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 refus'd 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.
Cas. But, soft, I pray you: What? did Cæsar
Casca. He fell down in the market-place, and foamed at mouth, and was speechless.
Bru. 'Tis very like: he hath the falling-sickness. Cas. No, Cæsar hath it not; but you, and I, And honest Casca, we have the falling-sickness.
Casca. I know not what you mean by that; but, I am sure, Cæsar feil down. If the tag-rag people did not clap him, and hiss him, according as he pleased, and displeased them, as they use to do the players in the theatre, I am no true1 man.
Bru. What said he, when he came unto himself?
Casca. Marry, before he fell down, when he per-
ceiv'd the common herd was glad he refused the
crown, he plucked me ope his doublet, and offered I
them his throat to cut.-An I had been a man of any
occupation,2 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 any thing 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. Ay.
Cas. Did Cicero say any thing?
Casca. Ay, 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. I could tell you more news too: Marullus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs off Cæsar's images, are put to silence. Fare you well. There was more foolery yet, if I
Cas. Will you sup with me to-night, Casca?
Casca. No, I am promised forth.
Cas. Will you dine with me to-morrow?
Casca. Ay, 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.
[Exit Casca. Bru. What a blunt fellow is this grown to be? He was quick mettle, when he went to school.
Cas. So is he 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,
Come home with me, and I will wait for you.
Cas. I will do so:-till then, think of the world.
[Exit Brutus.
Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see,
Thy honourable metal may be wrought
From that it is dispos'd:3 Therefore 'tis meet
That noble minds keep ever with their likes:
For who so firm, that cannot be seduc'd?
Cæsar doth bear me hard;4 but he loves Brutus:
If I were Brutus now, and he were Cassius,
He should not humour 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. [Ex.
SCENE III.-The same. A street. Thunder
and lightning. Enter, from opposite sides,
Casca, with his sword drawn, and Cicero.
Cic. Good even, Casca: Brought you Cæsar
Why are you breathless? and why stare you so?
Casca. Are not you mov'd, when all the sway of
earth
Shakes, like a thing unfirm? O Cicero,
have seen tempests, when the scolding winds
Have riv'd the knotty oaks; and I have seen
The ambitious ocean swell, and rage, and foam,
To be exalted with the threat'ning clouds:
But never till to-night, never till now,
Did I go through a tempest dropping fire.
Either there is a civil strife in heaven;
Or else the world, too saucy with the gods,
Incenses them to send destruction.
Cic. Why, saw you any thing more wonderful?
Casca. A common slave (you know him well by
Held up his left hand, which did flame, and burn
Like twenty torches join'd; and yet his hand,
Not sensible of fire, remain'd unscorch'd.
Besides (I have not since put up my sword,)
Against the Capitol I met a lion,
Who glar'd upon me, and went surly by
Without annoying me: And there were drawn
Upon a heap, a hundred ghastly women,
Transformed with their fear; who swore, they saw
Men, all in fire, walk up and down the streets.
And, yesterday, the bird of night did sit,
Even at noon-day, upon the market-place,
Hooting, and shrieking. When these prodigies
Do so conjointly meet, let not men say,
These are their reasons,-They are natural;
For, I believe they are portentous things
Unto the climate that they point upon.
Cic. Indeed, it is a strange disposed time:
But men may construe things after their fashion,
Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.
Comes Cæsar to the Capitol to-morrow?
Casca. He doth; for he did bid Antonius
Send word to you, he would be there to-morrow.
Cic. Good night then, Casca: this disturbed sky
Is not to walk in.
Casca.
Farewell, Cicero. [Exit Cic.
Enter Cassius.
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Cas. A very pleasing night to honest men.
Casca. Who ever knew the heavens menace so?
Cas. Those, that have known the earth so full of
faults.
For my part, I have walk'd about the streets,
Submitting me unto the perilous night;
And, thus unbraced, Casca, as you see,
Have bar'd my bosom to the thunder-stone:1
And, when the cross blue lightning seem'd to open
The breast of heaven, I did present myself
Even in the aim and very flash of it.
Casca. But wherefore did you so much tempt the heavens?
It is the part of men to fear and tremble,
When the most mighty gods, by tokens, send
Such dreadful heralds to astonish us.
Those that with haste will make a mighty fire,
Begin it with wheat straws: What trash is Rome,
What rubbish, and what offal, when it serves
For the base matter to illuminate
So vile a thing as Cæsar? But, O 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 arm'd,
And dangers are to me indifferent.
Casca. You speak to Casca; and to such a man,
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.
