5

I have o'ershot myself, to tell you of it.
I fear I wrong the honorable men

Whose daggers have stabbed Cæsar; I do fear it.

4 Citizen. They were traitors!

Honorable men!

All. The will! the testament!

2 Citizen. They were villains, murderers!

will! Read the will!

The

Antony. You will compel me, then, to read the will? Then make a ring about the corpse of Cæsar, 10 And let me show you him that made the will. Shall I descend? And will you give me leave? All. Come down.

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2 Citizen. Descend.

(He comes down from the pulpit.)

3 Citizen. You shall have leave.

4 Citizen. A ring; stand round.

1 Citizen. Stand from the hearse, stand from the

body.

2 Citizen. Room for Antony!

Antony!

most noble

Antony. Nay, press not so upon me; stand far off.
All. Stand back! room! bear back!

Antony. If you have tears, prepare to shed them

now.

25 You all do know this mantle: I remember

The first time ever Cæsar put it on ;

'T was on a summer's evening, in his tent, That day he overcame the Nervii.

Look! in this place ran Cassius' dagger through; 30 See what a rent the envious Casca made;

Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabbed;
And as he plucked his cursed steel away,
Mark how the blood of Cæsar followed it,
As rushing out of doors, to be resolved
If Brutus so unkindly knocked, or no;
For Brutus, as you know, was Cæsar's angel :
Judge, O you gods, how dearly Cæsar loved him!
This was the most unkindest cut of all;

For, when the noble Cæsar saw him stab,
Ingratitude, more strong than traitor's arms,
Quite vanquished him: then burst his mighty heart;
And, in his mantle muffling up his face,
Even at the base of Pompey's statua,

Which all the while ran blood, great Cæsar fell.
O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!
Then I, and you, and all of us fell down,
Whilst bloody treason flourished over us.
O, now you weep, and I perceive you feel
The dint of pity; these are gracious drops.
Kind souls, what! weep you when you but behold
Our Cæsar's vesture wounded? Look you here,
Here is himself, marred, as you see, with traitors.
1 Citizen. O piteous spectacle!

2 Citizen. O noble Cæsar!

3 Citizen. O woeful day!

4 Citizen.

O traitors, villains!

1 Citizen. O most bloody sight!

2 Citizen.

We will be revenged!

All. Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill!
Slay! Let not a traitor live!

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15

5

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Antony. Stay, countrymen.

1 Citizen. Peace there! Hear the noble Antony.

2 Citizen. We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll

die with him.

Antony. Good friends, sweet friends, let me not

stir you up

To such a sudden flood of mutiny.

They that have done this deed are honorable.

What private griefs they have, alas! I know not,

That made them do it; they are wise and honorable,
And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you.
I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts:
I am no orator, as Brutus is,

But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man,

That love my friend; and that they know full well
That gave me public leave to speak of him.
For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,
To stir men's blood: I only speak right on;
20 I tell you that which you yourselves do know,
Show you sweet Caesar's wounds, poor, poor dumb
mouths,

And bid them speak for me: but, were I Brutus,
And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony
25 Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue
In every wound of Cæsar that should move
The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.

All. We'll mutiny.

1 Citizen.

30

We'll burn the house of Brutus.

3 Citizen. Away, then! come, seek the conspirators.

Antony. Yet hear me, countrymen; yet hear me speak.

All. Peace, ho! Hear Antony, most noble Antony.
Antony. Why, friends, you go to do you know not
what.

Wherein hath Cæsar thus deserved your loves?
Alas, you know not!-I must tell you, then.
You have forgot the will I told you of.

All. Most true; the will!-let's stay, and hear
the will.

Antony. Here is the will, and under Cæsar's seal. To every Roman citizen he gives,

To every several man, seventy-five drachmas.

2 Citizen. Most noble Cæsar!-we'll revenge his death.

3 Citizen. O royal Cæsar!

Antony. Hear me with patience.

All. Peace, ho!

Antony. Moreover, he hath left you all his walks, His private arbors, and new-planted orchards, On this side Tiber; he hath left them you, And to your heirs forever, common pleasures, To walk abroad, and recreate yourselves. Here was a Cæsar! when comes such another?

1 Citizen. Never, never!-Come, away, away!

We'll burn his body in the holy place,

And with the brands fire the traitors' houses.

Take up the body.

نا

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25

2 Citizen.

3 Citizen.

Go, fetch fire.

Pluck down benches.

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4 Citizen. Pluck down forms, windows, any thing. (Exeunt Citizens, with the body.) Antony. Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot.

Take thou what course thou wilt!

From "Julius Caesar," Act III., Scene II.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

5 When I am in a serious humor, I very often walk by myself in Westminster Abbey; where the gloominess of the place, and the use to which it is applied, with the solemnity of the building, and the condition of the people who lie in it, are apt to fill the mind 10 with a kind of melancholy, or rather thoughtfulness that is not disagreeable.

I yesterday passed a whole afternoon in the churchyard, the cloisters, and the church, amusing myself with the tombstones and inscriptions that I 15 met with in those several regions of the dead. Most of them recorded nothing else of the buried person, but that he was born upon one day, and died upon another; the whole history of his life being comprehended in those two circumstances, that are common to all mankind.

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I could not but look upon these registers of existence, whether of brass or marble, as a kind of satire upon the departed persons, who had left no other memorial of them, but that they were born, and that they died.