to him again: then he put it by again; but, to my thinking, he was very loth to lay his fingers off it. And then he offer'd it the third time; he put it the third time by; and ftill as he refus'd it, the rabblement houted, and clapp'd their chopt hands, and threw up their fweaty night-caps, and uttered fuch a deal of ftinking breath, because Cæfar refus'd the Crown, that it had almoft choaked Cæfar; for he fwooned, and fell down at it and for mine own part, I durft not laugh, for fear of opening my lips, and receiving the bad air. Caf. But, foft, I pray you; what, did Cæfar fwoon? Cafca. He fell down in the market-place, and foam'd at mouth, and was speechless.

Bru. 'Tis very like; he hath the falling Sickness. Caf. No, Cafar hath it not; but you and I,

And honeft Cafea, we have the falling-fickness.

Cafca. I know not what you mean by that; but I am fure, Cafar fell down: If the tag-rag people did not clap him, and hifs him, according as he pleas'd, and difpleas'd them, as they used to do the Players in the Theatre, I am no true man.

Bru. What faid he, when he came unto himself?

Cafca. Marry, before he fell down, when he perceiv'd the common herd was glad he refus'd the Crown, he pluckt me ope his doublet, and offer'd them his throat to cut: Ân' I had been a man of any occupation, if I would not have taken him at a word, I would I might go to hell among the rogues; and fo he fell. When he came to himself again, he faid, "If he had "done, or faid any thing amifs, he defir'd their Wor56 fhips to think it was his infirmity." Three or four wenches where I ftood, cry'd, " alas, good foul!" and forgave him with all their hearts: but there's no heed to be taken of them; if Cæfar had ftabb'd their mothers, they would have done no lefs.

Bru. And after that, he came, thus fad, away?
Cafca. Ay.

Caf. Did Cicero fay any thing?

Cafca. Ay, he fpoke Greek.
Caf. To what effect?

Cafca

K 4

Cafca. Nay, an' I tell you that, I'll ne'er look you i'th' face again. But thofe, that understood him, fmil'd at one another, and fhook their heads; but for mine own part, it was Greek to me. I could tell you more news too: Marullus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs off Cæfar's Images, are put to filence. Fare you well. There was more foolery yet, if I could remember it. Caf. Will you fup with me to night, Casca? Cafea. No, I am promis'd forth.

Caf. Will you dine with me to morrow?

Cafea. Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold, and your dinner be worth the eating.

Caf. Good, I will expect you.

Cafca. Do fo: farewel Both.

Bru. What a blunt fellow is this grown to be?

He was quick mettle, when he went to school.
Caf. So is he now, in execution

Of any bold or noble enterprize,

However he puts on this tardy form :
This rudeness is a fawce to his good wit,
Which gives men ftomach to digeft his words
With better appetite.

[Exit.

Bru. And fo it is: for this time I will leave you.
To morrow, if you please to fpeak with me,
I will come home to you; or if you will,
Come home to me, and I will wait for you.
Caf. I will do fo; till then, think of the world.
[Exit Brutus.

Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet I fee,
Thy honourable Metal may be wrought
From what it is difpos'd; therefore 'tis meet,
That noble minds keep ever with their likes':
For who fo firm, that cannot be feduc'd?
Cafar doth bear me hard; but he loves Brutus.
If I were Brutus now, and he were Caffius,
He should not humour me. I will this night,
In feveral hands, in at his windows throw,
As if they came from several citizens,
Writings, all tending to the great opinion
That Rome holds of his name: Wherein obfcurely

Cafar's

Cafar's ambition fhall be glanced at.
And, after this, let Cæfar feat him fure;

For we will shake him, or worse days endure. [Exit. Thunder and lightning. Enter Calca, his fword drawn ; and Cicero, meeting him.

Cic. Good even, Cafca; brought you Cafar home? Why are you breathlefs, and why ftare you fo?

Cafca. Are not you mov'd, when all the fway of earth Shakes like a thing unfirm? O Cicero!

I have seen tempelts, when the scolding winds
Have riv'd the knotty oaks; and I have seen
Th' ambitious ocean fwell, and rage, and foam,
To be exalted with the threatning clouds:
But never till to night, never till now,
Did I go through a tempeft dropping fire.
Either there is a civil ftrife in heav'n;
Or else the world, too faucy with the Gods,
Incenses them to fend destruction.

