a

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 father'd and so husbanded?

Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose 'em :
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 ?(2)

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

To wear a kerchief! (3) 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, deriv'd from honourable loins!

Palace.

Thunder and lightning. Enter CESAR.

CAS. Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace to-night:

Thrice hath Calphurnia in her sleep cried out,
Help, ho! they murder Caesar!
within?

Enter a Servant.

SERV. My lord?

Who's

CAS. Go bid the priests do present sacrifice, And bring me their opinions of success. SERV. I will, my lord.

Enter CALPHURNIA.

[Exit.

CAL. What mean you, Cæsar? think you to walk forth?

You shall not stir out of your house to-day.

CAS. Cæsar shall forth: the things that threaten'd me

Ne'er look'd 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,

"A woman, well-reputed Cato's daughter,"? that is, A woman, daughter of the much-esteemed Cato? There is a marked propriety, then, in her asking,

"Think you I am no stronger than my sex,
Being so father'd and so husbanded?"

c All the charactery of my sad brows:-] All that is written in my melancholy aspect.

No, Cæsar shall not: Danger knows full well
That Cæsar is more dangerous than he:
We are two lions litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible ;-
And Cæsar shall go forth.

CAL.
Alas, my
lord,
Your wisdom is consum'd in confidence.
Do not go forth to-day: call it my fear
That keeps you in the house, and not your own.
We'll send Mark Antony to the senate-house;
And he shall say you are not well to-day :
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.

CES. Mark Antony shall say I am not well; And, for thy humour, I will stay at home.

Enter DECIUS.

Here's Decius Brutus, he shall tell them so.
DEC. Cæsar, all hail! good morrow, worthy
Cæsar:

I come to fetch you to the senate-house.

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. CES.

Shall Cæsar send a lie? Have I in conquest stretch'd mine arm so far, To be afeard to tell grey-beards the truth? Decius, go tell them Cæsar will not come.

DEC. Most mighty Cæsar, let me know some

Welcome, Publius.— What, Brutus, are you stirr'd so early too?— Good morrow, Casca.-Caius Ligarius, Cæsar was ne'er so much your enemy

As that same ague which hath made you lean.— What is 't o'clock?

SCENE III.-The same. A street near the Capitol.

Enter ARTEMIDORUS, reading a paper. ART. Cæsar, beware of Brutus; take heed of Cassius; come not near Casca; have an eye to Cinna; trust not Trebonius; mark well Metellus Cimber; Decius Brutus loves thee not; thou hast wronged Caius Ligarius. There is but one mind in all these men, and it is bent against Cæsar.

a Security gives way to, &c.] The meaning is, over-confidence affords a passage, &c.

b Thy lover,-] It need hardly be repeated that "lover" was

If thou beest not immortal, look about you: security gives way to conspiracy. The mighty gods defend thee! Thy lover,

ARTEMIDORUS.

Here will I stand till Cæsar pass along,
And as a suitor will I give him this.
My heart laments that virtue cannot live
Out of the teeth of emulation.

If thou read this, O, Cæsar, thou mayst live;
If not, the Fates with traitors do contrive. [Exit.

SCENE IV.-The same. Another part of the same Street, before the House of Brutus.

Enter PORTIA and LUCIUS.

POR. I pr'ythee, boy, run to the senate-house; Stay not to answer me, but get thee gone: Why dost thou stay?

formerly equivalent to friend.

e contrive.] See note (a), p. 429, Vol. II.

Luc.

To know my errand, madam. POR. I would have had thee there, and here again,

Ere I can tell thee what thou shouldst do there.-
O, constancy, be strong upon my side!
Set a huge mountain 'tween my heart and
tongue!

I have a man's mind, but a woman's might.
How hard it is for women to keep counsel !-
Art thou here yet?

Luc.

Madam, what should I do?
Run to the Capitol, and nothing else?
And so return to you, and nothing else?
POR. Yes, bring me word, boy, if thy lord
look well,

For he went sickly forth and take good note
What Cæsar doth, what suitors press to him.
Hark, boy! what noise is that ?
Luc. I hear none, madam.
POR.

Pr'ythee, listen well.
I heard a bustling rumour, like a fray,
And the wind brings it from the Capitol.
Luc. 'Sooth, madam, I hear nothing.

Enter Soothsayer.

POR. Come hither, fellow: which way hast thou been?

SOOTH. At mine own house, good lady.
POR. What is 't o'clock ?

SOOTH. That I have, lady: if it will please
Cæsar

To be so good to Cæsar as to hear me,
I shall beseech him to befriend himself.

POR. Why, know'st thou any harm's intended
towards him?

SOOTH. None that I know will be, much that I
fear may chance.

Good morrow to you. Here the street is narrow:
The throng that follows Cæsar at the heels,
Of senators, of prætors, common suitors,
Will crowd a feeble man almost to death:
I'll get me to a place more void, and there
Speak to great Cæsar as he comes along. [Exit.
POR. I must go in.-Ay me! how weak a thing
The heart of woman is! O Brutus!
The heavens speed thee in thine enterprise!
Sure, the boy heard me:-Brutus hath a suit
That Cæsar will not grant.-0, I grow faint.-
Run, Lucius, and commend me to
Say I am merry: come to me again,
And bring me word what he doth say to thee.
[Exeunt severally.

my

lord;