CINNA, a Poet, -Another POET.

Death of Julius Cesar.

CICERO, PUBLIUS, POPILIUS LENA, Senators.

MARCUS BRUTUS,

CASSIUS,

CASCA,

TREBONIUS,

LIGARIUS,

DECIUS BRUTUS,

METELLUS CIMBER,

CINNA,

Conspirators against Julius Cesar.

FLAVIUS and MARULLUS, Tribunes. ARTEMIDORUS, a Sophist of Cnidos. A SOOTHSAYER.

and VOLUMNIUS, Friends to Brutus and Cassius.

VARRO, CLITUS, CLAUDIUS, STRATO, LUCIUS, DARDANIUS, Servants to Brutus.

PINDARUS, Servant to Cassius.

CALPHURNIA, Wife to Cesar.
PORTIA, Wife to Brutus.

Senators, Citizens, Guards, Attendants, &c.

SCENE, during a great part of the Play, at Rome; afterwards at Sardis; and near Philippi.

ACT I.

SCENE I.-Rome. A Street.

Enter FLAVIUS, MARULLUS, and a Rabble of CITIZENS.

Flav. Hence; home, you idle creatures, get you home;

Is this a holiday? What! know you not,
Being mechanical, you ought not walk,
Upon a labouring day, without the sign
Of your profession?-Speak, what trade art
thou?

1 Cit. Why, Sir, a carpenter.
Mar. Where is thy leather apron, and thy
rule?

What dost thou with thy best apparel on?You, Sir; what trade are you?

2 Cit. Truly, Sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am but, as you would say, a cobbler. Mar. But what trade art thou? Answer me

directly.

2 Cit. A trade, Sir, that, I hope, I may use with a safe conscience; which is, indeed, Sir, a mender of bad soals.

Mar. What trade, thou knave; thou naughty knave, what trade?

2 Cil. Nay, I beseech you, Sir, be not out with me: yet, if you be out, Sir, I can mend you.

Mar. What meanest thou by that? Mend me, thou saucy fellow?

2 Cit. Why, Sir, cobble you.

Flav. Thou art a cobbler, art toou?

2 Cit. Truly, Sir, all that I live by is, with the awl: I meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's matters, but with awl. I am, indeed, Sir, a surgeon to old shoes; when

they are in great danger, I recover them. As proper men as ever trod upon neats-leather, have gone upon my handy-work.

Flav But wherefore art not in thy shop today? [streets? Why dost thou lead these men about the 2 Cit. Truly, Sir, to wear out their shoes, to get myself into more work. But, indeed, Sir, we make holiday to see Cesar, and to rejoice in his triumph.

Mar. Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?

What tributaries follow him to Rome,
To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels?
You blocks, you stones, you worse than sense-
less things!

O, you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,
Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft
Have you climb'd up to walls and battlements,
To towers and windows, yea, to chimney-tops,
Your infants in your arms, and there have sat
The live-long day, with patient expectation,
To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome:
And when you saw his chariot but appear,
Have you not made a universal shout,
That Tyber trembled underneath her banks,
To hear the replication of your sounds,
Made in her concave shores?

And do you now put on your best attire?
And do you now cull out a holiday?

And do you now strew flowers in his way,
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood?
Be gone;

Run to your houses, fall upon your knees,
Pray to the gods to intermit the plague
That needs must light on this ingratitude.
Flav. Go, go, good countrymen, and, for this
fault,

Assemble all the poor men of your sort;* Draw them to Tyber banks, and weep your Into the channel, till the lowest stream [tears Do kiss the most exalted shores of all.

[Exeunt CITIZENS.

See, whe'rt their basest metal be not mov'd; They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness. Go you down that way towards the Capitol; This way will I: Disrobe the images,

If you do find them deck'd with ceremonies.
Mar. May we do so?

