By which he did afcend: fo Cæfar may:
Then, left he may, prevent. And fince the quarrel
Will bear no colour for the thing he is,
Fafhion it thus; that what he is, augmented,
Would run to thefe and these extremities:
And therefore think him as a ferpent's egg,
Which hatch'd would, as his kind, grow mifchievous:
And kill him in the shell.
Luc. The taper burneth in your closet, Sir:
Searching the window for a flint, I found
This paper, thus féal'd up, and I am fure
It did not lye there, when I went to bed. [ Gives him a letter.
Bru. Get you to bed again, it is not day:
Is not to-morrow, boy, the Ides of March?
Luc. I know not, Sir.
Bru. Look in the kalendar, and bring me word.
Luc. I will, Sir.
Bru. The exhalations, whizzing in the air,
Give fo much light, that I may read by them.
[Opens the letter, and reads. Brutus, thou sleep'f; awake, and fee thy felf: - fpeak, frike, redrefs.
Brutus, thou fleep'ft: awake.
Such inftigations have been often dropt,
Where I have took them up:
Shall Rome-thus muft I piece it out,
Shall Rome ftand 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, frike, redrefs.- am I entreated then
To fpeak, and ftrike? O Rome! I make thee promise,
If the redress will follow, thou receiv'st
Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus.
Luc. Sir, March is wafted fourteen days. [Knock within. Bra. 'Tis good. Go to the gate, fome body knocks.
Since Caffius first did whet me against Cæfar,
I have not flept.-
Between the acting of a dreadful thing,
And the firft motion, all the interim is
Like a phantafma, or a hideous dream :
The Genius and the mortal inftruments
Are then in council; and the state of man,
Like to a little kingdom, fuffers then
The nature of an infurrection.
Luc. Sir, 'tis your brother Caffius at the door, Who doth defire to fee you.
Luc. No, Sir, there are more with him.
Bru. Do you know them?
Luc. No, Sir, their hats are pluckt about their ears, And half their faces buried in their cloaks,
That by no means I may discover them
By any mark of favour.
Bru. Let them enter.
They are the faction. O Confpiracy!
Sham'st thou to fhew thy dang'rous brow by night,
When evils are moft free? O then, by day
Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough,
To mask thy monftrous visage? seek none, Confpiracy,
Hide it in fmiles and affability:
For if thou march, thy native femblance on,
Not Erebus it felf were dim enough
To hide thee from prevention.
Enter Caffius, Cafca, Decimus, Cinna, Metellus,
and Trebonius.
Caf. I think we are too bold upon your reft;
Good morrow, Brutus; do we trouble you?
Bru. I have been up this hour, awake all night.
Know I these men that come along with you?
[Afide.
Caf. Yes, every man of them; and no man here
But honours you and every one doth with
You had but that opinion of your self,
Which every noble Roman bears of you.
This is Trebonius.
Bru. He is welcome hither.
Caf. This, Decimus Brutus.
Bru. He is welcome too.
Caf. This, Cafea; this, Cinna;
And this Metellus Cimber.
Bru. They are all welcome.
What watchful cares do interpose themselves
Betwixt your eyes and night?
Caf. Shall I intreat a word ?
Dec. Here lyes the East: doth not the day break here? Cafc. No.
Cin. O pardon, Sir, it doth, and yon grey lines,
That fret the clouds, are meffengers of day.
Cafe. You fhall confefs that you are both deceiv'd:
Here, as I point my sword, the fun arises,
Which is a great way growing on the South,
Weighing the youthful feafon of the year.
Some two months hence, up higher toward the North
He first prefents his fire, and the high East
Stands as the Capitol, directly here.
Bru. Give me your hands all over, one by one.
Caf. And let us fwear our refolution...
