And do you now put on your best attire ?
And do you now cull out a holiday?
And do you now strew flowers in his way,
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood?
Be gone!
Run to your houses, fall upon your knees,
Pray to the gods to intermit the plague
That needs must light on this ingratitude.
Flar. Go, go, good countrymen, and, for this
Assemble all the poor men of your sort; [fault,
Draw them to Tyber banks, and weep your tears
Into the channel, till the lowest stream
Do kiss the most exalted shores of all.
[Exeunt CITIZENS.
See, whe'r their basest metal be not mov'd;
They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness.
Go you down that way towards the Capitol;
This way will I: Disrobe the images,
If you do find them deck'd with ceremonies.
Mar. May we do so?
You know it is the feast of Lupercal.
Flar. It is no matter; let no images
Be hung with Cesar's trophies. + I'll about,
And drive away the vulgar from the streets :
So do you too where you perceive them thick.
These growing feathers pluck'd from Cesar's wing,
Will make him fly an ordinary pitch :
Who else would soar above the view of men,
And keep us all in servile fearfuluess.
SCENE 11.-The same.-A public Place. Eater, in Procession, with Music, CESAR ; ANTONY, for the course; CALPHURNIA, PORTIA, DECIUS, CICERO, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, and CASCA, a great Crowd following, among them a SOOTHSAYER.
Ces. Calpburnia,-
Casca. Peace, ho! Cesar speaks.
Ces. Calpanrnia,—
Cal. Here, my lord.
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.
Be not deceiv'd: 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 beha-
But let not therefore my good friends be griev'd:
(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.
Cus. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your
passion, t
By means whereof, this breast of mine bath
buried
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 :
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. I have heard,
Where many of the best respect in Rome,
(Except immortal Cesar) 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, he prepar'd to
hear:
[Music ceases. And, since you know you cannot see yourself
So well as by reflection, I, your glass,
Will modestly discover to yourself
Ces. Stand you directly in Antonius' way,
When he doth run his course. -Antonius.
Ant. Cesar, my lord.
Ces. Forget not, in your speed, Antonius,
To touch Calphurnia: for our elders say,
The barren touched in this holy chase,
Shake off their steril curse.
Ant. I shall remember:
When Cesar says, Do this, it is perform'd.
Ces. Set on; and leave no ceremony out.
Sooth. Cesar!
Ces. Ha! who calls?
Casca. Bid every noise be still:-Peace yet again. [Music ceases. Ces. Who is it in the press that calls on me? 1 hear a tongue, shriller than all the music, Cry, Cesar!-Speak; Cesar is turned to hear. Sooth. Beware the ides of March.
Ces. What man is that?
Bru. A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of
Ces. Set him before me, let me see his face.
Cas. Fellow, come from the throng: Look upon
Cesar.
Ces. What say'st thou to me now? Speak once
again.
Sooth. Beware the ides of March.
That of yourself which you yet know not of.
And be not jealous of me, gentle Brutus :
Were I a coinmon laughter, 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.
Bru. What means this shouting? I do fear, the
people
Choose Cesar for their king.
Cas. Ay, do you fear it?
Then must I think you would not have it so.
Bru. I would not, Cassius; yet I love him
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 beth 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,
Ces. He is a dreamer: let us leave him ;-pass.
(Sennet. Exeunt all but BRU. and CAS.I had as lief not be, as live to be
Cas. Will you go see the order of the course?
Bru. Not I.
Bra. I am not gamesome: I do lack some pa
Of that quick spirit that is in Antony.
Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires;
I'll leave you.
• Honorary ornaments; tokens of respect.
1 Adorned with laurel crowns.
observen at the feast of Lupercalia.
In awe of such a thing as I myself.
I was born free as Cesar; 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 Tyber chafing with her shores,
Cesar said to me, Dar'st thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,
• Discordant opinions. + The nature of your feelings. To nauseate by repetition.
And swim to yonder point? Upon the word,
Accouter'd 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 propos'd,
Cesar cried, Help me, Cassius, or I sink.
1, as Æneas, our great ancestor,
Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder The old Anchises bear, so, from the waves of Tyber
Did I the tired Cesar: And this man
Is now become a god; and Cassius is
A wretched creature, and must bend his body,
If Cesar 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 its lustre: I did hear him groan :
Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the
Cas. I am glad, that my weak words
Have struck but thus much show of fire from Brutus.
Re-enter CESAR, and his train.
Bru. The games are done, and Cesar is re
Cas. As they pass by, pluck Casca by the sleeve;
And he will, after his sour fashion, tell you
What hath proceeded, worthy note, to-day.
Bru. I will do so :-But, look you, Cassius,
The angry spot doth glow on Cesar's brow,
And all the rest look like a chidden train:
Calphurnia's cheek is pale; and Cicero
Looks with such ferret and such fiery eyes,
As we have seen him in the Capitol,
Being cross'd in conference by some senators.
