For if thou path thy native semblance on, Not Erebus itself were dim enough

To hide thee from prevention.

Enter CASSIUS, CASCA, DECIUS, CINNA, METELLUS CIMBER, and TREBONIUS.

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.

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
deceived.

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 east
Stands, as the Capitol, directly here.

Bru. Give me your hands all over, one by one.
Cas. And let us swear our resolution.

Bru. No, not an oath. If not the face of men,
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 bond
Than secret Romans, that have spoke the word,
And will not palter: and what other oath
Than honesty to honesty engaged
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 men 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
Did need an oath, when every drop of blood
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 passed 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.

And buy men's voices to commend our deeds. It shall be said his judgment ruled 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
That other men begin.

Cas.

Then leave him out.
Casca. Indeed he is not fit.

Dec. Shall no man else be touched but only
Cæsar?

Cas. Decius, well urged.—I think it is not meet Marc Antony, so well beloved of Cæsar, Should outlive Cæsar. We shall find of him A shrewd contriver: and you know his means, If he improve them, may well stretch so far As to annoy us all which to prevent, Let Antony and Cæsar fall together.

Bru. Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius,

To cut the head off and then hack the limbs;
Like wrath in death, and envy afterwards:
For Antony is but a limb of Cæsar.

Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.
We all stand up against the spirit of Cæsar,
And in the spirit of men there is no blood:
O, that we then could come by Cæsar's spirit,
And not dismember Cæsar! But alas,
Cæsar must bleed for it! And, gentle friends,
Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;
Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods,
Not hew him as a carcase fit for hounds:
And let our hearts, as subtle masters do,
Stir up their servants to an act of rage
And after seem to chide them. This shall make
Our purpose necessary, and not envious:
Which so appearing to the common eyes,
We shall be called purgers, not murderers.
And for Marc Antony, think not of him;
For he can do no more than Cæsar's arm,
When Cæsar's head is off.

Cus. Yet I 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 and 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.

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 unaccustomed terror of this night.
And the persuasion of his augurers,
May hold him from the Capitol to-day.

Dec. Never fear that. If he be so resolved,
I can o'ersway him; for he loves to hear
That unicorns may be betrayed with trees,
And bears with glasses, elephants with holes,
Lions with toils, and men with flatterers:
But when I tell him he hates flatterers,
He says he does; being then most flattered.
Let me work:

For I can give his humour the true bent,
And I will bring him to the Capitol.

Cas. Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch
him.

Bru. 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 him. 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 shew 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 untired 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 nor no fantasies, Which busy care draws in the brains of men : Therefore thou sleep'st so sound.

Enter PORTIA.

Por. Brutus, my lord!

Bru. Portia, what mean you: wherefore rise you now?

It is not for your health, thus to commit
Your weak condition to the raw-cold morning.
Por. Nor for yours neither. You have un-
gently, Brutus,

Stole from my bed: and yesternight, at supper,
You suddenly arose and walked about,
Musing and sighing, with your arms across :
And when I asked you what the matter was,

You stared upon me with ungentle looks:
I urged you further; then you scratched your
head,

And too impatiently stamped with your foot:
Yet I insisted, yet you answered not;
But, with an angry wafture of your hand,
Gave sign for me to leave you: so I did;
Fearing to strengthen that impatience
Which seemed too much enkindled; and withal
Hoping it was but an effect of humour,
Which sometime hath his hour with every man.
It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor sleep :
And could it work so much upon your shape
As it hath much prevailed on your condition,
I should not know you, Brutus. Dear, my lord,
Make me acquainted with your cause of grief.
Bru. I am not well in health, and that is

all.

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 unbracéd, 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 rheumy and unpurgéd 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,
Is it excepted I should know no secrets
That appertain to you? Am I yourself
But, as it were, in sort or limitation :

To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed, And talk to you sometimes? Dwell I but in the suburbs

Of your good pleasure? If it be no more,
Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife.

Bru. You are my true and honourable wife :
As dear to me as are the ruddy drops
That visit my sad heart.

Por. If this were true, then should I know this

secret.

I grant I am a woman; but withal
A woman that lord Brutus took to wife :
I grant I am a woman; but withal
A woman well-reputed,-Cato's daughter.
Think you I am no stronger than my sex,
Being so fathered and so husbanded?

