

42. soil, blemish.

Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.
Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?
Bru. No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself,
But by reflection by some other things.

Cas. 'Tis just:

I have heard

And it is very much lamented, Brutus,
That you have no such mirrors as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye,
That you might see your shadow.
Where many of the best respect in Rome,
Except immortal Cæsar, speaking of Brutus,
And groaning underneath this age's yoke,
Have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes.
Bru. Into what dangers would you lead me,
Cassius,

That you would have me seek into myself
For that which is not in me?

Cas. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear:

And since you know you cannot see yourself
So well as by reflection, I, your glass,
Will modestly discover to yourself

That of yourself which you yet know not of.
And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus:
Were I a common laugher, or did use
To stale with ordinary oaths my love
To every new protester; if you know

That I do fawn on men and hug them hard
And after scandal them, or if you know
That I profess myself in banqueting

To all the rout, then hold me dangerous.

[Flourish, and shout.

73. stale, make vulgar.
76. scandal, slander.

50

60

70

77. profess myself, make professions of friendship.

Bru. What means this shouting? I do fear,

the people

Choose Cæsar for their king.

Cas.
Ay, do you fear it? 80
Then must I think you would not have it so.

Bru. I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well.
But wherefore do you hold me here so long?
What is it that you would impart to me?
If it be aught toward the general good,
Set honour in one eye and death i' the other,
And I will look on both indifferently;
For let the gods so speed me as I love
The name of honour more than I fear death.
Cas. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
As well as I do know your outward favour.
Well, honour is the subject of my story.
I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life; but, for my single self,
I had as lief not be as live to be

In awe of such a thing as I myself.

I was born free as Cæsar; so were you :
We both have fed as well, and we can both
Endure the winter's cold as well as he:
For once, upon a raw and gusty day,
The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
Cæsar said to me 'Darest thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,

And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in

And bade him follow; so indeed he did.
The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews, throwing it aside
And stemming it with hearts of controversy;
But ere we could arrive the point proposed,
Cæsar cried 'Help me, Cassius, or I sink!'
110. arrive, reach.

91. favour, countenance.

90

100

I, as Æneas, our great ancestor,

Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber Did I the tired Cæsar. And this man

Is now become a god, and Cassius is

A wretched creature and must bend his body,
If Cæsar carelessly but nod on him.

He had a fever when he was in Spain,

And when the fit was on him, I did mark
How he did shake: 'tis true, this god did shake:
His coward lips did from their colour fly,
And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world
Did lose his lustre: I did hear him groan :
Ay, and that tongue of his that bade the Romans
Mark him and write his speeches in their books,
Alas, it cried 'Give me some drink, Titinius,'
As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me
A man of such a feeble temper should

So get the start of the majestic world,

And bear the palm alone. [Shout. Flourish.
Bru. Another general shout!

I do believe that these applauses are

For some new honours that are heap'd on Cæsar. Cas. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world

Like a Colossus, and we petty men

Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.

Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,

I12. Eneas, regarded in Roman legend as the progenitor of the Roman people. He was Isaid to have borne his father Anchises on his shoulders from the flames of Troy (Vergil, Æn. ii.).

120

130

140

123. bend, look (i.e. the gaze bent upon a particular object).

136. Colossus, the Colossus of Rhodes; a huge figure of bronze traditionally said to have stood astride the entrance of the harbour.