You know, it is the feast of Lupercal.
Flav. It is no matter; let no images
Be hung with Cesar's trophies. I'll about,
And drive away the vulgar from the streets:
So do you too, where you perceive them thick.
These growing feathers pluck'd from Cesar's
wing,

Will make him fly an ordinary pitch;
Who else would soar above the view of men,
And keep us all in servile fearfulness.

[Exeunt.

Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires;
I'll leave you.

Cas. Brutus, I do observe you now of late: I have not from your eyes that gentleness, And show of love, as I was wont to have: You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand Over your friend that loves you.

Bru. Cassius,

Be not deceiv'd: if I have veil'd my look,
I turn the trouble of my countenance
Merely upon myself. Vexed I am,
Of late, with passions of some difference,
Conceptions only proper to myself,
Which give some soil, perhaps, to my beha
viours:
[griev'd;
But let not therefore my good friends be
(Among which number, Cassius, be you one ;)
Nor construe any further my neglect,
Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,
Forgets the shows of love to other men.

Cas. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion,

By means whereof, this breast of mine hath buried

Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.
Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?
Bru. No, Cassius: for the eye sees not itself,
But by reflection, by some other things.
Cas. 'Tis just:

And it is very much lamented, Brutus,
That you have no such mirrors, as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye,
That you might see your shadow. I have heard,
Where many of the best respect in Rome,
(Except immortal Cesar,) speaking of Brutus,
And groaning underneath this age's yoke,
Have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes.
Bru. Into what dangers would you lead me,
Cassius,

That you would have me seek into myself
For that which is not in me?

Cas. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepar'd to

hear:

And, since you know you cannot see yourself
So well as by reflection, I, your glass,
Will modestly discover to yourself
That of yourself which you yet know not of.
And be not jealous of me, gentle Brutus:
Were I a common laugher, or did use
To stalet with ordinary oaths my love
To every new protester; if you know
That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard,
And after scandal them; or if you know
That I profess myself in banqueting
To all the rout, then hold me dangerous.
[Flourish and shout.

Bru. What means this shouting? I do fear,

the people Choose Cesar for their king.

Cas. Ay, do you fear it? Then must I think you would not have it so.

Bru. I would not, Cassius; yet I love him

well:

But wherefore do you hold me here so long?
What is it that you would impart to me?
If it be aught toward the general good,
Set honour in one eye, and death i'the other,
And I will look on both indifferently:
For, let the gods so speed me, as I love
The name of honour more than I fear death.

Cas. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, As well as I do know your outward favour.

Well, honour is the subject of my story.

I cannot tell, what you and other men
Think of this life; but, for my single self,

* The nature of your feelings.

† Allure.

692

I had as lief not be, as live to be

In awe of such a thing as I myself.

I was born free as Cesar; so were you:

We both have fed as well; and we can both
Endure the winter's cold, as well as he.
For once, upon a raw and gusty* day,
The troubled Tyber chafing with her shores,
Cesar said to me, Dar'st thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,
And swim to yonder point? Upon the word,
Accouter'd as I was, I plunged in,
And bade him follow: so, indeed, he did.
The torrent roar'd; and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews; throwing it aside
And stemming it with hearts of controversy.
But ere we could arrive the point propos'd,
Cesar cried, Help me, Cassius, or 1 sink.

I, as Æncas, our great ancestor,

Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder The old Anchises bear, so, from the waves of

Tyber

Did I the tired Cesar: And this man

Is now become a god; and Cassius is

A wretched creature, and must bend his body, If Cesar carelessly but nod on him.

He had a fever when he was in Spain,

And, when the fit was on him, I did mark

How he did shake: 'tis true, this god did

shake:

His coward lips did from their colour fly;

brook'd

things.

Till then, my noble friend, chew‡ upon this;
Brutus had rather be a villager,
Than to repute himself a son of Rome
Under these hard conditions as this time }
Is like to lay upon us.

