That Tyber trembled underneath his banks
To hear the replication of your founds,
Made in his concave fhores

beft attire?

And do you now put on your
And do you now cull out an holiday?
And do you now ftrew flowers in his way,
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood!

Be gone

Run to your houses, fall upon your knees,
Pray to the gods, to intermit the plague
That needs muft light on this ingratitude.

Flav. Go, go, good countrymen, and for that fault Affemble all the poor men of your fort ;

Draw them to Tyber's bank, and weep your tears
Into the channel, till the loweft ftream

Do kifs the moft exalted shores of all.

[Exeunt Commoners. See, whe'r their baseft mettle be not mov'd; They vanish tongue-ty'd in their guiltinefs. you down that way tow'rds the Capitol, This way will I; difrobe the images,

Go

If you do find them deck'd with ceremonies f.
Mar. May we do so ?

You know it is the feaft of Lupercal.

Flav. It is no matter, let no images

Be hung with Cæfar's trophies. I'll about,
And drive away the vulgar from the streets:
So do you too, where you perceive them thick.
Thefe growing feathers pluck'd from Cæfar's wing,.
Will make him fly an ordinary pitch;

Who elfe would foar above the view of men,

And keep us all in fervile fearfulness. [Exeunt feverally.

SCENE II.

Enter Cafar, Antony, for the course, Calphurnia, Portia, Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Caffius, Cafea, and a Soothsayer.

Caf. Calphurnia,

Cafca. Peace, ho! Cæfar fpeaks.

Caf. Calphurnia,

A 2

t ceremonies, for religious ornaments.

Calp

Calp. Here, my Lord.

Caf. Stand you directly in Antonius' way, When he doth run his course- -Antonius,

Ant. Cæfar, my Lord.

Caf. Forget not in your speed, Antonius, To touch Calphurnia; for our elders fay, The barren touched in this holy chace, Shake off their steril curfe.

Ant. I fhall remember.

When Cæfar fays, Do this; it is perform'd.
Caf, Set on, and leave no ceremony out.
Sooth. Cæfar,-

Caf. Ha! who calls?

Cafca. Bid every noife be ftill; peace yet again.
Caf. Who is it in the prefs that calls on me?
I hear a tongue, fhriller than all the mufic,
Cry, Cafar. Speak; Cæfar is turn'd to hear.
Sooth. Beware the ides of March.

Caf. What man is that?

Bru. A Soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March. Caf. Set him before me, let me fee his face.

Caf. Fellow, come from the throng, look upon Cæfar. Caf. What fay'ft thou to me now? fpeak once again, Sooth. Beware the ides of March.

Caf. He is a dreamer, let us leave him; pafs.

[Exeunt Cafar and train

SCENE III. Manent Brutus and Caffius.

Caf. Will you go fee the order of the courfe?
Bru. Not I.

Laf. I pray you, do.

Bru. Iam not-gamefome; I do lack fome part Of that quick spirit that is in Antony :

Let me not hinder, Caffius, your defires;

I'll leave you.

Caf. Brutus, I do obferve you now of late ;
I have not from your eyes that gentleness
And fhew of love as I was wont to have:
You bear too ftubborn and too strange a hand
Over your friend that loves you.

Bru. Caffius,

Be not deceiv'd: if I have veil'd my look,

I

I turn the trouble of my countenance
Merely upon myself. Vexed I am
Of late with paffions of fome difference,.
Conceptions only proper to myfelf;

Which give fome foil perhaps to my behaviour:
But let not therefore my good friends be griev'd,,
Among which number, Caffius, be you one;
Nor conftrue any farther my neglect,

Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,
Forgets the fhews of love to other men.

Caf. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your paffion;:
By means whereof, this breaft of mine hath buried
Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.
Tell me, good Brutus, can you fee your face?
Bru. No, Caffius; for the eye fees not itself,,
But by reflection from fome other things..
Caf. 'Tis juft

And it is very much lamented, Brutus,
That you have no fuch mirrors as will turn:
Your hidden worthiness into your eye,
That you might fee your fhadow. I have heard,
Where many of the best respect in Rome,
(Except immortal Cæfar), fpeaking of Brutus,
And groning underneath this age's yoke,
Have wifh'd that noble Brutus had his eyes,

Bru. Into what dangers would you lead me, Caffius, That you would have me feek into myself

For that which is not in me?

