Julius Caesar

Home > Fiction > Julius Caesar > Page 4
Julius Caesar Page 4

by William Shakespeare

For I believe they are portentous things

  Unto the climate that they point upon32.

  CICERO Indeed, it is a strange-disposèd time:

  But men may construe things after their fashion34

  Clean35 from the purpose of the things themselves.

  Comes Caesar to the Capitol tomorrow?

  CASCA He doth, for he did bid Antonio

  Send word to you he would be there tomorrow.

  CICERO Goodnight then, Casca: this disturbèd sky

  Is not to walk in.

  CASCA Farewell, Cicero.

  Exit Cicero

  Enter Cassius

  CASSIUS Who’s there?

  CASCA A Roman.

  CASSIUS Casca, by your voice.

  CASCA Your ear is good. Cassius, what45 night is this?

  CASSIUS A very pleasing night to honest men.

  CASCA Whoever knew the heavens menace so?

  CASSIUS Those that have known the earth so full of faults.

  For my part, I have walked about the streets,

  Submitting me unto the perilous night,

  And thus unbracèd51, Casca, as you see,

  Have bared my bosom to the thunder-stone52:

  And when the cross53 blue lightning seemed to open

  The breast of heaven, I did present myself

  Even in the aim and very flash of it.

  CASCA 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 tokens58 send

  Such dreadful heralds59 to astonish us.

  CASSIUS You are dull, Casca, and those sparks of life

  That should be in a Roman you do want61,

  Or else you use not62. You look pale, and gaze,

  And put on fear, and cast yourself in wonder

  To see the strange impatience64 of the heavens:

  But if you would consider the true cause

  Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts,

  Why birds and beasts, from quality and kind67,

  Why old men, fools, and children calculate68,

  Why all these things change from their ordinance69

  Their natures and preformèd70 faculties

  To monstrous71 quality, why, you shall find

  That heaven hath infused them with these spirits

  To make them instruments of fear and warning

  Unto some monstrous state74.

  Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man

  Most like this dreadful night

  That thunders, lightens77, opens graves and roars

  As doth the lion in the Capitol:

  A man no mightier than thyself, or me,

  In personal action, yet prodigious80 grown

  And fearful, as these strange eruptions81 are.

  CASCA ’Tis Caesar that you mean, is it not, Cassius?

  CASSIUS Let it be who it is, for Romans now

  Have thews84 and limbs like to their ancestors;

  But woe the while, our fathers85’ minds are dead,

  And we are governed with our mothers’ spirits:

  Our yoke and sufferance87 show us womanish.

  CASCA Indeed, they say the senators tomorrow

  Mean to establish Caesar as a king,

  And he shall wear his crown by sea and land90,

  In every place, save here in Italy.

  CASSIUS I know where I will wear this dagger then:

  Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius93.—

  Therein94, 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 to98 the strength of spirit:

  But life being weary of these worldly bars99

  Never lacks power to dismiss itself.

  If I know this, know all the world besides101,

  That part of tyranny that I do bear102

  I can shake off at pleasure103.

  Thunder still

  CASCA So can I:

  So every bondman105 in his own hand bears

  The power to cancel his captivity.

  CASSIUS And why should Caesar 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 hinds110.

  Those that with haste will make a mighty fire111

  Begin it with weak straws. What trash112 is Rome?

  What rubbish, and what offal113, when it serves

  For the base matter to illuminate

  So vile115 a thing as Caesar?— But, O grief,

  Where hast thou led me? I, perhaps, speak this

  Before a willing bondman: then I know

  My answer must be made118. But I am armed,

  And dangers are to me indifferent.

  CASCA You speak to Casca, and to such a man

  That is no fleering tell-tale. Hold, my121 hand:

  Be factious122 for redress of all these griefs

  And I will set this foot of mine123 as far

  As who124 goes farthest.

  They shake hands

  CASSIUS 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 honourable dangerous consequence;

  And I do know by this, they stay130 for me

  In Pompey’s porch131, for now this fearful night

  There is no stir or walking in the streets;

  And the complexion of the element133

  In favour134’s like the work we have in hand

  Most bloody, fiery and most terrible.

  Enter Cinna

  CASCA Stand close136 awhile, for here comes one in haste.

