But bear it as our Roman actors do, [Exeunt all but BRUTUS. Boy! Lucius! - Fast asleep? It is no matter; Por. Enter PORTIA. Brutus, my lord! 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 have ungently, Stole from my bed: And yesternight, at supper, Musing, and sighing, with your arms across : I urg'd you further; then you scratch'd your head, But, with an angry wafture of your hand, Which seem'd too much enkindled; and, withal, 5 5 on your condition,] On your temper; the disposition of your mind. I should not know you, Brutus. Dear, my lord, Bru. I am not well in health, and that is all. Bru. Why, so I do:-Good Portia, go to bed. 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 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. Bru. You are my true and honourable 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, Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose them : Here, in the thigh: Can I bear that with patience, Bru. 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. Enter LUCIUS and LIGARIUS. Lucius, who's 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. O, what a time have you chose out, brave Caiu s 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 honour. 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, deriv'd from honourable loins! Thou, like an exorcist, hast conjur❜d up 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 Lig. Bru. Follow me then. [Exeunt. The same. SCENE II. A Room in Cæsar's Palace. Thunder and Lightning. Enter CÆSAR, in his Night gown. Cas. Nor heaven, nor earth, have been at peace to night: Thrice hath Calphurnia in her sleep cried out, Serv. My lord? Enter a Servant. Cas. Go bid the priests do present sacrifice, And bring me their opinions of success. Serv. I will, my lord. • Thou, like an exorcist,] Here, and in all other places where the word occurs in Shakspeare, to exorcise means to raise spirits, not to lay them; and perhaps he is singular in his acceptation of it. D 2. 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 threaten'd me, Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they shall see Cal. Cæsar, I never stood on ceremonies,7 And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead: In ranks, and squadrons, and right form of war, The noise of battle hurtled in the air, s Horses did neight, and dying men did groan; And I do fear them. Cæs. 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, 7 Cæsar, I never stood on ceremonies,] i. e. I never paid a ceremonious or superstitious regard to prodigies or omens. 3 The noise of battle hurtled in the air,] To hurtle is to clash, or ove with violence and noise. |