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Which gives men ftomach to digest his words
With better appetite.

Bru. And so it is. For this time I will leave you:
To-morrow, if you please to speak with me,
I will come home to you; or, if you will,
Come home to me, and I will wait for you.
Caf. I will do fo:-till then, think of the world:
[Exit Brutus.

Well, Brutus, thou art noble: yet, I fee,
Thy honourable metal may be wrought
From that it is dispos'd': Therefore 'tis meet
That noble minds keep ever with their likes:
For who so firm, that cannot be feduc'd?
Cæfar doth bear me hard; but he loves Brutus :
If I were Brutus now, and he were Caffius,
He should not humour me2. I will this night,
In several hands, in at his windows throw,
As if they came from several citizens,

Do so conjointly meet, let not men say,
These are their reasons, They are natural;
For, I believe, they are portentous things
Unto the climate that they point upon.
5 Cic. Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time:
But men may construe things after their fashion,
Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.
Comes Cæfar to the Capitol to-morrow?

Cafca. He doth: for he did bid Antonius
10 Send word to you, he would be there to-morrow.
Cic. Good night then, Cafca: this disturbed sky
Is not to walk in.

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Writings, all tending to the great opinion
That Rome holds of his name; wherein obfcurely 20
Cæfar's ambition shall be glanced at :

And, after this, let Cæfar feat him fure;

For we will shake him, or worse days endure.

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[Exit.

Thunder and Lightning. Enter Casca, bis fword drawn; and Cicero, meeting him.

Cic. Good even, Casca: Brought you Cæfar home?

Why are you breathless? and why stare you so?
Cafca. Are you not mov'd, when all the sway
of earth 3

Shakes, like a thing unfirm? O Cicero,
I have seen tempefts, when the scolding winds
Have riv'd the knotty oaks; and I have seen
The ambitious ocean swell, and rage, and foam,
To be exalted with the threatning clouds:
But never 'till to-night, never 'till now,
Did I go through a tempeft dropping fire.
Either there is a civil strife in heaven;
Or else the world, too faucy with the gods,
Incenses them to send destruction.

Cic. Why, saw you any thing more wonderful?
Cafca. A common slave (you know him well by

fight)

Caf. Cafca, by your voice.

[this?

Cafca. Your ear is good. Caffius, what night is
Caf. A very pleasing night to honest men.

Cafca. Who ever knew the heavens menace fo?

Caf. Those, that have known the earth fo full of

faults.

For my part, I have walk'd about the streets,
Submitting me unto the perilous night;
25 And, thus unbraced, Casca, as you fee,
Have bar'd my bosom to the thunder-stone:
And, when the cross blue lightning seem'd to open
The breaft of heaven, I did present myfelf
Even in the aim and very flash of it.

Held up his left hand, which did flame, and burn
Lake twenty torches join'd; and yet his hand,
Not sensible of fire, remain'd unscorch'd.
Besides, (I have not since put up my sword)
Against the Capitol I met a lion,
Who glar'd upon me, and went surly by,
Without annoying me: and there were drawn
Upon a heap a hundred ghastly women,
Transformed with their fear; who swore, they faw
Men, all in fire, walk up and down the streets.
And, yesterday, the bird of night did fit,
Even at noon-day, upon the market-place,
Hooting, and shrieking. When these prodigies

30 Cafca. But wherefore did you so much tempt
the heavens ?

It is the part of men to fear and tremble,
When the most mighty gods, by tokens, send
Such dreadful heralds to aftonish us.

[life

35 Caf. You are dull, Cafca; and those sparks of
That should be in a Roman, you do want,
Or else you use not: You look pale, and gaze,
And put on fear, and caft yourself in wonder,
To fee the strange impatience of the heavens:

40 But if you would confider the true cause,
Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts,
Why birds, and beasts, from quality and kind 4;
Why old men fools, and children calculate 5;
Why all these things change, from their ordinance,

45 Their natures, and pre-formed faculties,
To monstrous quality; why, you shall find,
That heaven hath infus'd them with these spirits,
To make them instruments of fear, and warning,
Unto some monstrous state.