  CASSIUS ’Tis Cinna, I do know him by his gait.

  He is a friend.— Cinna, where haste you so

  CINNA To find out you. Who’s that? Metellus Cimber?

  CASSIUS No, it is Casca, one incorporate140

  To our attempts. Am I not stayed141 for, Cinna?

  CINNA I am glad on’t142. What a fearful night is this?

  There’s two or three of us have seen strange sights.

  CASSIUS Am I not stayed for? Tell me.

  CINNA Yes, you are.

  O Cassius, if you could

  But win the noble Brutus to our party—

  CASSIUS Be you content. Good Cinna, take this paper

  Gives paper

  And look you lay it in the praetor149’s chair

  Where Brutus may but find it150. And throw this

  In at his window; set this up151 with wax

  Upon old Brutus’ statue. All this done,

  Repair153 to Pompey’s porch, where you shall find us.

  Is Decius Brutus and Trebonius there?

  CINNA All but Metellus Cimber, and he’s gone

  To seek you at your house. Well, I will hie156,

  And so bestow these papers as you bade me.

  CASSIUS 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 alchemy165,

  Will change to virtue and to worthiness.

  CASSIUS Him, and his worth, and our great need of him

  You have right well conceited168. Let us go,

  For it is after midnight, and ere day

  We will awake him and be sure of him.

  Exeunt

  [Act 2 Scene 1]

  running scene 2

 
; Enter Brutus in his orchard

  BRUTUS What, Lucius, ho?—

  Calls

  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.—

  When5, Lucius, when? Awake, I say: what, Lucius!

  Enter Lucius

  LUCIUS Called you, my lord?

  BRUTUS Get me a taper7 in my study, Lucius,

  When it is lighted, come and call me here.

  LUCIUS I will, my lord.

  Exit

  BRUTUS It must be by his10 death: and for my part,

  I know no personal cause to spurn11 at him

  But for the general12. 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 that15,

  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

  Remorse19 from power: and to speak truth of Caesar,

  20 I have not known when his affections swayed20

  More than his reason. But ’tis a common proof21

  That lowliness is young ambition’s ladder22

  Whereto the climber upward turns his face.

  But when he once attains the upmost round24,

  He then unto the ladder turns his back,

  Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees26

  By which he did ascend: so Caesar may;

  Then, lest he may, prevent. And since the quarrel28

  Will bear no colour29 for the thing he is,

  Fashion it thus: that what he is, augmented30,

  Would run to these and these extremities:

  And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg

  Which hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous33,

  And kill him in the shell.

  Enter Lucius

  LUCIUS The taper burneth in your closet35, 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.

  Gives him the letter

  BRUTUS Get you to bed again, it is not day.

  Is not tomorrow, boy, the first of March?

  LUCIUS I know not, sir.

  BRUTUS Look in the calendar, and bring me word.

  LUCIUS I will, sir.

  Exit

  BRUTUS The exhalations44 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, etc. Speak, strike, redress.’ —

  ‘Brutus, thou sleep’st. Awake!’

  Such instigations have been often dropped

  Where I have took them up.

  ‘Shall Rome, etc.’ Thus must I piece it out51:

  Shall Rome stand under one man’s awe? What Rome?

  My ancestors did from the streets of Rome

  The Tarquin54 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 petition58 at the hand of Brutus.

  Enter Lucius

  LUCIUS Sir, March is wasted fifteen days.

  Knock within

  BRUTUS ’Tis good. Go to the gate: somebody knocks.—

  [Exit Lucius]

  Since Cassius first did whet61 me against Caesar,

  I have not slept.

  Between the acting of a dreadful thing

  And the first motion64, all the interim is

  Like a phantasma65, or a hideous dream:

  The genius and the mortal instruments66

  Are then in council, and the state67 of man,

  Like to a little kingdom, suffers then

  The nature of an insurrection69.

  Enter Lucius

  LUCIUS Sir, ’tis your brother70 Cassius at the door,

  Who doth desire to see you.

  BRUTUS Is he alone?

  LUCIUS No, sir, there are more with him.

  BRUTUS Do you know them?

  LUCIUS No, sir, their hats are plucked about75 their ears

  And half their faces buried in their cloaks,

  That by no means I may discover77 them

  By any mark of favour78.