Cas. Casca will tell us what the matter is.
Ces. Autonius.
Ces. Let me have men about me that are fat; Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o'nights: Ro-Yond' Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
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 Cesar. 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,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
Brutus and Cesar : What should be in that
Cesar ?
Why should that name be sounded more than yours?
Write them together, yours is as fair a name ; Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well; Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure them, Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Cesar.
[Shout. Now in the names of all the gods at once, Upon what meat doth this our Cesar feed, That he is grown so great? Age, thou art sham'd! Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods! When went there by an age, since the great flood, But it was fam'd with more than with one man? When could they say, till now, that talk'd of
That her wide walks encompass'd but one man ?
Now is it Rome indeed, and room enough,
When there is in it but one only man.
Oh! you and I have heard our fathers say,
There was a Brutus + once, that would have
brook'd
The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome,
As easily as a king.
Bru. That you do love me, I am nothing jealous:
What you would work me to, I have some aim:
How I have thought of this, aud of these times,
I shall recount bereafter; for this present,
I would not, so with love I might entreat you,
Be any further mov'd. What you have said,
I will consider; what you have to say,
I will with patience hear and find a time
Both meet to hear, and answer, such high things.
Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this:
Brutus had rather be a villager,
Than to repute himself a son of Rome
Under such hard conditions as this time
• Temperament, constitution. Lucius Junius Brutus. Not a citizen of Rome
He thinks too much such men are dangerous.
Ant. Fear him not, Cesar, he's not dangerous; He is a noble Roman, and well given.
Ces. 'Would he were fatter :-But I fear him not:
Yet if my name were liable to fear,
I do not know the man I should avoid
So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much;
He is a great observer, and he looks
Quite through the deeds of men he loves no
plays,
As thon dost, Antony; he hears no music :
Seldom he smiles; and smiles in such a sort,
As if he mock'd himself, and scorn'd his spirit
That could be mov'd to smile at any thing.
Such men as he, be never at heart's ease,
Whiles they behold a greater than themselves;
And therefore are they very dangerous.
I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd,
Than what I fear, for always I am Cesar.
Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf,
And tell me truly what thou think'st of him.
[Exeunt CESAR and his Train. CASCA
stays behind.
Casca. You pull'd me by the cloak; Would you speak with me?
Bru. Ay, Casca; tell us what hath chanc'd to-day,
That Cesar looks so sad.
Casca. Why you were with him, were you not? Bru. I should not then ask Casca what had
Casca. Why, there was a crown offer'd hin: and, being offer'd him, he put it by with the back of his hand, thus; and then the people fell a shouting.
Bru. What was the second noise for ?
Casca. Why, for that too.
Cas. They shouted thrice; What was the last cry for?
Casca. Why, for that too.
Bru. Was the crown offer'd him thrice?
Casca. Ay' marry, was't; and he put it by thrice: every time gentler than other; and at every putting by, mine honest neighbours shouted. Cas. Who offered 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 bis 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 chapped hands, and threw up their sweaty night-caps, and uttered such a deal of stinking breath because Cesar refused the crown, that it had almost choked Cesar; 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 Cesar swoon?
Casca. He fell down in the market-place, and foamed at mouth, and was speechless.
Bru. 'Tis very like: he hath the falling-sick
Cas. No, Cesar 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, Cesar fell down. If the tag-raz people did not clap him, and biss him, according as he pleased, and displeased them, as they use to do the players in the theatre, I am no
Bru. What said he, when he came unto himself?
Casca. Marry, before he fell down, when he perceiv'd the common herd was glad he refused the crown, he plucked me ope his doublet, and offered them his throat to cut.-An I had been a man of any occupation,* 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 Cesar bad stabbed their mothers, they would have done no less.
Bru. And after that, he came, thus sad, away?
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 bim 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 Flavins, for pulling scarfs off Cesar'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 eating.
Cas. Good: I will expect you.
Casca. Do so: Farewell, both.
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
To-morrow if you please to speak with me,
I will come home to you; or, if you will,
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: Therefore 'tis meet
That noble minds keep ever with their likes:
For who so firm, that cannot be seduc'd ?
Cesar doth bear me hard; but he loves Brutus:
If i were Brutus now, and he were Cassius,
Shakes, like a thing unfirm? O Cicero,
I 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 wonderfu! ↑
Casca. A common slave (you know him well
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 Cesar 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.
Cas. Who's there?
Casca. A Roman.
Cas. Casca, by your voice.
Casca. Your ear is good. Cassius, what night is this!
Cas. A very pleasing night to honest men. Casca. Who ever knew the neavens menace so Cas. Those, that have known the earth so full
For my part, I have walk'd about the streets,
And thus unbraced, Casca, as you, see,
Submitting me unto the perilous night;
Have bar'd my bosom to the thunder-stone:||
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,
Cajole. + Hand-writings.