Caf. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepar'd to hear; And fince you know you cannot fee yourself

not of.

So well as by reflection, I, your glais,
Will modeftly, difcover to yourfelf
That of yourself which yet you know
And be not jealous of me, gentle Brutus.
Were I a common laugher, or did ufe
To ftale with ordinary oaths my love
Το every new proteftor; if you know,
That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard,
And after fcandal them; or if you know,
That I profefs myself in banqueting

To all the rout; then hold me dangerous.

"

[Flourish and fhout

A 3

Bru.

Bru. What means this fhouting? I do fear the people Chufe Cæfar for their King.

Caf. Ay, do you fear it?

Then muft I think you would not have it fo.
Bru. I would not, Caffius; yet I love him well.
But wherefore do you hold me here fo long?
What is it that you would impart to me?
If it be aught toward the general good,
Set Honour in one eye, and Death i' th' other,
And I will look on Death indifferently :
For let the gods fo fpeed me, as I love

The name of Honour more than I fear Death.
Caf. I know that virtue to be in you,, Brutus,
As well as I do know your outward favour.
Well, honour is the fubject of my ftory.
I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life; but for my fingle felf,
I had as lief not be, as live to be
In awe of fuch a thing as I myself.
I was born free as Cæfar, fo were you;
We both have fed as well; and we can both
Endure the winter's cold as well as he.
"For once, upon a raw and gufty day,
"The troubled Tyber chafing with his fhores,
"Cæfar fays to me, Dar'it thou, Caffius, now
"Lead in with me into this angry flood,
"And fwim to yonder point?Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in,

And bid him follow; fo indeed he did.
« The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it
"With lufty finews; throwing it afide,.

And ftemming it with hearts of controverfy.
"But ere we could arrive the point propos'd,"
Cæfar cry'd, Help me, Caffius, or I link.
I, as Æneas, our great ancestor,

Did from the flames of Troy upon his fhoulder
The old Anchifes bear; fo from the waves of Tyber
Did I the tired Cæfar: and this man

Is now become a god, and Caffius is

Svimming was one of the generous exercifes practifed at Rome, and learned by all the youth of the beft birth and quality as a neceffary qualification towards good foldiership.

A wretched creature; and must bend his body
If Cæfar carelessly but nod on him..
He had a fever when he was in Spain,

And when the fit was on him, I did mark
How he did fake. "Tis true, this god did fhake;
His coward lips did from their colour fly,...
And that fame eye whofe bend doth awe the world,
Did lofe its luftre; I did hear him grone:
Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans
Mark him, and write his speeches in their books,
Alas! it cry'd-Give me fome drink, Titinius-
As a fick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me,
A man of fuch a feeble temper fhould
"So get the ftart of the majestic world,
And bear the palm alone."
Bru. Another general shout

I do believe, that thefe applaufes are

[Shout Flourish.

For fome new honours that are heap'd on Cæfar.

Caf. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Coloffus; and we petty men.

• Walk under his huge legs, and peep about To find ourfelves difhonourable graves.

• Men at fome times are mafters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings. • Brutus and Cæfar! what should be in that Cæfar? Why should that name be founded, more than yours • Write them together; your's is as fair a name : • Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well; • Weigh them,,it is as heavy; conjure with 'em, Brutus will ftart a fpirit as foon as Cæfar.

• Now, in the names of all the gods at once, • Upon what meat does this our Cæfar feed, That he is grown fo great? Age, thou art fham'd; • Rome, thou haft loft the breed of noble bloods. When went there by an age, fince the great flood, But it was fam'd with more than with one man When could they fay, till now, that talk'd of Rome,.. • That her wide walls encompafs'd but one man

-but one man?

* ?

Oh !

Now is it Rome indeed; and room enough,

When