Cas. And why should Cæsar 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 Cæsar? 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 armed,
And dangers are to me indifferent.

Casea. You speak to Casca; and to such a man,
That is no fleering telltale. 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 moved already
Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans,
To undergo with me an enterprise

Of honorable-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,

In favor's like the work we have in hand,
Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible.

Enter CINNA.

Casca. Stand close awhile, for here comes one in haste. Cas. 'Tis Cinna; I do know him by his gait;

He is a friend.- Cinna, where haste you so?

Cin. To find out you. Who's that? Metellus Cimber? Cas. No, it is Casca; one incorporate

To our attempts. Am I not staid for, Cinna?

Cin. I am glad on't. What a fearful night is this! There's two or three of us have seen strange sights. Cas. Am I not staid for, Cinna? Tell me.

Cin.

You are. O Cassius, if you could but win

The noble Brutus to our party

Yes,

Cas. Be you content. Good Cinna, take this paper,

And look you lay it in the prætor's chair,

Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this

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 us.
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 alchemy,

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.

[Exeunt.

ACT II.

SCENE I. The same. Brutus's Orchard.

Enter BRUTUS.

Bru. What, Lucius! ho!

I cannot, by the progress of the stars,

Give guess how near to day.-Lucius, I say!-
I would it were my fault to sleep so soundly.-
When, Lucius, when? Awake, I say. What, Lucius!

Enter LUCIUS.

Luc. Called 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 crowned;

How that might change his nature, there's the question. It is the bright day that brings forth the adder;

And that craves wary walking. Crown him?- That; —
And then, I grant, we put a sting in him,
That at his will he may do danger with.
The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins.
Remorse from power. And, to speak truth of Cæsar,
I have not known when his affections swayed
More than his reason.-But 'tis a common proof,
That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber-upward turns his face;
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 Cæsar may;

Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel
Will bear no color 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, hatched, would, as his kind, grow mischievous,
And kill him in the shell.

Re-enter LUCIUS.

Luc. The taper burneth in your closet, sir.
Searching the window for a flint, I found
This paper, thus sealed 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.

[Exit.

[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 dropped
Where I have took them up.

What! Rome?

Shall Rome, &c. Thus must I piece it out;
Shall Rome stand under one man's awe?
My ancestors did from the streets of Rome
The Tarquin drive, when he was called a king.
Speak, strike, redress!-Am I entreated

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!

Re-enter LUCIUS.

Luc. Sir, March is 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
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.

Re-enter LUCIUS.

Luc. Sir, 'tis your brother Cassius at the door, Who doth desire to see you.

Bru.

Is he alone?

Luc. No, sir; there are more with him.

Bru.

Do you know them? Luc. No, sir; their hats are plucked about their ears, And half their faces buried in their cloaks,

That by no means I may discover them
By any mark of favor.

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? O then, by day,

Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough

To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, conspiracy;

Hide it in smiles, and affability;

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 honors you; and every one doth wish,
You had but that opinion of yourself,
Which every noble Roman bears of you.
This is Trebonius.

[They whisper.

What watchful cares do interpose themselves

Betwixt your eyes and night?

Cas. Shall I entreat a word?

Dec. Here lies the east. Doth not the day break here? Casca. No.

Cin. O, pardon, sir, it doth; and yon gray 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 valor
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,