Cas. I am glad, that my weak words
Have struck but this much show of fire from
Brutus.

Re-enter CESAR, and his Train.

Bru. The games are done, and Cesar is returning.

Cas. As they pass by, pluck Casca, by the sleeve;

world,

Did lose his lustre: I did hear him groan: Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Ro[books,

mans

Mark him, and write his speeches in their
Alas! it cried, Give me some drink, Titinius,
As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me,
A man of such a feeble tempert should
So get the start of the majestic world,
And bear the palm alone. [Shout. Flourish.
Bru. Another general shout!
I do believe, that these applauses are

For some new honours that are heap'd on Cesar. Cas. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world,

Like a Colossus; and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs, and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
Brutus, and Cesar: What should be in that
Cesar?

Why should that name be sounded more than
yours?
Write them together, yours is as fair a name;
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;
Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure them,
Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Cesar.

[Shout.

sham'd:

What hath proceeded, worthy note, to-day.
Bru. I will do so:-But, look you, Cassius,
The angry spot doth glow on Cesar's brow,
And all the rest look like a chidden train:
Calphurnia's cheek is pale; and Cicero
Looks with such ferrets and such fiery eyes,
As we have seen him in the Capitol,
Being cross'd in conference by some senators.
Cas. Casca will tell us what the matter is.
Ces. Antonius.

Ant. Cesar.

Ces. Let me have men about me that are
fat;
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o'nights:
Yond' Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
Ant. Fear him not, Cesar, he's not danger-
He is a noble Roman, and well given. (ous;
Ces. 'Would he were fatter:-But I fear
him not:

Yet if my name were liable to fear,
I do not know the man I should avoid
So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads
He is a great observer, and he looks (much
Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no
plays,

As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music:
Seldom he smiles; and smiles in such a sort,
As if he mock'd himself, and scorn'd his spirit
That could be mov'd to smile at any thing.
Such men as he be never at heart's ease,
Whiles they behold a greater than themselves;
And therefore are they very dangerous.
I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd,
Than what I fear, for always I am Cesar.
Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf,
And tell me truly what thou think'st of him.
[Exeunt CESAR and his Train. CASCA
stays behind.

Cusca. You pull'd me by the cloak; Would you speak with me? Bru. Ay, Casca; tell us what hath chanc'd

Bru. I should not then ask Casca what hath chanc'd.

Casca. Why, there was a crown offer'd him: and being offer'd him, he put it by with the back of his hand, thus; and then the people fell a' shouting.

Casca. Ay.
Cas. Did Cicero say any thing?
Casca. Ay, he spoke Greek.
Cas. To what effect?

Bru. What was the second noise for? Casca. Why, for that too.

Cas. They shouted last cry for?

Casca. Why, for that too.
Bru. Was the crown offer'd him thrice?

Casca. Ay, marry, was't, and he put it by thrice, every time gentler than other; and at every putting by, mine honest neighbours

shouted.

Cas. Who offered him the crown?
Casca. Why, Antony.

Bru. Tell us the manner of it, gentle Casca. Casca. I can as well be hanged, as tell the manner of it: it was mere foolery. I did not mark it. I saw Mark Antony offer him a crown;-yet 'twas not a crown neither, 'twas one of these coronets; and, as I told you, he put it by once; but, for all that, to my thinking, he would fain have had it. Then he offered it to him again; then he put it by again: but, to my thinking, he was very loath to lay his fingers off it. And then he offered it the third time; he put it the third time by: and still as he refused it, the rabblement hooted, and clapped their chopped hands, and threw up their sweaty night-caps, and uttered such a deal of stinking breath because Cesar refused the crown, that it had almost choked Cesar; for he swooned, and fell down at it: And for mine own part I durst not laugh, for fear of opening my lips, and receiving the bad air.

Cas. But, soft, I pray you: What? did Cesar swoon?"

