Re-enter CESAR and his Train. Bru. The games are done, and Cæsar is returning. 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, Calphurnia's cheek is pale: and Cicero Ant. Cæsar. Cæs. Let me have men about me that are fat; Sleekheaded men, and such as sleep o'nights: Yond' Cassius has a lean and hungry look: He thinks too much: such men are dangerous. Ant. Fear him not, Cæsar; he's not dangerous: He is a noble Roman, and well given. Cas. '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 Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays, Casca. You pulled me by the cloak: would you speak with me? Bru. Ay, Casca: tell us what hath chanced to-day, That Cæsar looks so sad? Casca. Why, you were with him, were you not? Bru. I should not then ask Casca what hath chanced. Casca. Why, there was a crown offered him: and being offered 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? Cas. They shouted thrice: what was the last Casca. Why, for that too. Bru. Was the crown offered 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? 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 't was not a crown neither, 't was 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 chapped hands, and threw up their sweaty nightcaps, 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 swoon? 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 fell 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 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:-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 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? Casca. Ay. Cas. Did Cicero say anything? Casca. Ay, he spoke Greek. 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 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. Cas. Good: I will expect you. Casca. Do so: farewell both. [Exit. 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, Bru. And so it is. For this time I will leave you: To-morrow, if you please to speak with me, In several hands, in at his windows throw, SCENE III.-The same. A Street. 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 moved, when all the sway of earth Shakes like a thing unfirm? O Cicero, Cic. Why, saw you anything more wonderful? Upon a heap a hundred ghastly women, Cic. Indeed it is a strange-disposéd time: Casca. He doth; for he did bid Antonius Send word to you he would be there to-morrow. And when the cross blue lightning seemed to open Casca. But wherefore did you so much tempt the heavens? It is the part of men to fear and tremble, Cas. You are dull, Casca; and those sparks of life That should be in a Roman you do want, Why all these things change from their ordinance, Their natures, and pre-forméd faculties, To monstrous quality;-why, you shall find A man no mightier than thyself or me Cas. Let it be who it is: for Romans now Have thews and limbs like to their ancestors; But, woe the while! our father's minds are dead, And we are governed with our mothers' spirits: Our yoke and sufferance shew 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. If I know this, know all the world besides, So every bondman in his own hand bears Cas. And why should Cæsar be a tyrant, then? So vile a thing as Cæsar!-But, O grief! Casca. You speak to Casca, and to such a man And look you lay it in the prætor's chair, 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, [Exeunt. Whereto the climber-upward turns his face: And kill him in the shell. |