50 Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man
Most like this dreadful night;

That thunders, lightens, opens grayes, and roars
As doth the lion in the Capitol:

A man no mightier than thyself, or me,

:

55 In personal action; yet prodigious 6 grown,
And fearful, as these strange eruptions are.
Cafca. "Tis Cæfar that you mean: Is it not, Caffius?
Caf. Let it be who it is: for Romans now
Have thews 7 and limbs like to their ancestors;
60 But, woe the while! our fathers' minds are dead,
And we are govern'd with our mothers' spirits;

not

bumour

Li. e. The best metal or temper may be worked into qualities contrary to its original conftitution. * The meaning is, Cæfar loves Brutus, but me, should not take hold of my affection, so as to make me forget my principles. 3 The whole

if Brutus and I were to change places, bis love should

4 i. e. why they deviate from quality and nature.

weight or momentum of this globe. or propbefy. Prodigious is portentous. ftrength.

si. e. foretel 1 Thewes is an obfolete word implying nerves or muscular Our yoke and fufferance shew us womanish.

Cafta. Indeed, they say, the senators to-morrow
Mean to establish Cæfar as a king :
And he shall wear his crown by fea, and land,
In every place, save here in Italy.

Caf. I know where I will wear this dagger then;
Caffius from bondage will deliver Caffius:
Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong;
Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat:
Nor ftony 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.

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Where haft thou led me? I, perhaps, speak this 30 And so bestow these papers as you bade me.

So vile a thing as Cæfar? But, O, grief!

Before a willing bondman: then I know

My answer must be made: But I am arm'd,

And dangers are to me indifferent.

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Cin. All but Metellus Cimber; and he's gone To feek you at your house. Well, I will hie,

Caf. That done, repair to Pompey's theatre.
[Exit Cinna.

As who goes fartheft.

Caf. There's a bargain made.
Now know you, Casca, I have mov'd already
Some certain of the nobleft-minded Romans,
To undergo, with me, an enterprize
Of honourable-dangerous consequence;
And I do know, by this, they stay for me

Come, Cafca, you and I will, yet, ere day,
See Brutus at his house: three parts of him
35 Is ours already; and the man entire,
Upon the next encounter, yields him ours.
Cafca. O, he fits high in all the people's hearts:
And that, which would appear offence in us,
His countenance, like richest alchymy,

40 Will change to virtue, and to worthiness. [him,
Caf. Him, and his worth, and our great need of
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.

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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
Remorfe1 from power: And, to speak truthof Cæfar,
I have not known when his affections sway'd
More than his reason. But 'tis a common proof2,
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 bare degrees 3
By which he did afcend: So Cæfar may;
Then, left he may, prevent. And, fince 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 ferpent's egg,
Which, hatch'd, would, as his kind, grow mif-
And kill him in the shell.
[chievous;

Re-enter Lucius.

Luc. The taper burneth in your closet, fir.
Searching the window for a flint, I found
This paper, thus feal'd up; and, I am fure,
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, fir.

Bru. Look in the kalendar, and bring me word.
Luc. I will, fir.
[Exit.

Bra. The exhalations, whizzing in the air, 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!

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They are the faction. O conspiracy!

15 Sham'st thou to shew thy dangerous brow by night, When evils are most free? O, then, by day,

Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough [racy;
To mark thy monstrous visage? Seek none, confpi-
Hide it in smiles, and affability:

20 For if thou path, thy native semblance on,
Not Erebus itself were dim enough
To hide thee from prevention.

25

Enter Caffius, Cafca, Decius, Cinna, Metellus, and

Trebonius.

Caf. I think, we are too bold upon your reft:
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?
Caf. Yes, every man of them; and no man here,

3c 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.

Bru. He is welcome hither.

35 Caf. This, Decius Brutus.
Bru. He is welcome too.
Caf. This, Casca; this, Cinna;

My ancestors did from the streets of Rome [Rome? 40 What watchful cares do interpose themselves.

And this, Metellus Cimber.

Bru. They are all welcome.

The Tarquin drive, when he was call'd a king.

Betwixt your eyes and night?

"Speak, strike, redress!"-Am I entreated

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To speak, and strike? O Rome! I make thee pro

Dec. Here lies the east: Doth not the day break

If the redress will follow, thou receivest

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Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus!

45

Cin. O, pardon, fir, it doth; and yon grey lines, That fret the clouds, are messengers of day.

