Stole from my bed: And yefternight, at fupper,
You fuddenly arose, and walk'd about,
Mufing, and fighing, with your arms across:
And when I afk'd you what the matter was,
You ftar'd upon me with ungentle looks:

I urg'd you further; then you fcratch'd your head,
And too impatiently stamp'd with your foot:
Yet I infifted, yet you anfwer'd not;

But, with an angry wafture of your hand,
Gave fign for me to leave you : So I did;
Fearing to ftrengthen that impatience,
Which feem'd too much enkindled; and, withal,
Hoping it was but an effect of humour,
Which fometime hath his hour with every man.
It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor fleep;
And, could it work fo much upon your shape,
As it hath much prevail'd on your condition,7
I should not know you, Brutus. Dear my lord,
Make me acquainted with your caufe of grief.

Bru. I am not well in health, and that is all.
Por. Brutus is wife, and, were he not in health,
He would embrace the means to come by it.

Bru. Why,, fo I do:-Good Portia, go to bed.
Por. Is Brutus fick ? and is it phyfical
To walk unbraced, and fuck up the humours
Of the dank morning? What, is Brutus fick ;
And will he fteal out of his wholesome bed,
To dare the vile contagion of the night?
And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air
To add unto his ficknefs? No, my Brutus;
You have fome fick offence 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, yourself, your half,
Why you are heavy; and what men to-night

7 On your temper; the difpofition of your mind.. MALONE.

Hare

Have had refort to you: for here have been
Some fix or feven, who did hide their faces
Even from darkness.

Bru.

Kneel not, gentle Portia.
Por. I fhould not need, if you were gentle Brutus.
Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus,
Is it excepted, I fhould know no fecrets
That appertain to you? Am I yourself,
But, as it were, in fort, or limitation;

To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed,
And talk to you fometimes? Dwell I but in the fuburbs
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 vifit my fad heart.

Por. If this were true, then fhould I know this fecret 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.9 Think you, I am no ftronger than

my

Being fo father'd, and fo husbanded?

fex,

Tell me your counfels, I will not disclose them:
I have made ftrong proof of my conftancy,
Giving myself a voluntary wound

Here in the thigh: Can I bear that with patience,
And not my husband's fecrets?

Bru.

O ye gods,

[Knocking within

Render me worthy of this noble wife!

Hark, hark! one knocks: Portia, go in a while;
And by and by thy bofom fhall partake
The fecrets of my

heart.

All

8 Perhaps here is an allufion to the place in which the harlots of Shakfpeare's age refided. STEEVENS.

9 By the expreffion well-reputed, the refers to the eftimation in which fhe was held, as being the wife of Brutus; whilst the addition of Cato's daughter, implies that he might be expected to inherit the patriotic virtues of her father. It is with propriety therefore, that the immediately asks, Think you I am no ftronger than my fex,

Being fo father'd, and so busbanded ? HENLEY

All my engagements I will conftrue to thee,
All the charactery 2 of my fad brows:-
Leave me with hafte.

Enter Lucrus and LIGARIUS.

[Exit PORTIA.

Lucius, who's that, knocks?

Luc. Here is a fick man, that would fpeak with you.
Bru. Caius Ligarius, that Metellus fpake of.-
Boy, ftand afide.-Caius Ligarius! how?

Lig. Vouchfafe good morrow from a feeble tongue.
Bru. O, what a time have you chose out, brave Caius,
To wear a kerchief? Would you were not fick !
Lig. I am not fick, 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 difcard my fickness. Soul of Rome!
Brave fon, deriv'd from honourable loins!
Thou, like an exorcift, haft conjur❜d up
My mortified fpirit.4 Now bid me run,
And I will strive with things impoffible;
Yea, get the better of them. What's to do?

Bru. A piece of work, that will make fick men whole.
Lig. But are not fome whole, that we must make fick ?
Bru. That mult we alfo. What it is, my Caius,

I fhall unfold to thee, as we are going

To whom it must be done.

Lig.

Set on your foot ; And, with a heart new-fir'd, I follow you, Todo I know not what: but it fufficeth,

That Brutus leads me on.

Bru.

Follow me then.

[Exeunt SCENE

2 i. e. all that is character'd on, &c. STEEVENS. 3 i. e. who is that, who knocks? Our poet always prefers the familiar language of converfation to grammatical nicety. Four of his editors, however, have endeavoured to deftroy this peculiarity, by reading-who's there that knocks? and a fifth has, who's that, that knocks? MALONE. + Here, and in all other places where the word occurs in Shakspeare, to exorcife means to raise spirits, not to lay them; and I believe he is fingular in his acceptation of it. M. MASON.

The fame. A Room in Cæfar's Palace.

Thunder and lightning. Enter CESAR, in his Night-gown.
Caf. Nor heaven, nor earth, have been at peace to-night:
Thrice hath Calphurnia in her fleep cried out,
Help, ba! They murder Cæfar. Who's within?

Serv. My lord?

Enter a Servant.

Caf. Go bid the priests do prefent facrifice, And bring me their opinions of fuccess.

Serv. I will, my lord.

Enter CALPHURNIA.

[Exit.

Cal. What mean you, Cæfar? Think you to walk forth? You shall not ftir out of your houfe to day.

Caf. Cæfar fhall forth: The things, that threaten'd me, Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they fhall fee The face of Cæfar, they are vanished.

Cal. Cæfar, I never ftood on ceremonies,5
Yet now they fright me. There is one within,
Befides the things that we have heard and feen,
Recounts moft horrid fights feen by the watch.
A lioness hath whelped in the streets;

And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead:
Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds,

In ranks, and fquadrons, and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol:

6.

The noife of battle hurtled in the air,
Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan;

And ghofts did fhriek, and fqueal about the streets..

O Cæfar! 5 I never paid a ceremonious or fuperftitious regard to prodigies or omens. STEEVENS.

• To burtle is, I fuppofe, to clash, or move with violence and noife. STEEVENS. To burtle originally fignified to push violently; and, as in fuch an action a loud noise was frequently made, it afterwards feems to have been used in the fenfe of to claf. MALONE.

O Cæfar! these things are beyond all use,

And I do fear them.

Caf.

What can be avoided,

Whofe end is purpos'd by the mighty gods?
Yet Cæfar fhall go forth: for thefe predictions
Are to the world in general, as to Cæfar.

Cal. When beggars die, there are no comets feen;
The heavens themfelves blaze forth the death of princes.
Caf. Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never tafte of death but once.

Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,

It seems to me moft ftrange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a neceffary end,7

Will come, when it will come.

Re-enter a Servant.

What fay the augurers

Serv. They would not have you to ftir forth to-day. Plucking the entraails of an offering forth,

They could not find a heart within the beast.

Caf. The gods do this in fhame of cowardice:
Cæfar fhould be a beast without a heart,
If he should stay at home to-day for fear.
No, Cæfar fhall not: Danger knows full well,
That Cæfar is more dangerous than he.
We were two lions litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible;

And Cæfar fhall go forth.

Cal.

Alas, my lord,

Your wifdom is confum'd in confidence.

Do not go forth to-day: Call it my fear,

That keeps you in the house, and not your own.
We'll fend Mark Antony to the fenate-house;
And he shall fay, you are not well to-day:
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.

Caf. Mark Antony shall fay, I am not well;

And,

7 This is a sentence derived from the ftoical doctrine of predeftination, and is therefore improper in the mouth of Cæfar. JOHNSON, * The ancients did not place courage but wisdom in the heart.

JOHNSON