Bru. No, not an oath: if that the face of men,
The fufferance of our fouls, the time's abuse,
If thefe be motives weak, break off betimes,
And ev'ry man hence to his idle bed:
So let Ligh-fighted tyranny range on,
'Till each man drop by lottery. But if thefe,
As I am fure they do, bear fire enough
To kindle cowards, and to fteel with valour
The melting fpirits of women; then, countrymen,
What need we any spur but our own caufe,
To prick us to redrefs? what other bond,
Than fecret Romans, that have spoke the word,
And will not palter? and what other oath,
Than honefty to honefty engag'd,
That this fhall be, or we will fall for it?
Swear priefs, and cowards, and men cautelous,
Old feeble carrions, and fuch fuffering fouls
That welcome wrongs: unto bad causes, swear
Such creatures as men doubt; but do not ftain
The even virtue of our enterprize,
Nor th'infuppreffive mettle of our spirits,
To think, that or our caufe, or our performance,
Doth need an oath: when ev'ry drop of blood
That ev'ry Roman bears, and nobly bears,
Is guilty of a feveral bastardy,
If he doth break the fmalleft particle
Of any promise that hath paft from him.
Caf.. But what of Cicero ? fhall we found him?
I think he will ftand very ftrong with us.
Cafe. Let us not leave him out.
Cin. No, by no means.
Met. O let us have him, for his filver hairs
Will purchase us a good opinion,
And buy mens voices to commend our deeds:
It fhall be faid, his judgment rul'd our hands;
Our youths and wildness fhall no whit appear,
But all be buried in his gravity.
Bru. O name him not: let us not break with him,
For he will never follow any thing
That other men begin.
Caf. Then leave him out.
Dec. Indeed, he is not fit.
Shall no man else be touch'd, but only Cæfar?
Caf. Decimus, well urg'd: I think it is not meet, Mark Antony fo well belov'd of Cæfar
Should out-live Cæfar: we fhall find of him
A fhrewd contriver. And you know, his means,
If he improve them, may well ftretch so far
As to annoy us all; which to prevent,
Let Antony and Cæfar fall together.
Bru. Our courfe will feem too bloody, Caius Caffius,
To cut the head off, and then hack the limbs ;
Like wrath in death, and envy afterwards:
For Antony is but a limb of Cæfar.
Let us be facrificers, but not butchers :
We all ftand up against the spirit of Cæfar,
And in the fpirit of man there is no blood :
O that we then could come by Cæfar's spirit,
And not difmember Cæfar! but, alas!
Cæfar muft bleed for it. And, gentle friends,
Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully:
Let's carve him as a difh fit for the Gods,
Not hew him as a carcafs fit for hounds.
And let our hearts, as fubtle masters do,
Stir up their fervants to an act of rage,
And after feem to chide them. This fhall make
Our purpose necessary, and not envious:
Which fo appearing to the common eyes,
We shall be call'd purgers, not murderers.
And for Mark Antony, think not of him;
For he can do no more than Cafar's arm,
When Cæfar's head is off.
Caf. Yet I do fear him
For the ingrafted love he bears to Cæfar.
Bru. Alas, good Caffius, do not think of him:
If he love Cæfar, all that he can do
Is to himself, take thought, and die for Cafar.
And that were much he fhould; for he is giv'n
To fports, to wildness, and much company.
Treb. There is no fear in him; let him not die,
For he will live, and laugh at this hereafter. [Clock ftrikes.
Bru. Peace, count the clock.
Caf. The clock hath stricken three.
Treb. 'Tis time to part.
Caf. But it is doubtful yet,
If Cæfar will come forth to-day, or no :
For he is fuperftitious grown of late,
Quite from the main opinion he held once
Of fantafies, of dreams, and ceremonies :
It may be, thefe apparent prodigies,
The unaccustom'd terror of this night,
And the perfuafion of his augurers,
May hold him from the Capitol to-day.
Dec. Never fear that; if he be fo refolv'd,
I can o'er-fway him; for he loves to hear
That unicorns may be betray'd, with trees,
And bears with glaffes, elephants with holes,
Lions with toils, and men with flatterers:
But when I tell him he hates flatterers,
VOL, VII,
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