And he shall wear his crown by sea and land,
In every place, save here in Italy.

Cas. I know were I will wear this dagger, then:
Cassius 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.

If I know this, know all the world besides,
That part of tyranny, that I do bear,
I can shake off at pleasure.

Casca. So can I :

So every bondman in his own hand bears,
The power to cancel his captivity.

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, oh 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.

Enter Cinna.

Casca. Stand close a while, 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?

Cos. No; it is Casca, one incorporate

To our attempts.—Am I not stand for, Cinna?
Cin. Yes, you are.--

O Cassius! could you win the noble Brutus
To our party-

Cas. Be you content.—Good Cinna, take this pa

per:—

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 bid me.

[Exit Cinna. Cas. Come, Casca, you and I will, yet, ere day, See Brutus at his house; three parts of him

Arc ours already, and the man entire,

Upon the next encounter, yields him ours. [Exeunt.

SCENE 11.

BRUTUS' Garden.

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. Call'd 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 crown'd

How that might change his nature? there's the ques tion

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.
Th' abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins
Remorse from power: and, to speak truth of Cæsar,
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 upwards turns his face;
But when he once attains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
2

Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees,
By which he had ascended.

So Cæsar 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 mischievous;
And kill him in the shell.

Enter Lucius.

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.

[Gives him a Letter.
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,

[Exit.

[Lightning.

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

speak, strike, redress.

Brutus, thou sleep'st; awake.

Such instigations have been often dropp'd,
Where I have took them up.

Shall Rome 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? Q Rome! I make the promise,

If the redress will follow, thou receiv'st
Thy full petition, at the hand of Brutus !
Enter Lucius.

Luc. Sir, March is wasted fourteen days.

[Knocks within.

[Exit LUCIUS.

Bru. 'Tis good. Go to the gate; somebody knocks.

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 phantasms, 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.

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 faces are buried in their robes,

That by no means I may discover them,

By any mark of favour.

Bru. Let them enter.

They are the faction.—O conspiracy!

[Erit LUCIUS.

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 put thy native semblance on,

Not Erebus itself were dim enough

To hide thee from prevention.