There's a bargain made. Now know you, Casca, I have mov'd already
Cas. You are dull, Casca; and those sparks of Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans,
That should be in a Roman, you do want,
Or else you use not: You look pale, and gaze,
And put on fear, and cast yourself in wonder,
To see the strange impatience of the heavens:
But if you would consider the true cause,
Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts,
Why birds, and beasts, from quality and kind;2
Why old men fools, and children calculate;
Why all these things change, from their ordinance,
Their natures and pre-formed faculties,
To monstrous quality; why, you shall find,
That heaven hath infus'd them with these spirits,
To make them instruments of fear, and warning,
Unto some monstrous state. 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 prodigious3 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 wo the while! our fathers' minds are dead,
And we are govern'd 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 :
Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong;
Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat:
Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass,
Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron,
Can be retentive to the strength of spirit;
But life, being weary of these worldly bars,
Never lacks power to dismiss itself.
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.$
(2) Why they deviate from quality and nature. (3) Portentous. (4) Muscles.
To undergo, with me, an enterprise
Of honourable-dangerous consequence;
And I do know, by this, they stay for me
In Pompey's porch: for now, this fearful night,
There is no stir, or walking in the streets;
And the complexion of the element
Is favour'd,8 like the work we have in hand,
Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible.
Enter Cinna.
Casca. Stand close a while, for here comes one in haste.
Cas. 'Tis Cinna, I do know him by his gait ;9 He is a friend.-Cinna, where haste you so? Cin. To find out you: Who's that? Metellus Cimber?
Cas. No, it is Casca; one incorporate
To our attempts. Am I not staid for, Cinna?
Cin. I am glad on't. What a fearful night is this?
There's two or three of us have seen strange
sights.
Cas. Am I not staid for, Cinna? Tell me.
Cin.
You are. O, 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 Brutus, and Trebonius, there?
Cin. All but Metellus 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.
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. O, he sits high, in all the people's hearts:
And that, which would appear offence in us,
His countenance, like richest alchymy,
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. [Exeunt.
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SCENE I-The same. Brutus's orchard. Enter Brutus.
Bru. 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.
Luc. Call'd 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. Bru. It inust be by his death: and, for my part, I know no personal cause to spurn at him, But for the general. He would be crown'd :— 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
Remorse2 from power: And, to speak truth of
Cæsar,
I have not known when his affections sway'd
More than his reason. But 'tis a common proof,3
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 degrees1
By which he did ascend: So Cæsar may;
Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel
Will bear no colour 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, hatch'd, would, as his kind, grow mis
And kill him in the shell.
Luc. The taper burneth in your closet, sir.
Searching the window for a flint, I found
This paper, thus seal'd 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. Luc. I will, sir.
Bru. The exhalations, whizzing in the air, Give so much light, that I may read by them. [Opens the letter, and reads. Brutus, thou sleep'st; awake, and see thyself. Shall Rome, &c. Speak, strike, redress!
Speak, strike, redress!-Am I entreated then
To speak, and strike? O Rome! I make thee
promise,
If the redress will follow, thou receivest
Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus.
Re-enter Lucius.
Luc. Sir, March is wasted fourteen days.
[Knocks within. Bru. 'Tis good. Go to the gate; Somebody knocks. [Exit Lucius. Since Cassius first did whet me against Cæsar, I have not slept.
Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma,6 or a hideous dream:
The genius, and the mortal instruments,
Are then in council; and the state of man,
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
The nature of an insurrection.
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Hide it in smiles, and affability:
For if thou path thy native semblance on,8
Not Erebus itself were dim enough
To hide thee from prevention.
Enter Cassius, Casca, Decius, Cinna, Metellus
Cimber, and Trebonius.
Cas. 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. Yes, every man of them; and no man here, But honours you: and every one doth wish, You had but that opinion of yourself, Which every noble Roman bears of you. This is Trebonius.
He is welcome hither.
Cas. This, Decius Brutus.
Bru.
He is welcome too.
Cas. This, Casca; this, Cinna;
And this, Metellus Cimber.
What watchful cares do interpose themselves
Betwixt your eyes and night?
Cas. Shall I entreat a word?
Dec. Here lies the east: Doth not the day break
Cin. 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 de- And in the spirit of men there is no blood:
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.
O, that we then could come by Cæsar's spirit,
And not dismember Cæsar! But, alas,
Caesar must bleed for it! And, gentle friends,
Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;
Some two months hence, up higher toward the Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods,
He first presents his fire; and the high east
Stands, as the Capitol, directly here.
Bru. Give me your hands all over, one by one.
Cas. And let us swear our resolution.
Bru. No, not an oath: If not the face of men,
The sufferance of our souls, the time's 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.2 But if these,
As I am sure they do, bear fire enough
To kindle cowards, and to steel with valour
The melting spirits of women; then, countrymen,
What need we any spur, but our own cause,
To prick us to redress? what other bond,
Than secret Romans, that have spoke the word,
And will not palter?3 and what other oath,
Than honesty to honesty engag'd,
That this shall be, or we will fall for it?
Swear priests, and cowards, and men cautelous,4
Old feeble carrions, and such suffering souls
That welcome wrongs; 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 pass'd from him.
