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

Mark 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:
Oh 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 carcass 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 mark
Our purpose necessary, and not envious;
Which so appearing to the common eyes,
We shall be called purgers, not murderers.
And for Mark Antony, think not of him;
For he can do no more than Cæsar's arm
When Cæsar's head is off.

Cas. Yet I do 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, to wildness, and much company.
Treb. There is no fear in him: let him not die;

For he will live, and laugh at this hereafter.
Bru. Peace! count the clock.

Cas. The clock hath stricken three.
Treb. 'Tis time to part.

Cas. But it is doubtful yet

Whether Cæsar will come forth to-day, or no:
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.

[Clock strikes.

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 humor 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.

Brutus.

Cas. The morning comes upon us: we'll leave you,
And, friends, disperse yourselves; but all remember
What you have said, and show 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!

Boy! Lucius! Fast asleep? It is no matter;
Enjoy the heavy honey-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.

Por. Brutus, my lord!

Enter PORTIA.

[Exeunt all but BRUTUS.

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've ungently, 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 humor,

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 unbraced, and suck up the humors
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 unpurgèd air
To add unto his sickness? No, my Brutus:
You have some sick offense 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 vou sometimes? Dwell I but in the suburbs

Of your good pleasure? If it be no more,

Portia is Brutus' hariot, not his wife.

Bru. You are my true and honorable 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?

Lucius, who is that knocks?

Luc. Here is a sick man that would speak with you.
Bru. Caius Ligarius, that Metellus spake of..

Boy, stand aside! Caius Ligarius! how?

Lig. Vouchsafe good-morrow from a feeble tongue.

Bru. Oh, 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 honor.

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 honorable 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 make sick?
Bru. That must we also. What it is, my Caius,

I shall unfold to thee, as we are going

To whom it must be done.

Lig. Set on your foot;

And with a heart new fired I follow you,

To do I know not what: but it sufficeth
That Brutus leads me on.

Bru. Follow me, then.

[Exeunt.

The Same. A Room in CESAR's Palace.

Thunder and lightning. Enter CÆSAR in his night-gown.

Cæs. Nor heaven nor earth hath been at peace to-night. Thrice hath Calphurnia in her sleep cried out,

66 Help, ho! they murder Cæsar!" Who's within?

Serv. My lord?

Enter a SERVANT.

Caes. Go bid the priests do present ɛacrifice, And bring me their opinions of success.

Serv. I will, my lord.

[Exit.

Enter CALPHURNIA.

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 whelped 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 did 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.

What say the augurers?

Re-enter a Servant.

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.

Caes. 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 are two lions littered in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible;
And Cæsar shall go forth.

Cal. Alas, my lord!

Your wisdom is consumed 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;