  BRUTUS Let ’em enter:—

  [Exit Lucius]

  They are the faction. O conspiracy,

  Sham’st thou to show thy dang’rous brow by night,

  When evils are most free82? O, then, by day

  Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough

  To mask thy monstrous visage84? Seek none, conspiracy,

  Hide it in smiles and affability

  For if thou path thy native semblance on86,

  Not Erebus87 itself were dim enough

  To hide thee from prevention88.

  Enter the conspirators: Cassius, Casca, Decius, Cinna, Metellus and Trebonius

  CASSIUS I think we are too bold89 upon your rest:

  Good morrow, Brutus, do we trouble you?

  BRUTUS I have been up this hour, awake all night.

  Know I these men that come along with you?

  CASSIUS Yes, every man of them; and no man here

  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.

  BRUTUS He is welcome hither.

  CASSIUS This, Decius Brutus.

  BRUTUS He is welcome too.

  CASSIUS This, Casca; this, Cinna; and this, Metellus Cimber.

  BRUTUS They are all welcome.

  What watchful cares103 do interpose themselves

  Betwixt your eyes and night104?

  CASSIUS Shall I entreat a word?

  They whisper

  DECIUS Here lies the east: doth not the day break here?

  CASCA No.

  CINNA O, pardon, sir, it doth; and yon108 grey lines

  That fret109 the clouds are messengers of day.

  CASCA You shall confess that you are both deceived110:

  Here, as111 I point my sword, the sun arises,

  Which is a great way growing on112 the south,

  Weighing113 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.

  BRUTUS Give me your hands all over117, one by one.

  Comes forward with Cassius

  CASSIUS And let us swear our resolution.

  BRUTUS No, not an oath: if not the face of men119,

  The sufferance120 of our souls, the time’s abuse;

  If these be motives weak, break off betimes121,

  And every man hence to his idle122 bed.

  So let high-sighted tyranny range123 on

  Till each man drop by lottery124. But if these —

  As I am sure they do — bear fire enough

  To kindle cowards, and to steel126 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 secret130 Romans that have spoke the word

  And will not palter131? And what other oath

  Than honesty to honesty engaged132,

  That this shall be, or we will fall133 for it?

  Swear priests and cowards, and men cautelous134,

  Old feeble carrions135, and such suffering souls

  That welcome wrongs: unto bad causes swear

  Such creatures as men doubt137. But do not stain

&nb
sp; The even138 virtue of our enterprise,

  Nor th’insuppressive139 mettle of our spirits,

  To think that or140 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 bastardy143

  If he do break the smallest particle

  Of any promise that hath passed from him.

  CASSIUS But what of Cicero? Shall we sound146 him?

  I think he will stand very strong with us.

  CASCA Let us not leave him out.

  CINNA No, by no means.

  METELLUS O, let us have him, for his silver hairs150

  Will purchase us a good opinion,

  And buy men’s voices to commend our deeds:

  It shall be said his judgement ruled our hands.

  Our youths and wildness shall no whit appear,

  But all be buried in his gravity155.

  BRUTUS O, name him not: let us not break156 with him,

  For he will never follow anything

  That other men begin.

  CASSIUS Then leave him out.

  CASCA Indeed, he is not fit.

  DECIUS Shall no man else be touched161, but only Caesar?

  CASSIUS Decius, well urged.— I think it is not meet162

  Mark Antony, so well beloved of Caesar,

  Should outlive Caesar. We shall find of him

  A shrewd contriver. And you know his means165

  If he improve166 them may well stretch so far

  As to annoy167 us all: which to prevent,

  Let Antony and Caesar fall together.

  BRUTUS Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius,

  To cut the head off and then hack the limbs —

  Like wrath in death and envy171 afterwards —

  For Antony is but a limb of Caesar.

  Let’s be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.

  We all stand up against the spirit174 of Caesar,

  And in the spirit175 of men there is no blood.

  O, that we then could come by Caesar’s spirit

  And not dismember Caesar! But, alas,

  Caesar 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 subtle182 masters do,

  Stir up their servants183 to an act of rage

  And after seem to chide184 ’em. This shall make

  Our purpose185 necessary, and not envious,

  Which so appearing to the common eyes,

 

‹ Prev