Cas. But what of Cicero? Shall we sound him?
I think, he will stand very strong with us.
Casca. Let us not leave him out.
Cin.
No, by no means. Met. O let us have him; for his silver hairs Will purchase us a good opinion,5
And buy men's voices to commend our deeds: It shall be said, his judgment rul'd our hands; Our youths, and wildness, shall no whit appear, But all be buried in his gravity.
Bru. O, name him not; let us not break him;
For he will never follow any thing
That other men begin.
Then leave him out. Casca. Indeed, he is not fit.
Dec. Shall no man else be touch'd, but only
Cæsar?
Cas. Decius, well urg'd:-I think it is not meet,
Mark Antony, so well belov'd 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. 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 ·
For Antony is but a limb of Cæsar.
Let us be sacriticers, but no butchers, Caius.
We all stand up against the spirit of Cæsar;
Not hew him as a carcase fit for hounds:
And let our hearts, as subtle masters do,
Stir up their servants to an act of rage,
And after seem to chide them. This shall make
Our
purpose necessary, and not envious:
Which so appearing to the common eyes,
We shall be call'd purgers, not murderers.
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 ingrafted love he bears to Cæsar,-
Bru. Alas, good Cassius, do not think of him:
If he love Cæsar, all that he can do
Is to himself; take thought, and die for Cæsar: And that were much he should; for he is given To sports, to wildness, and much company.
Treb. 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.
Treb. 'Tis time to part.
Cas.
But it is doubtful yet,
Whe'r Caesar 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 :9
It may be, these apparent prodigies,
The unaccustom'd terror of this night,
And the persuasion of his augurers,10
May hold him from the Capitol to-day.
Dec. Never fear that: If he be so resolv'd,
I can o'ersway him: for he loves to hear,
That unicorns may be betray'd with trees,
And bears with glasses, elephants with holes,
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 this humour 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?
Cin. Be that the uttermost, and fail not then.
Met. 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 Metellus, go along by him :11 He loves me well, and I have given him reasons; Send him but hither, and I'll fashion him.
Cas. 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
Bru. Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily; Let not our looks put on12 our purposes; But bear it as our Roman actors do, With untir'd spirits, and formal constancy: And so, good-morrow to you every one.
[Exeunt all but Brutus. Boy! Lucius-Fast asleep? It is no matter; Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber :
Thou hast no figures, nor no fantasies,
Which busy care draws in the brains of men;
Therefore thou sleep'st so sound.
Brutus, my lord! Bru. 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. Nor for yours neither. You have ungently,
Brutus,
Stole from my bed: And yesternight, at supper,
You suddenly arose, and walk'd about,
Musing, and sighing, with your arms across :
And when I ask'd you what the matter was,
You star'd upon me with ungentle looks:
I urg'd you further; then you scratch'd your head,
And too impatiently stamp'd with your foot:
Yet I insisted, yet you answer'd not;
But, with an angry wafture of your hand,
Gave sign for me to leave you: So I did;
Fearing to strengthen that impatience,
Which seem'd too much enkindled; and, withal,
Hoping it was but an effect of humour,
Which sometime hath his hour with every man.
It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor sleep;
And, could it work so much upon your shape,
As it hath much prevail'd on your condition,2
I should not know you, Brutus. Dear my lord,
Make me acquainted with your cause of grief.
Bru. 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. Why, so I do :-Good Portia, go to bed.
Por. Is Brutus sick? and is it physical
To walk unbraced, and suck up the humours
Of the dank3 morning? What, is Brutus sick;
And will he steal out of his wholesome bed,
To dare the vile contagion of the night?
And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air
To add unto his sickness? No, my Brutus;
You have some sick offence within your mind,
Which, by the right and virtue of my place,
I ought to know of: And, upon my knees,
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 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. O, what a time have you chose out, brave
Caius,
To wear a kerchief? 'Would you were not sick!
Lig. I am not sick, if Brutus have in hand
Any exploit worthy the name of honour.
Bru. Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius,
Had you a healthful ear to hear of it.
Lig. By all the gods that Romans bow before,
I here discard my sickness. Soul of Rome!
Brave son, deriv'd from honourable loins!
Thou, like an exorcist, hast conjur'd up
My mortified spirit. Now bid me run,
And I will strive with things impossible;
Yea, get the better of them. What's to do?
Bru. A piece of work, that will make sick men
Follow me then. [Exeunt. A room in Cæsar's palace. Thunder and lightning. Enter Cæsar, in his night-gown.
SCENE II.-The same.
Cas. Nor heaven, nor earth, have been at peace
Thrice hath Calphurnia in her sleep cried out, Help, ho! they murder Casar! Who's within?
Cas. Go bid the priests do present sacrifice, And bring me their opinions of success. Serv. I will, my lord.
Cal. What mean you, Cæsar? Think you to wall forth?
(5) The residence of harlots.
(6) All that is charactered on.
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