[Enter Brutus.]
Brutus
[Aside] 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. —
[To Lucius] When, Lucius, when? Awake, I say! What, Lucius!
[Enter Lucius, his young servant.]
Lucius
Brutus
Get me a taper in my study, Lucius.
When it is lighted, come and call me here.
Lucius
[Exit Lucius.]
Brutus
It must be by his death; and, for my part,
I know no personal cause to spurn at him,
But for the general. 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 that,
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
Remorse from power, and — to speak truth of Caesar —
I have not known when his affections swayed
More than his reason. But 'tis a common proof,
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 base degrees
By which he did ascend. So Caesar may.
Then, lest he may, prevent. And since the quarrel
Will bear no color 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 serpent's egg —
Which, hatched, would, as his kind, grow mischievous —
And kill him in the shell.
[Re-enter Lucius.]
Lucius
The taper burneth in your closet, 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 Ides of March?
Lucius
Brutus
Look in the calendar and bring me word.
Lucius
[Exit Lucius.]
Brutus
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, et cetera. Speak, strike, redress!
Brutus, thou sleep'st. Awake!"
Such instigations have been often dropped
Where I have took them up.
"Shall Rome, et cetera." Thus must I piece it out:
Shall Rome stand under one man's awe? What, Rome?
My ancestors did from the streets of Rome
The Tarquin drive, when he was call'd 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 petition at the hand of Brutus!
[Re-enter Lucius.]
Lucius
Sir, March is wasted fourteen days.
[Knocking within.]
Brutus
'Tis good. Go to the gate; somebody knocks.
[Exit Lucius.]
Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar
Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma or a hideous dream.
The genius and the mortal instruments
Are then in council, and the state of man,
As a little kingdom, suffers then
The nature of an insurrection.
[Re-enter Lucius.]
Lucius
Sir, 'tis your brother Cassius at the door,
Who doth desire to see you.
Brutus
Lucius
No, sir, there are more with him.
Brutus
Lucius
No, sir, their hats are plucked about their ears,
And half their faces buried in their cloaks,
That by no means I may discover them
Brutus
[Exit Lucius.]
They are the faction. O conspiracy,
Sham'st thou to show thy dang'rous brow by night,
When evils are most free? O then, by day
Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough
To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, conspiracy;
Hide it in smiles and affability;
For if thou path, thy native semblance on,
Not Erebus itself were dim enough
To hide thee from prevention.
[Enter the conspirators, Cassius, Casca, Decius Brutus, Cinna, Metellus Cimber, and Trebonius.]
Cassius
I think we are too bold 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 honors you; and every one doth wish
You had but that opinion of yourself
Which every noble Roman bears of you.
Brutus
Cassius
Brutus
Cassius
This, Casca; this, Cinna; and this, Metellus Cimber.
Brutus
What watchful cares do interpose themselves
Betwixt your eyes and night?
Cassius
[Brutus and Cassius whisper.]
Decius Brutus
Here lies the east. Doth not the day break here?
Casca
Cinna
O, pardon, sir, it doth; and yon grey lines
That fret the clouds are messengers of day.
Casca
You shall confess that you are both deceived.
Here, as I point my sword, the sun arises,
Which is a great way growing on the south,
Weighing 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
[To all the conspirators] Give me your hands all over, one by one.
Cassius
And let us swear our resolution.
Brutus
No, not an oath. If not the face of men,
The sufferance of our souls, the time's abuse —
If these be motives weak, break off betimes,
And every man hence to his idle bed;
So let high-sighted tyranny range on,
Till each man drop by lottery. But if these —
As I am sure they do — bear fire enough
To kindle cowards, and to steel with valor
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 secret Romans, that have spoke the word,
And will not palter? And what other oath
Than honesty to honesty engaged,
That this shall be, or we will fall for it?
Swear priests, and cowards, and men cautelous,
Old feeble carrions, and such suffering souls
That welcome wrongs; unto bad causes swear
Such creatures as men doubt; but do not stain
The even virtue of our enterprise,
Nor th'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 promise that hath passed from him.
Cassius
But what of Cicero? Shall we sound him?
I think he will stand very strong with us.
Casca
Let us not leave him out.
Cinna
Metellus Cimber
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 said his judgment ruled our hands.
Our youths and wildness shall no whit appear,
But all be buried in his gravity.
Brutus
O, name him not. Let us not break with him,
For he will never follow anything
Cassius
Casca
Decius Brutus
Shall no man else be touched but only Caesar?
Cassius
Decius, well urged. I think it is not meet,
Mark Antony, so well beloved of Caesar,
Should outlive Caesar. 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 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 envy afterwards;
For Antony is but a limb of Caesar.
Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.
We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar,
And in the spirit 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 subtle masters do,
Stir up their servants to an act of rage,
And after seem to chide 'em. This shall make
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 Caesar's arm
When Caesar's head is off.
Cassius
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
Cassius
The clock hath stricken three.
Trebonius
Cassius
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 Brutus
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 flatterèd.
For I can give his humor 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 Cimber
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 us. 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.
[Exit 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
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 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.
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 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, your self, your half,
Why you are heavy, and what men tonight
Have had to resort to you; for here have been
Some six or seven, who did hide their faces
Brutus
Kneel not, gentle Portia.
Portia
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 honorable wife,
As dear to me as are the ruddy drops
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
Render me worthy of this noble wife!
[Knocking within.]
Hark, hark! One knocks. Portia, go in awhile,
And by and by thy bosom shall partake
All my engagements I will construe to thee,
All the charactery of my sad brows.
[Exit Portia. Re-enter Lucius with Ligarus.]
Lucius, who's that knocks?
Lucius
Here is a sick man that would speak with you.
Brutus
Caius Ligarius, that Metellus spake of.
Boy, stand aside. 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 honor.
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. 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?
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
Ligarius
And with a heart new-fired I follow you,
To do I know not what; but it sufficeth
Brutus
[Exit.]
