Why Cas. Who offer'd him the crown?! Casca. Why, Antony. Bru. Tell us the manner of it, gentle Casca. Casca. I can as well be hanged as tell the manner of it: it was mere foolery. I did not mark it. I saw Mark Antony offer him a crown; -yet 'twas not a crown neither, 'twas one of these coronets; 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 loath 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 night-caps, and uttered such a deal of foul 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 swoon? Casca. He fell down in the market-place, and foamed at mouth, and was speechless. B. "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 fell down. If the tag-rag people did not clap him, and hiss him, according as he pleased, and displeased them, as they us'd to do the players in the theatre, I am no true man. Bru. What said he, when he came unto himself? Casca. Marry, before he fell down, when he perceived the common herd was glad he refused the crown, he plucked me ope his doublet, and offered them his throat to cut. And I had been a man of any occupation, I would have taken him at a word:-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? Cas. Did Cicero say anything?cendent Casca. Nay, and 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 could remember it. 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. 1 A tradesman. Cas. Good; I will expect you. Casca. Do so: Farewell, both. [Exit Casca. Bru. What a blunt fellow this is 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. B. 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. 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'd1: 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; but he loves Brutus: If I were Brutus now, and he were Cassius, He should not humour 2 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. SCENE III.-A STREET. Thunder and Lightning. Enter, from opposite sides, Casca, with his sword drawn, and Cicero. Cic. Good even, Casca: Brought you Cæsar home? 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, Cic. Why, saw you any thing more wonderful? by sight) 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 on fire, walk up and down the streets. And, yesterday, the bird of night did sit, 2 Cajole. 1 (Disposed to) Even at noon-day, upon the market-place, 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 Is not to walk in. [sky Casca. 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. chievous; And kill him in the shell. Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this Which, hatch'd, would, as his kind, grow mis- 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, Ilis 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, We will awake him, and be sure of him. [Exeunt. Act Second. SCENE I.-BRUTUS' ORCHARD. Bru. What, Lucius! ho! I cannot, by the progress of the stars, 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 must 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 then, I grant, we put a sting in him, I have not known when his affections sway'd [rel Re-enter Lucius. 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! Brutus, thou sleep'st; awake Such instigations have been often dropp'd Shall Rome, &c. Thus, must I piece it out; My ancestors did from the streets of Rome If the redress will follow, thou receivest Re-enter Lucius. Luc. Sir, March has wasted fourteen days. [Knock 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 Hide it in smiles, and affability: Enter Cassius, Casca, Decius, Cinna, Metellus 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. Bru. He is welcome hither. Cas. This, Decius Brutus. Bru. 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, 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! with him; For he will never follow anything Cas. Then leave him out. D. Shall no man else be touch'd but only Cæsar? Cas. This, Casca; this, Cinna; And this Metellus Cimber. Bru. They are all welcome. What watchful cares do interpose themselves Betwixt your eyes and night? Cas. Shall I entreat a word? [They whisper. Dec. Here lies the east: Doth not the day break Casca. No. [here? 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 deceiv'd. Here, as I point my sword, the sun arises; He first presents his fire; and the high east Nor the insuppressive mettle of our spirits, If he do break the smallest particle Bru. Our course will seem too bloody, Caius To cut the head off, and then hack the limbs; 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. [Clock strikes. Bru. Peace, count the clock. Cas. The clock hath stricken three. Treb. 'Tis time to part. Cas. But it is doubtful yet, 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 unaccustom'd terror of this night, 1 (The matter to him.) 2 Malice. And the persuasion of his augurers, For I can give his humour the true bent; Cas. Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him. B. 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 him1: 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 Romans. Bru. Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily; Let not our looks put on 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,2 nor no fantasies, Which busy care draws in the brains of men; Therefore thou sleep'st so sound. Por. Enter Portia. Brutus, my lord? Bru. Portia, what mean you? Wherefore rise you now? It is not for your health thus to commit Stole from my bed: And yesternight, at supper, 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 dank 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 rheumy2 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 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. Kneel not, gentle Portia. Por. I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus. Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus, Of your good pleasure? If it be no more, Bru. You are my true and honourable wife, Por. If this were true, then should I know this secret. I grant, I am a woman, but, withal, [Knocking within. All my engagements I will construe to thee, [Exit Portia. |