Imatges de pàgina
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Cai. 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 an healthful ear to hear it.

Cai. By all the Gods the Romans bow before,
I here difcard my ficknefs. Soul of Rome!
Brave fon, deriv'd from honourable loins!
Thou, like an exorcift, haft conjur'd up
My mortified fpirit. Now bid me run,
And I will ftrive with things impoffible;
Yea, get the better of them. What's to do?

Bru. A piece of work, that will make fick men whole.
Cai. But are not fome whole, that we muft make fick.
Bru. That we muft alfo. What it is, my Caius,
I fhall unfold to thee, as we are going,

To whom it must be done.

Cai. Set on your foot,

And with a heart new-fir'd I follow you,
To do I know not what: but it fufficeth,
That Brutus leads me on.

Bru. Follow me then.

[Exeunt

SCENE changes to Cæfar's Palace.

· Thunder and Lightning. Enter Julius Cæfar.

Caf.NOR heav'n, nor earth, have been at peace

to-night;

Thrice hath Calphurnia in her fleep cry'd out, "Help, ho! they murder Cafar." 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 fir out of your house to-day.

Caf.

Caf Cafar fhall forth; the things, that threatned me,
Ne'er lookt but on my back: when they shall fee
The face of Cafar, they are vanished.

Cal. Cæfar, I never ftood on ceremonies,
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 lionefs 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 :

The noife of battle hurtled in the air;
Horfes did neigh, and dying men did groan;
And ghofts did fhriek, and fqueal about the streets.
O Cafar! thefe 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 these predictions
Are to the world in general, as to Cæfar.

Cal. When beggars die, there are no comets feen ; The heav'ns 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 feems to me most strange, that men fhould fear:
Seeing that death, a neceffary end,

Will come, when it will come.

Enter a Servant.

What fay the Augurs?

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

They could not find a heart within the beaft.

[Exit Servant. Caf. The Gods do this in fhame of cowardife: Cafar fhould be a beaft without a heart, If he should stay at home to day for fear. No, Cæfar fhall not; danger knows full well,

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That Cæfar is more dangerous than he.
(9) We were two lions litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible;

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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 houfe, and not your own,
We'll fend Mark Antony to the Senate-houfe,"
And he will fay, you are not well to-day:
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.

Caf. Mark Antony fhall fay, I am not well;
And for thy humour, I will stay at home.

Enter Decius.

Here's Decius Brutus, he fhall tell them fo
Dec. Cafar, all hail! good morrow, worthy Cafar
I come to fetch you to the Senate-house.

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Caf. And you are come in very happy time
To bear my Greeting to the Senators,
And tell them that I will not come to-day;
Cannot, is falfe; and that I dare not, falfer
I will not come to-day; tell them fo,

Cal. Say, he is fick..

Caf. Shall Cæfar fend a lye?

Have I in conqueft ftrecht mine

Decius.

arm fo far,

To be afraid to tell Grey-beards the truth?
Decius, go tell them, Cæfar will not come.

Dec. Moft mighty Cæfar, let me know fome caufe, Left I be laugh'd at, when I tell them fo

Caf. The caufe is in my will, I will not come;
That is enough to fatisfy the Senate.
But for your private fatisfaction,

(9) We heard two Lions] The firft Fólio ------ We beare The Copies have been all corrupt, and the Paffage, of course, unintelligible. But the flight Alteration, I have made, restores Sense to the whole; and the Sentiment will neither be unworthy of ShakeSpeare, nor the boaft too extravagant for Cæfar in a Vein of Vanity to utter: that he and Danger were two Twin-whelps of a Lion, and he the Elder, and more terrible of the Two.

Becaufe

Because I love you, I will let you know.
Galphurnia here, my wife, ftays me at home:
She dreamt last night, fhe faw my ftatue,
Which, like a fountain, with an hundred spouts,
Did run pure blood: and many lufty Romans
Came fmiling, and did bathe their hands in it.
Thefe fhe applies for warnings and portents,
And evils imminent; and on her knee
Hath begg'd, that I will stay at home to-day.
Dec. This Dream is all amifs interpreted;
It was a vifion fair and fortunate:

Your ftatue, fpouting blood in many pipes,
In which so many fmiling Romans bath'd,
Signifies, that from you great Rome fhall fuck
Reviving blood; and that great men shall press
For tinctures, ftains, relicks, and cognisance.
This by Calphurnia's dream is fignify'd.

Caf. And this way have you well expounded it. Dec. I have, when you have heard what I can fay And know it now, the Senate have concluded To give this day a crown to mighty Cafar.

If

you fhall fend them word you will not come, Their minds may change. Befides, it were a mock Apt to be render'd, for fome one to fay,

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Break up the Senate 'till another time, "When Cefar's wife fhall meet with better dreams If Cafar hide himself, fhall they not whifper, "Lo, Cafar is afraid!"

Pardon me, Cafar; for my dear, dear love,
To your proceeding bids me tell you this!"
And reafon to my love is liable.

Caf. How foolih do your fears feem now, Calphurnia? I am ashamed, I did yield to them.

Give me my robe, for I will go :

Enter Brutus, Ligarius, Metellus, Cafca, Trebonius, Cinna and Publius.

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And, look, where Publius is come to fetch me.
Pub. Good-morrow, Cafar.
Cf. Welcome, Publius.

What,

What, Brutus, are you stirr'd so early too?
Good-morrow, Cafca: Caius Ligarius,
Cafar was ne'er fo much your enemy,

As that fame ague which hath made you lean.
What is't o'clock?

Bru. Cæfar, 'tis ftricken eight.

Caf. I thank you for your pains and courtesy.
Enter Antony.

See! Antony, that revels long o'nights,
Is notwithstanding up. Good-morrow, Antony.
Ant. So to most noble Cæfar.

Caf. Bid them prepare within:

I am to blame torbe thus waited for.
Now, Cinna; now Metellus; what Trebonius!
I have an hour's talk in ftore for you,
Remember, that you call on me to-day;
Be near me, that I may remember you.

Treb. Cafar, I will; and fo near will I be, [Afide. That your beft friends fhall wish I had been further. Caf. Good friends, go in, and tafte some wine with me. And we, like friends, will ftraightway go together. Bru. That every like is not the fame, O Cafar, [Afide. The heart of Brutus yerns to think upon! [Exeunt.

SCENE changes to a Street near the Capitol.

C

(10) Enter Artemidorus, reading a paper.

ESAR, beware of Brutus; take heed of Caffius; come not near Cafca; have an eye to Cinna; trust

not

(10) Enter Artemidorus,] In the Dramatis Perfone, through all the Editions, Artemidorus is called a Soothsayer. But, it is certain, the Poet defigned two diftinct Characters. Artemidorus was neither Augur, nor Soothfayer. It is true, there was an Artemidorus, whofe Critic on Dreams we still have: but he did not live until the Time of Antoninus. He likewife wrote, according to Suidas, of Augury and Palmistry. But this Artemidorus, who had been Cafar's Hoft

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