The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works

by William Shakespeare

  And for Mark Antony, think not of him,

  For he can do no more than Caesar’s arm

  When Caesar’s head is off.

  CASSIUS Yet I fear him;

  For in the engrafted love he bears to Caesar—

  BRUTUS

  Alas, good Cassius, do not think of him.

  If he love Caesar, all that he can do

  Is to himself: take thought, and die for Caesar.

  And that were much he should, for he is given

  To sports, to wildness, and much company.

  TREBONIUS

  There is no fear in him. Let him not die;

  For he will live, and laugh at this hereafter.

  Clock strikes

  BRUTUS

  Peace, count the clock.

  CASSIUS The clock hath stricken three.

  TREBONIUS

  ’Tis time to part.

  CASSIUS But it is doubtful yet

  Whether Caesar will come forth today 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 today.

  DECIUS

  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 humour the true bent,

  And I will bring him to the Capitol.

  CASSIUS

  Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him.

  BRUTUS

  By the eighth hour. Is that the uttermost?

  CINNA

  Be that the uttermost, and fail not then.

  METELLUS

  Caius Ligarius doth bear Caesar hard,

  Who rated him for speaking well of Pompey.

  I wonder none of you have thought of him.

  BRUTUS

  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.

  CASSIUS

  The morning comes upon’s. We’ll leave you, Brutus.

  And, friends, disperse yourselves; but all remember

  What you have said, and show yourselves true Romans.

  BRUTUS

  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.Exeunt all but Brutus

  Boy, Lucius!—Fast asleep? It is no matter.

  Enjoy the honey-heavy 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.Enter Portia

  PORTIA Brutus, my lord.

  BRUTUS

  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.

  PORTIA

  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 humour,

  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.

  BRUTUS

  I am not well in health, and that is all.

  PORTIA

  Brutus is wise, and were he not in health

  He would embrace the means to come by it.

  BRUTUS

  Why, so I do. Good Portia, go to bed.

  PORTIA

  Is Brutus sick? And is it physical

  To walk unbracèd and suck up the humours

  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 offence within your mind,

  Which by the right and virtue of my place

  I ought to know of. (Kneeling) 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, your self, your half,

  Why you are heavy, and what men tonight

  Have had resort to you—for here have been

  Some six or seven, who did hide their faces

  Even from darkness.

  BRUTUS Kneel not, gentle Portia.

  PORTIA ⌈rising⌉

  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 your self

  But as it were in sort or limitation?

  To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed,

  And talk to you sometimes? Dwell I but in the

  suburbs

  Of your good pleasure? If it be no more,

  Portia is Brutus’ harlot, not his wife.

  BRUTUS

  You are my true and honourable wife,

  As dear to me as are the ruddy drops

  That visit my sad heart.

  PORTIA

  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 ’em.

  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?

  BRUTUS O ye gods,

  Render me worthy of this noble wife!Knocking within

  Hark, hark, one knocks. Portia, go in a while,

  And by and by thy bosom shall partake

  The secrets of my heart.

  All my engagements I will construe to thee,

  All the charactery of my sad brows.

  Leave me with haste.Exit Portia

  Lucius, who’s that knocks?Enter Lucius, and Ligarius, with a kerchief ⌈round his head⌉

  LUCIUS

  Here is a sick man that would speak with you.

  BRUTUS

  Caius Ligarius, that Metellus spake of.—

  Boy, stand aside.⌈Ex
it⌉ Lucius

  Caius Ligarius, how?

  LIGARIUS

  Vouchsafe good morrow from a feeble tongue.

  BRUTUS

  O, what a time have you chose out, brave Caius,

  To wear a kerchief! Would you were not sick!

  LIGARIUS

  I am not sick if Brutus have in hand

  Any exploit worthy the name of honour.

  BRUTUS

  Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius,

  Had you a healthful ear to hear of it.

  LIGARIUS

  By all the gods that Romans bow before,

  I here discard my sickness.He pulls off his kerchief Soul of Rome,

  Brave son derived from honourable loins,

  Thou like an exorcist hast conjured up

  My mortifièd spirit. Now bid me run,

  And I will strive with things impossible,

  Yea, get the better of them. What’s to do?

  BRUTUS

  A piece of work that will make sick men whole.

  LIGARIUS

  But are not some whole that we must make sick?

  BRUTUS

  That must we also. What it is, my Caius,

  I shall unfold to thee as we are going

  To whom it must be done.

  LIGARIUS 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.

  BRUTUS Follow me then.

  Exeunt

  2.2 Thunder and lightning. Enter Julius Caesar in his nightgown

  CAESAR

  Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace tonight.

  Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out

  ‘Help, ho! They murder Caesar!’—Who’s within?

  Enter a Servant

  SERVANT My lord.

  CAESAR

  Go bid the priests do present sacrifice,

  And bring me their opinions of success.

  SERVANT I will, my lord.Exit

  Enter Calpurnia

  CALPURNIA

  What mean you, Caesar? Think you to walk forth?

  You shall not stir out of your house today.

  CAESAR

  Caesar shall forth. The things that threatened me

  Ne’er looked but on my back; when they shall see

  The face of Caesar, they are vanished.

  CALPURNIA

  Caesar, 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 whelpèd 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 do neigh, and dying men did groan,

  And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.

  O Caesar, these things are beyond all use,

  And I do fear them.

  CAESAR What can be avoided

  Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?