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Re-enter Lucius.

Luc. Sir, March is wasted fourteen days.

Bru. 'Tis good. Go to the gate; fomebody

Here, as I point my sword, the fun arifes;
[Exit Lucius. 50 Which is a great way growing on the fouth,
Weighing the youthful feason of the year.
Some two months hence, up higher toward the north
He first presents his fire; and the high eaft
Stands, as the Capitol, directly here.

knocks.

Since Caffius first did whet me against Cæfar,

I have not flept.

Between the acting of a dreadful thing,

And the first motion, all the interim is

Like a pliantasma, or a hideous dream:

The genius, and the mortal inftruments,

Are then in council; and the state of man,

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Ii.e. pity. 2 i. e. common obfervation, or experience. 3 i. e. low steps. 4 Shakspeare here defcribes what passes in a single bosom, the insurrection which a confpirator feels agitating the little kingdom of his own mind; when the genius, or power that watches for his protection, and the mortal inftruments, the paffions which excite him to a deed of honour and danger, are in council and debate; when the defire of action, and the care of fafety, keep the mind in continual fluctuation and disturbance. 5 Caffius married Junia, Brutus' fifter. 6 i. e, if thou walk in thy true form.

The

The sufferance of our fouls, the time's abuse,
If these be motives weak, break off betimes,
And every man hence to his idle bed;
So let high-fighted tyranny range on,
'Till each man drop by lottery 1. But if these,
As I am fure 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 fecret Romans, that have spoke the word,
And will not palter? and what other oath,
Than honesty to honesty engag'd,

That this shall be, or we will fall for it?

O, that we then could come by Cæfar's spirit,
And not dismember Cæfar! But, alas,
Cæfar must bleed for it; And, gentle friends,
Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;
5 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 fubtle masters do,
Stir up their servants to an act of rage,
And after seem to chide them. This shall make

To Our purpose necessary, and not envious:
Which so appearing to the common eyes,
We shall be call'd purgers, not murderers.
And for Mark Antony, think not of him;
For he can do no more than Cæfar's arm,

Caf. Yet I fear him:

Swear priests, and cowards, and men cautelous 2, 15 When Cæsar's head is off.

Old feeble carrions, and fuch suffering fouls

That welcome wrongs; unto bad causes swear
Such creatures as men doubt: but do not ftain
The even virtue of our enterprize,

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 promife that hath past from him.

Caf. But what of Cicero? Shall we found him?

I think, he will stand very strong with us.

Cafca. Let us not leave him out.

Cin. No, by no means.

Met. O, let us have him; for his silver hairs

Will purchase us a good opinion,

And buy men's voices to commend our deeds:
It shall be faid, his judgement rul'd our hands;

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30 Whe'r Cæfar will come forth to-day, or no:
For he is superftitious grown of late;
Quite from the main opinion he held once
Of fantasy, of dreams, and ceremonies :
It may be, these apparent prodigies,

Our youths, and wildness, shall no whit appear, 35 The unaccustom'd terror of this night,

But all be bury'd in his gravity.

[him;

Bru. O, name him not: let us not break with

For he will never follow any thing

That other men begin.

Caf. Then leave him out.

Cafca. Indeed, he is not fit.

Dec. Shall no man else be touch'd, but only Cæfar?
Caf. Decius, well urg'd:-I think, it is not meet,

Mark Antony, so well belov'd of Cæfar,

Should out-live Cæfar: We shall find of him
Ashrewd 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 Cæfar fall together.

[Caffius,

And the perfuafion of his augurers,
May hold him from the Capitol to-day.
Dec. Never fear that: If he be so refolv'd,

I can o'ersway him: for he loves to hear,
40 That unicorns may be betray'd 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.

45 Let me work:

Bru. Our course will seem too bloody, Caius 50
To cut the head off, and then hack the limbs;
Like wrath in death, and envy afterwards:
For Antony is but a limb of Cæfar.

Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.
We all stand up against the spirit of Cæfar;
And in the spirit of men there is no blood:

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

Caf. Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him.
Bru. By the eighth hour: Is that the uttermoft?
Cin. Be that the uttermost, and fail not then.
Met. Caius Ligarius doth bear Cæfar hard 5,
Who rated him for speaking well of Pompey;
I wonder, none of you have thought of him.

