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Not hew him as a carcase for the hounds :---
And for Mark Antony, think not of him;
For he can do no more than Cæsar's arm
When Cæsar's head is off.

[Casca.] But it is doubtful

If Cæsar will come forth to-day, or not,
For he is superstitious grown of late.
It may be these apparent prodigies,
The unaccustom'd terrors of this night,
And the persuasion of the priests and augurs,
May hold him from the Capitol to-day:
Unless, as thou hast promis'd, Decimus,
Thou canst o'ersway his mind.

[Decimus.] Never fear that:

For I can give his humour the true bent,
And I will bring him to the Capitol.

[Brutus [Cassius.] The morning comes on us: we'll leave you, 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 betray our purposes;
But bear it, as our Roman actors do,

With untir'd spi'rits; and so, good-morrow all.

While the conspirators are taking leave of Brutus, his wife Portia appears at an inner door; when they are gone, he addresses her:

Portia, what mean you? Wherefore rise you thus?
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,
Stolen from my bed: and yesternight, at supper,
You suddenly arose, and walk'd about
Musing and sighing, with your arms across :
You have some sick offence within your mind,
Which, by the right and virtue of my place,

I ought to know: and, upon my knees,
By all your vows of love, and that great vow
That did incorporate and make us one,
I charge you,

That you unfold to me, yourself, your half,
Why you are heavy; and what men to-night
Have had resort to you: for here have been
Some six or seven that did hide their faces
Even from darkness.

[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 the secrets
That appertain to you? Am I yourself
But, as it were, in sort, or limitation,
To keep with you at meals, consort your bed,
And talk to you sometimes? if this be all,
Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife.

[Brutus.] You are my true and honourable wife;
As dear to me as are the ruddy drops

That visit my sad heart.

[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 father'd and so husbanded ?

Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose them:
Look, I have tried myself, giving my flesh
This voluntary wound. Can I bear this,
And not my husband's secrets?

[Brutus.] O, ye gods,

Render me worthy of this noble wife!
Portia, go in awhile,

And by-and-by thy bosom shall partake
The secrets of my

heart.

THE ASSASSINATION OF CESAR; THE DEFENCE OF BRUTUS; AND THE FUNERAL ORATION OF ANTONY; INDICATED BY SCENES SUPPOSED TO OCCUR AT CÆSAR'S PALACE; AT THE SENATE-HOUSE; AND IN THE FORUM.

HISTORICAL MEMORANDA.

The Romans held the name of king in abhorrence and contempt. They remembered the tyranny of the last of their own kings. They were accustomed to see kings led in chains in the triumphs of their consuls. All the distant kings whom they knew of sought their friendship with eagerness; and many were the tributary kings who owned the Roman supremacy. Therefore, though they yielded unreluctantly to the sway of Cæsar under the names of dictator or imperator, it seemed degradation to them when it was proposed that he should rule them as a king. Yet Cæsar desired this title; and it was thought that the senate intended to confer it in the meeting which was summoned for the ides, or 15th of March, in the 44th year before the Christian era. The conspirators, who now amounted to about sixty, thought that this was therefore a fit day for their attempt. It was in a compartment of Pompey's theatre that the senate was to be held; and Metellus Cimber is said to have petitioned Cæsar in favour of his brother (one of the signals agreed upon), in the portico before he entered the senate. Previously to this, various circumstances, on the day itself, threatened to retard or to betray the enterprise. Cæsar was half persuaded not to go to the senate that day; and when he changed his mind, and was on his way thither, there were those at hand who were ready to warn him of his danger.

We are to imagine an apartment in Cæsar's palace: His wife Calpurnia is speaking to him:

[Calpurnia.] What mean you, Cæsar? Think you to walk You shall not stir out of your house to-day.

[forth?

[me

[Cæsar.] Cæsar shall forth. The things that threaten'd Ne'er look'd but on my back: when they shall see The face of Cæsar, they shall vanish.

[Calpurnia.] I am not given to fear at omens, Cæsar,
Yet now they fright me. There is one within,
Besides the things that we have heard and seen,
Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch:

A lioness hath whelped in the streets;
And blood hath drizzled on the capitol,
With noise of battle hurtled in the air;

The graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead;
And ghosts have gibber'd in our midnight streets.
O Cæsar, these things are beyond all use,

And I do fear them.

[Cæsar.] What can be avoided

Whose end is purpos'd by the mighty gods?
Yet Cæsar shall go forth: for these predictions
Are to the world in general as to Cæsar.

[Calpurnia.] When beggars die, there are no comets seen:
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.
[Cæsar.] Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,

It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,

Will come when it will come.

[Calpurnia.] Alas! my lord,

Your wisdom is consum'd in confidence.

Do not go forth to-day: the dream I told you
Still dwells upon my thought: call it my fear
That keeps you in the house, and not your own.
We'll send Mark Anto'ny to the senate-house,
And he shall say you are not well to-day;
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.

[a pause.]

[Cæsar.] So let it be thy humour shall prevail :
Mark Antony shall
say I am not well:
Is 't he that hither comes? or Decimus?
Decimus Brutus, you are come in time
To bear my greeting to the senators,
And tell them that I will not come to-day :
Cannot is false, and that I dare not, falser:
I will not come to-day; tell them so, Decimus.

[Decimus.] Most mighty Cæsar, let me know some cause, Lest I be laugh'd at when I tell them so.

[Cæsar.] The cause is in my will; I will not come :
That is enough to satisfy the senate.
But for your private satisfaction,

Because I love you, I will let you know.
Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at home :
She in a dream last night did see my statue,
Like to a fountain, with a hundred spouts,
Running pure blood and many lusty Romans
Came smiling, and did bathe their hands in it:
This she applies for warning, and portent
Of evils imminent; and on her knee

:

Hath begg'd, that I will stay at home to-day.

[Decimus.] This dream is all amiss interpreted;
It was a vision fair and fortunate :

Your statue spouting blood in many pipes,
In which so many smiling Romans bath'd,
Signifies, that from you great Rome shall suck
Reviving blood.

[Cæsar.] You've well expounded it.

[Decimus.] You will have cause to say so, when you know

What rests behind the senate have concluded

To give, this day, a crown to mighty Cæsar:

If

you shall send them word you will not come,

Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock

Apt to be render'd, for some one to say,

"Break up the senate till another time,

When Cæsar's wife shall meet with better dreams."

[Cæsar.] How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia : I am asham'd that I did yield to them:

And look where other friends are come to fetch me.

Good morrow, Casca.-Are you stirr❜d so early,
Brutus ? I thank you for your courtesy.
See Antony, that revels long o' nights,
Is notwithstanding up: good morrow, Antony.
I am to blame to be thus waited for:

Good friends, go in, and taste some wine with me,
And we, like friends, will go straightway together.

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