Cic. Why, faw you any thing more wonderful? Cafca. A common flave, you know him well by fight,

Held up his left hand, which did flame and burn,
Like twenty torches join'd; and yet his hand,
Not fenfible of fire, remain'd unfcorch'd.
Befides, (I ha' not fince put up my sword)
Against the Capitol I met a lion,

Who glar'd upon me, and went furly by,
Without annoying me. And there were drawn

Upon a heap a hundred gaftly women,

Transformed with their fear; who fwore, they faw
Men, all in fire, walk up and down the streets.
And yesterday, the bird of night did fit,
Ev'n at noon-day, upon the market-place,
Houting and fhrieking. When these Prodigies
Do fo conjointly meet, let not men say,
"These are their reafons, they are natural:"
For, I believe, they are portentous things
Unto the Climate, that they point upon.

Cic. Indeed, it is a strange-difpofed time:
But men may conftrue things after their fashion,
Clean from the purpose of the things themfelves.
Comes Cæfar to the Capitol to morrow?

Cafca. He doth: for he did bid Antonius

Send word to you, he would be there to morrow. Cic. Good night then, Cafta; this difturbed sky Is not to walk in.

Cafca. Farewel, Cicero.

Enter Caffius.

Caf. Who's there?

Cafca. A Roman.

Caf. Cafca, by your voice.

[Exit Cicero.

Cafca. Your ear is good. Caffius, what night is this? Caf. A very pleafing night to honeft men.

Cafca. Who ever knew the heavens menace fo? Caf. Thofe, that have known the earth fo full of faults. For my part, I have walk'd about the streets, Submitting me unto the perillous night; And thus unbraced, Cafea, as you fee, Have bar'd my bofom to the thunder-ftone : And when the cross blue lightning feem'd to open The breast of heaven, I did present my felf

Ev'n in the aim and very flash of it.

Cafca. But wherefore did you fo much tempt the heav'ns?

It is the part of men to fear and tremble,
When the moft mighty Gods, by tokens, fend
Such dreadful heralds to aftonifh us.

Caf. You are dull, Cafea; and those sparks of life,
That should be in a Roman, you do want,
Or else you use not; you look pale, and gaze,
And put on fear, and caft your felf in wonder,
To see the strange impatience of the heav'ns:
But if you would confider the true cause,
Why all these fires, why all thefe gliding ghofts,
Why birds and beafts, from quality and kind,
Why old men, fools, and children calculate;
Why all these things change, from their ordinance,

Their natures and pre-formed faculties

To monftrous quality; why, you fhall find,
That heaven has infus'd them with these spirits,
To make them inftruments of fear and warning
Unto fome monftrous ftate.

Now could I, Cafca, name to thee a man
Moft like this.dreadful night;

That thunders, lightens, opens Graves, and roars
As doth the lion in the Capitol;

A man no mightier than thy felf or me,
In personal action; yet prodigious grown,
And fearful, as these ftrange eruptions are.

Cafca. 'Tis Cæfar that you mean; is it not, Caffius?
Caf. Let it be who it is: for Romans now
Have thewes and limbs like to their ancestors; (6)
But, woe the while! our fathers minds are dead,
And we are govern'd with our mothers fpirits:
Our yoke and fuff'rance fhew us womanish.

Cafca. Indeed, they fay, the Senators to morrow
Mean to establish Cæfar as a King:

And he shall wear his Crown by fea and land,
In every place, fave here in Italy.

Caf. I know, where I will wear this dagger then. Caffius from bondage will deliver Caffius.

Therein, ye Gods, you make the weak moft ftrong;
Therein, ye Gods, you tyrants do defeat:
Nor ftony tower, nor walls of beaten brass,
Nor airless dungeon, nor ftrong links of iron,
Can be retentive to the ftrength of fpirit:
But life, being weary of thefe worldly bars,

(6) Have thews and Limbs. ] Mr. Pope has fubjoin'd, to both his Editions, an Explanation of Thews, as if it fignified, manners or capacities. 'Tis certain, it fometimes has thefe Significations; but he's miftaken ftrangely to imagine it has any fuch Senfe here: Nor, indeed, do I ever remember its being ufed by our Author in thofe Acceptations. With him, I think, it always fignifies, Muscles, Sinews, bedily Strength. So, in the 2d Part of Henry IV,

Care I for the Limb, the Thewes, the Stature, Bulk,and big femblance of a Man?

And in Hamlet;

For Nature crefcent does not grow alone

In Thewes and Bulk.