Bru. Now, good Metellus, go along to him: 55 He loves me well, and I have given him reasons; Send him but hither, and I'll fashion him.

Perhaps the poet here alludes to the custom of decimation, i. e. the selection by lot of every tenth

foldier, in a general mutiny, for punishment. 2 i. e. cautious. 3 That is, turn melancholy. corns are faid to have been taken by one who, running behind a tree, eluded the violent push the animal was making at him, so that his horn spent its force on the trunk, and stuck faft, detaining the beast till he was dispatched by the hunter. Bears are reported to have been surprised by means of a mirror, which they would gaze on, affording their purfuers an opportunity of taking the furer aim. Elephants were feduced into pitfalls lightly covered with hurdles and turf, on which a proper bait to tempt them was exposed. 5 i. e. bates Cæfar.

4 Uni

Caf.

-

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[now?

Por. Brutus, my lord!
Bru. Portia, what mean you? Wherefore rife you
It is not for your health, thus to commit
Your weak condition to the raw cold morning.

Por. Nor for yours neither. You have ungent-
ly, Brutus,

Stole from my bed: And yesternight, at supper,
You fuddenly arose, and walk'd about,
Mufing, and fighing, with your arms across :
And when I afk'd you what the matter was,
You star'd upon me with ungentle looks:
I urg'd you further, then you scratch'd your head,
And too impatiently stamp'd with your foot:
Yet I insisted, yet you answer'd not;

But, with an angry wafture of your hand,

Gave fign for me to leave you: So I did;

Fearing to strengthen that impatience,

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 fecrets
That appertain to you? Am I yourself,
But, as it were, in fort, or limitation;

15 To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed,
And talk to you fometimes? Dwell I but in

20

the fuburbs

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

I grant, I am a woman; but, withal,
25 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?

30 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 ?

Which seem'd too much enkindled; and, withal, 35 Bru. O ye gods,

Hoping it was but an effect of humour,

Which fometime hath his hour with every man.
It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor fleep;
And, could it work so much upon your shape,
As it hath much prevail'd 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 wife, and, were he not in health,
He would embrace the means to come by it.
Bru. Why, fo I do:-Good Portia, go to bed.
Por. Is Brutus fick? and is it physical
To walk unbraced, and fuck up the humours
Of the dank morning? What, is Brutus fick;
And will he steal out of his wholesome bed,
To dare the vile contagion of the night?
And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air
To add unto his fickness? No, my Brutus;
You have fome fick offence within your mind,
Which, by the right and virtue of my place,
I ought to know of: And, upon my knees,

[Knock.

Render me worthy of this noble wife !
Hark, hark! one knocks: Portia, go in a while;
And by and by thy bosom shall partake
The fecrets of my heart.

40 All my engagements I will construe to thee,
All the charactery 3 of my fad brows :-
Leave me with hafte.

45

50

Enter Lucius, and Ligarius.

Lucius, who is that knocks?

[Exit Portia.

[you.

Luc. Here is a fick man that would speak with
Bru. Caius Ligarius, that Metellus spake of.-
Boy, stand afide. - Caius Ligarius! how?

tongue.

Lig. Vouchsafe good morrow from a feeble
[Caius,
Bru. O, what a time have you chose out, brave
To wear a kerchief? Would you were not fick!
Lig. I am not fick, if Brutus have in hand
Any exploit worthy the name of honour.
Bru. Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius,

55 Had you a healthful ear to hear of it.

Lig. By all the gods, that Romans bow before,

* Comfort your bed, " is but an odd phrase, and gives as odd an idea," says Mr. Theobald. He therefore substitutes, confort. But this good old word, however disused through modern refinement, was not fo difcarded by Shakspeare. Henry VIII. as we read in Cavendish's Life of Wolfey, in commendation of queen Katharine, in public faid, " She hath beene to me a true obedient wife, and as "comfortable as I could wish." In our marriage ceremony, also, the husband promises to comfort his wife; and Barrett's Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionary, 1582, says, that to comfort is, " to recreate, to "folace, to make pastime." Perhaps here is an allusion to the place in which the harlots of Shakfpeare's age refided, 3 i. e. all that is character'd on, &c.

2

I here

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