Tell me your counsels; I will not disclose them:
I have made strong proof of my constancy,
Giving myself a voluntary wound

Here in the thigh. Can I bear that with patience,
And not my husband's secrets?
O ye gods,

Bru.

Bru. O what a time have you chose out, brave Caius,

To wear a kerchief! 'Would you were not sick. Lig. I am not sick, if Brutus have in hand Any exploit worthy the name of honour.

Bru. Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius,

Had you a healthful ear to hear of it.

Lig. By all the gods that Romans bow before, I here discard my sickness. Soul of Rome! Brave son, derived from honourable loins! Thou, like an exorcist, hast conjured up My mortified spirit. Now bid me run, And I will strive with things impossible; Yea, get the better of them. What's to do? Bru. A piece of work that will make sick men whole.

Lig. But are not some whole that we must

Cal. What mean you, Cæsar? Think you to walk forth?

You shall not stir out of your house to-day. Cæs. Cæsar shall forth. The things that threatened me

Ne'er looked but on my back: when they shall see The face of Cæsar, they are vanished.

Cal. Cæsar, I never stood on ceremonies; Yet now they fright me. There is one within (Besides the things that we have heard and seen) Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch. A lioness hath whelpéd in the streets; And graves have yawned and yielded up their dead:

Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds,
In ranks and squadrons and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol :

The noise of battle hurtled in the air;
Horses do neigh, and dying men did groan;
And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.
O Cæsar! these things are beyond all use,
And I do fear them.

Cæs. What can be avoided,
Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?
Yet Cæsar shall go forth: for these predictions
Are to the world in general as to Cæsar.

Cal. When beggars die there are no comets seen : The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of

princes.

Cæs. Cowards die many times before their

deaths:

The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should

fear:

Seeing that death, a necessary end,

Will come when it will come.

Re-enter Servant.

[Exeunt.

What say the augurers?

Serv. They would not have you to stir forth to-day.

Plucking the entrails of an offering forth,
They could not find a heart within the beast.
Cæs. The gods do this in shame of cowardice:
Cæsar should be a beast without a heart,
If he should stay at home to day for fear.
No, Cæsar shall not. Danger knows full well
That Cæsar is more dangerous than he.
We were two lions littered in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible:
And Cæsar shall go forth.

I come to fetch you to the senate-honse.

Cæs. And you are come in very happy time, To bear my greeting to the senators, And tell them that I will not come to-day. Cannot is false; and that I dare not, falser. I will not come to-day: tell them so, Decius. Cal. Say he is sick. Cæs. Have I in conquest stretched mine arm so far, To be afeard to tell greybeards the truth? Decius, go tell them Cæsar will not come. Dec. Most mighty Cæsar, let me know some

Shall Cæsar send a lie?

cause,

Lest I be laughed at when I tell them so.
Cas. The cause is in my will; I will not come.
That is enough to satisfy the senate:
But for your private satisfaction,
Because I love you, I will let you know:
Calphurnia here, my wife, stays me at home:
She dreamt to-night she saw my statue,
Which, like a fountain with a hundred spouts,
Did run pure blood; and many lusty Romans
Came smiling, and did bathe their hands in it.
And these does she apply for warnings, portents,
And evils imminent; and on her knee
Hath begged that I will stay at home to-day.
Dec. This dream is all amiss interpreted:
It was a vision fair and fortunate:
Your statue spouting blood in many pipes,
In which so many smiling Romans bathed,
Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck

Bru.

Cæsar, 't is strucken eight.
Cæs. I thank you for your pains and courtesy.
Enter ANTONY.

See! Antony, that revels long o' nights,
Is notwithstanding up :-good-morrow, Antony.
Ant. So to most noble Cæsar.
Cæs. Bid them prepare within :

I am to blame to be thus waited for.-
Now, Cinna: now, Metellus: what, Trebonius!
I have an hour's talk in store for you:
Remember that you call on me to-day :
Be near me, that I may remember you.
Treb. Cæsar, I will:—and so near will I be,
[Aside.
That your best friends shall wish I had been
further.

Cæs. Good friends, go in, and taste some wine