• A mechanic. † Has an unfavourable opinion of me. of the globe. Altogether.
When the most mighty gods, by tokens, send
Such dreadful heralds to astonish us.
Cas. You are dull, Casca; and those sparks of
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;
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,
Naine to thee a man most like this dreadful
[sights.
There's two or three of us have seen strange
Cas. Am I not staid for, Cinna? Tell me.
Cin. Yes,
You are.
The noble Brutus to our party-
O Cassius, if you could but win
Cus. Be you content: Good Cinna, take this
paper,
And look you lay it in the prætor's chair,
That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this
As doth the lion in the Capitol :
A man no mightier than thyself, or me,
In personal action; yet prodigious grown,
And fearful, as these strange eruptions are,
Casca. 'Tis Cesar 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, woe 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-mor-
Mean to establish Cesar as a king:
[row
And he shall wear his crown, by sea and land,
In every place, save here in Italy.
Cus. I know where I will wear this dagger
then;
Cassins 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.
I know this, know all the world besides,
That part of tyranny that I do bear,
I can shake off at pleasure.
So every bondman in his own hand bears
The power to cancel his captivity.
Cas. And why should Cesar 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.
Those that with haste will make a mighty fire,
Begin it with weak straws: What trash is Rome,
What rubbish, and what offal, when it serves
For the base matter to illuminate
So vile a thing as Cesar! 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.
Cas. There's a bargain made.
Now know you, Casca, I have mov'd already
Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans,
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 like the work we have in hand,
Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible.
![[blocks in formation]](https://books.google.com.ua/books/content?id=7owkAAAAMAAJ&hl=uk&output=html_text&pg=PA34&img=1&zoom=3&q=fear&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U2hUWk7CGKQFhERXXQuR55pXraoxQ&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=101,1536,462,50)
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
Are 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 hade me.
Cas. That done, repair to Pompey's theatre.
[Exit CINNA.
Come, Casca, you and I will, yet, ère 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. Oh 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.
I have not known when his affections sway'd
More than his reason. But 'tis a common proof, }
That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber upward turns his face :
+ Conceived. t An exclamation of § Mercy. ¡ Truth.
But when he once attains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend: So Cesar 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 ?
Lue. I know not, Sir.
Bru. Look in the calendar, and bring me word.
Luc. I will, Sir.
[Exit.
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
Where I have took them up. 掌
Shall Rome, &c. Thus, must I piece it out;
Shall Rome stand under one man's awe? What!
Rome?
My ancestors did from the streets of Rome
The Tarquin drive, when he was call'd a king.
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 !
Luc. Sir, March is wasted fourteen days. [Knock within. Bru. 'Tis good. Go to the gate; somebody [Exit Lucius. Since Cassius first did whet me against Cesar, I have not slept.
Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma, 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.
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 inan
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 Decins Brutus.
Bru. He is welcome too.
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 here?
Cin. Oh! pardon, Sir, it doth; and you 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;
Which is a great way growing on the south,
Weighing the youthful season of the year.
Some two months hence, up higher toward the
north
He first presents his fire; and the high cast
Stands, as the Capitol, directly here.
Bru. Give me your hands all over, one by
Cas. And let us swear our resolution.
Bru. No, not an oath: If not the face of meu,
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. 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 boud,
Than secret Romans, that have spoke the word,
And will not palter? 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,⚫
Old feeble carrions, and such suffering souls,
That welcome wrongs; unto bad causes swear
Such creatures as mien 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,
Luc. Sir, 'tis your brother Cassius at the door, Did need an oath; when every drop of blood Who doth desire to see you.
Luc. No, Sir, there are more with him.
Bru. Do you know them ?
Luc. No, Sir; their hats are pluck'd about their
And half their faces buried in their cloaks, [ears,
That by no means I may discover them
By any mark of favour.
Bru. Let them enter.
[Exit LUCIUS.
They are the faction. O conspiracy!
Sham'st thou to show thy dangerous brow by night,
When evils are most free! Oh! then, by day,
Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough
To mask thy monstrous visage ? Seek none,
Hide in it smiles and affability:
For if thou path thy native semblance on, con-
Not Erebus itself were dim enough
To hide thee from prevention. §
Enter CASSIUS, CASCA, DECIUS, CINNA, ME-
TELLUS CIMBER, and TREBONIUS.
Cas. I think we are too bold upon your rest:
Good morrow, Brutus; Do we trouble you?
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. Oh! 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 bands;
Our youths, and wildness, shall no whit appear,
But all be buried in his gravity.
Bru. Oh! name him not; let us not break
with him: t
For he will never follow any thing
That other men begin.
Cas. Then leave him out.
Casca. Indeed, he is not fit.
Dec. Shall no man else be touch'd, but only
Cesar ?
Cas. Decius, well urg'd :—I think it is not meet
Mark Antony so well belov'd of Cesar,
Walk in thy true form.
Detection
+ Break the matter to him
|