  Yet Caesar shall go forth, for these predictions

  Are to the world in general as to Caesar.

  CALPURNIA

  When beggars die there are no comets seen;

  The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of

  princes.

  CAESAR

  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.

  Enter Servant

  What say the augurers?

  SERVANT

  They would not have you to stir forth today.

  Plucking the entrails of an offering forth,

  They could not find a heart within the beast.

  CAESAR

  The gods do this in shame of cowardice.

  Caesar should be a beast without a heart

  If he should stay at home today for fear.

  No, Caesar shall not. Danger knows full well

  That Caesar is more dangerous than he.

  We are two lions littered in one day,

  And I the elder and more terrible.

  And Caesar shall go forth.

  CALPURNIA Alas, my lord,

  Your wisdom is consumed in confidence.

  Do not go forth today. Call it my fear

  That keeps you in the house, and not your own.

  We’ll send Mark Antony to the Senate House,

  And he shall say you are not well today.

  Let me upon my knee prevail in this.She kneels

  CAESAR

  Mark Antony shall say I am not well,

  And for thy humour I will stay at home.Enter Decius

  Here’s Decius Brutus; he shall tell them so.⌈Calpurnia rises⌉

  DECIUS

  Caesar, all hail! Good morrow, worthy Caesar.

  I come to fetch you to the Senate House.

  CAESAR

  And you are come in very happy time

  To bear my greeting to the senators

  And tell them that I will not come today.

  Cannot is false, and that I dare not, falser.

  I will not come today; tell them so, Decius.

  CALPURNIA

  Say he is sick.

  CAESAR Shall Caesar send a lie?

  Have I in conquest stretched mine arm so far,

  To be afeard to tell greybeards the truth?

  Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come.

  DECIUS

  Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause,

  Lest I be laughed at when I tell them so.

  CAESAR

  The cause is in my will; I will not come.

  That is enough to satisfy the Senate.

  But for your private satisfaction,

  Because I love you, I will let you know.

  Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at home.

  She dreamt tonight she saw my statue,

  Which like a fountain with an hundred spouts

  Did run pure blood; and many lusty Romans

  Came smiling and did bathe their hands in it.

  And these does she apply for warnings and portents

  Of evils imminent, and on her knee

  Hath begged that I will stay at home today.

  DECIUS

  This dream is all amiss interpreted.

  It was a vision fair and fortunate.

  Your statue spouting blood in many pipes,

  In which so many smiling Romans bathed,

  Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck

  Reviving blood, and that great men shall press

  For tinctures, stains, relics, and cognizance.

  This by Calpurnia’s dream is signified.

  CAESAR

  And this way have you well expounded it.

  DECIUS

  I have, when you have heard what I can say.

  And know it now: the Senate have concluded

  To give this day a crown to mighty Caesar.

  If you shall send them word you will not come,

  Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock

  Apt to be rendered for someone to say

  ‘Break up the Senate till another time,

  When Caesar’s wife shall meet with better dreams.’

  If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper

  ‘Lo, Caesar is afraid’?

  Pardon me, Caesar; for my dear dear love

  To your proceeding bids me tell you this,

  And reason to my love is liable.

  CAESAR

  How fool
ish do your fears seem now, Calpurnial

  I am ashamed I did yield to them.

  Give me my robe, for I will go.Enter ⌈Cassius,⌉ Brutus, Ligarius, Metellus, Casca, Trebonius, and Cinna

  And look where Cassius is come to fetch me.

  ⌈CASSIUS⌉

  Good morrow, Caesar.

  CAESAR Welcome, Cassius.—

  What, Brutus, are you stirred so early too?—

  Good morrow, Casca.—Caius Ligarius,

  Caesar was ne‘er so much your enemy

  As that same ague which hath made you lean.

  What is’t o’clock?

  BRUTUS Caesar, ’tis strucken eight.

  CAESAR

  I thank you for your pains and courtesy.

  Enter Antony

  See, Antony that revels long a-nights

  Is notwithstanding up. Good morrow, Antony.

  ANTONY

  So to most noble Caesar.

  CAESAR ⌈to Calpurnia⌉ Bid them prepare within.

  I am to blame to be thus waited for. ⌈Exit Calpurnia⌉

  Now, Cinna.—Now, Metellus.—What, Trebonius!

  I have an hour’s talk in store for you.

  Remember that you call on me today.

  Be near me, that I may remember you.

  TREBONIUS

  Caesar, I will, ⌈aside⌉ and so near will I be

  That your best friends shall wish I had been further.

  CAESAR

  Good friends, go in and taste some wine with me,

  And we, like friends, will straightway go together.

  BRUTUS (aside)

  That every like is not the same, O Caesar,

  The heart of Brutus ernes to think upon. Exeunt

  2.3 Enter Artemidorus, reading a letter

  ARTEMIDORUS ’Caesar, beware of Brutus. Take heed of Cassius. Come not near Casca. Have an eye to Cinna. Trust not Trebonius. Mark well Metellus Cimber. Decius Brutus loves thee not. Thou hast wronged Caius Ligarius. There is but one mind in all these men, and it is bent against Caesar. If thou beest not immortal, look about you. Security gives way to conspiracy. The mighty gods defend thee!

  Thy lover,

  Artemidorus.’

  Here will I stand till Caesar pass along,

  And as a suitor will I give him this.

  My heart laments that virtue cannot live

  Out of the teeth of emulation.

  If thou read this, O Caesar, thou mayst live.