25. Ant. Cæsar, my lord. Cæs. Forget not, in your speed, Antonius, The barren, touched in this holy chase, Ant. I shall remember: When Cæsar says, Do this, it is performed. [Music. Cæs. Ha! who calls? Casca. Bid every noise be still. — Peace yet again. [Music ceases. Cas. Who is it in the press that calls on me? Cæs. What man is that? 34. Bru. A soothsayer, bids you beware the ides of March. Cæs. Set him before me; let me see his face. 39. 44. Speak once again. Cas. Fellow, come from the throng: look upon Cæsar. [Sennet. Exeunt all but BRUTUS and CASSIUS. Cas. Will you go see the order of the course? 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 shew of love as I was wont to have: You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand 45. Bru. Cassius, Be not deceived: if I have veiled my look, I turn the trouble of my countenance Merely upon myself. Vexed I am Of late with passions of some difference, ned Conceptions only proper to myself, Which give some soil, perhaps, to my behaviors: Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war, 46. Cas. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion; 48. Cas. 'Tis just: And it is very much lamented, Brutus, That you have no such mirrors as will turn That you might see your shadow. I have heard, Bru. Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius, For that which is not in me! 50. Cas. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear: Will modestly discover to yourself That of yourself which you yet know not of. To every new protester; if you know That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard, [Flourish and shout. 51. Bru. What means this shouting? I do fear, the people Choose Cæsar for their king. Cas. Ay, do you fear it? Then must I think you would not have it so. 53. 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 honor 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 honor more than I fear death. I cannot tell what you and other men In awe of such a thing as I myself. I was born free as Cæsar; so were you: The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores, And bade him follow: so, indeed, he did. 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: And that same eye, whose bend doth awe the world, Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans A man of such a feeble temper should So get the start of the majestic world, 55. Bru. Another general shout! I do believe, that these applauses are [Shout. Flourish. For some new honors that are heaped on Cæsar. 56. 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 dishonorable graves. Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings. Brutus and Cæsar: what should be in that Cæsar? [Shout. That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed: When there is in it but one only man. O! you and I have heard our fathers say, There was a Brutus once, that would have brooked As easily as a king. |