Casca. He fell down in the market-place, and foamed at mouth, and was speechless. Bru. "Tis very like: he hath the falling-sick

Bru. What said he, when he came unto himself?

Casca. Marry, before he fell down, when he perceiv'd the common herd was glad he refused the crown, he plucked me ope his doublet, and offered them his throat to cut. - An I had been a man of any occupation, if I would not have taken him at a word, I would I might go to hell among the rogues:-and so he fell. When he came to himself again, he said, If he had done, or said, any thing amiss, he desired their worships to think it was his infirmity. Three or four wenches, where I stood, cried, Alas, good soul!-and forgave him with all their hearts: But there's no heed to be taken of them; if Cesar had stabbed their mothers, they would have done no less.

Bru. And after that, he came, thus sad, away?

remember it.

Cas. Will you sup with me to-night, Cascal Casca. No, I am promised forth.

Cas. Will you dine with me to-morrow?

Casca. Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold, and your dinner worth eating.

Cas. Good: I will expect you.
Casca. Do so: Farewell, both.

[Exit CASCA.

Bru. What a blunt fellow is this grown to be?

He was quick mettle, when he went to school.
Cas. So is he now, in execution
Of any bold or noble enterprise,
However he puts on this tardy form.
This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit,
Which gives men stomach 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 with me, and I will wait for you. Cas. I will do so:-till then, think of the world. [Exit BRUTUS.

Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see,
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 seduc'd?
Cesar doth bear me hard;t but he loves Bru-
tus:

If I were Brutus now, and he were Cassius,
He should not humourt me. I will this night,
In several hands, in at the windows throw,
As if they came from several citizens,
Writings all tending to the great opinion
That Rome holds of his name; wherein ob-
scurely

Cesar's ambition shall be glanced at:
And, after this, let Cesar seat him sure;
For we will shake him, or worse days endure.
[Exit.

SCENE III.-The same. -A Street.

Thunder and Lightning. Enter, from opposite sides, CASCA, with his sword drawn, and CICERO.

Cic. Good even, Casca: Brought you Cesar home ?§ Why are you breathless? and why stare you so? Casca. Are you not mov'd, when all the sway

of earth

Cic. Why, saw you any thing more wonderful?

Casca. A common slave (you know him well by sight,) [burn Held up his left hand, which did flame, and Like 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

saw

Men, all in fire, walk up and down the streets.
And, yesterday, the bird of night did sit,
Even at noon-day, upon the market-place,
Hooting, and shrieking. When these prodigies
Do so conjointly meet, let not men say,
These are their reasons, -They are natural;
For, I believe, they are portentous things
Upon the climate that they point upon.

Cic. Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time:
But men may construe things after their fashion,
Clean* from the purpose of the things them-
selves.
Comes Cesar to the Capitol to-morrow?

Casca. He doth; for he did bid Antonius Send word to you, he would be there to-mor

row.

To monstrous quality; why, you shall find,
That heaven hath infus'd them with these
spirits,
[ing,
To make them instruments of fear, and warn-
Unto some monstrous state. Now could I,
Casca,
[night;
Name to thee a man most like this dreadful
That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and
As doth the lion in the Capitol:
[roars
A man no mightier than thyself, or me,
In personal action; yet prodigious* grown,
And fearful, as these strange eruptions are.
Casca. 'Tis Cesar that you mean: Is it not,
Cassius?

Cas. Let it be who it is: for Romans now Have thewest and limbs like to their ancestors; But, woe the while! our fathers' minds are dead,

And we are govern'd with our mothers' spirits;
Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish.
Casca. Indeed, they say, the senators to-mor-
Mean to establish Cesar as a king:
[row
And he shall wear his crown by sea, and land,
In every place, save here in Italy.

Cas. I know where 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:

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 Cesar? But, O, 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. Holds 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: for now, this fearful night
There is no stir, or walking in the streets;
And the complexion of the element,
Is favour'd, like the work we have in hand,
Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible.