I have not from your eyes that gentleness

And show of love, as I was wont to have:
You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand
Over your friend that loves you.

Bru.

Cassius,

Be not deceived: if I have veil'd my look.

I turn the trouble of my countenance
Merely upon myself. Vexed I am,

Of late, with passions of some difference,1
Conceptions only proper to myself,

Which give some soil, perhaps, to my behaviors :
But let not therefore my good friends be grieved;
(Among which number, Cassius, be you one)
Nor construe any farther my neglect,

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

Cas. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion; 2

By means whereof, this breast of mine hath buried
Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.

Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face ?
Bru. No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself,
But by reflection, by some other things.

Cas. 'Tis just:

And it is very much lamented, Brutus,

That you have no such mirrors, as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye,

1 Discordant opinions and desires.
2 i, e. the nature of your feelings.

I have heard,

That you might see your shadow.
Where many of the best respect in Rome,
(Except immortal Cæsar) speaking of Brutus,
And groaning underneath this age's yoke,
Have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes.

Bru. Into what dangers would you lead me,
Cassius,

That you would have me seek into myself

For that which is not in me?

Cas. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to

hear;

And, since you know you cannot see yourself
So well as by reflection; I,

your glass, Will modestly discover to yourself

That of yourself which you yet know not of.
And be not jealous of me, gentle Brutus.
Were I a common laugher, or did use
To stale1 with ordinary oaths my love
To every new protester; if you know

That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard,
And after scandal them

; or if

That I profess myself in banqueting

you know

[florish and shoui.

To all the rout, then hold me dangerous.

Bru. What means this shouting? I do fear, the

people

Choose Cæsar for their king.

Cas.

Ay, do you fear it?

I Make common.

Then must I think you would not have it so.

Bru. I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well.

But wherefore do you hold me here so long?
What is it that you would impart to me?
If it be aught toward the general good,
Set honor in one eye, and death i' the other,
And I will look on both indifferently:

For, let the gods so speed me, as I love
The name of honor more than I fear death.
Cas. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
As well as I do know your outward favor.
Well, honor is the subject of my story.

I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life; but, for my single self,
I had as lief not be, as live to be

In awe of such a thing as I myself.

I was born free as Cæsar; so 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 gusty day,

The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
Cæsar said to me, Darest thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood.
And swim to yonder point?'-Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in,

And bade him follow: so, indeed, he did.
The torrent roar'd; and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews, throwing it aside,
And stemming it with hearts of controversy:
But, ere we could arrive the point proposed,

Cæsar cried, 'Help me, Cassius, or I sink.'

I, as Æneas, our great ancestor,

Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder

The old Anchises bear; so, from the waves of Tiber Did I the tired Cæsar: and this man

Is now become a god; and Cassius is

A wretched creature, and must bend his body,
If Cæsar 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 shake: 'tis true, this god did shake:
His coward lips did from their color fly;

And that same eye, whose bend doth awe the world,

Did lose his lustre. I did hear him groan :

Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans
Mark him, and write his speeches in their books,-
Alas! it cried, 'Give me some drink, Titinius,'
As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me,
A man of such a feeble temper1 should
So get the start of the majestic world,
And bear the palm alone.

Bru. Another general shout!

I do believe, that these applauses are

[shout. florish.

For some new honors that are heap'd on Cæsar.

Cas. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow

world,

Like a Colossus; and we petty men

Temperament, constitution.

Walk under his huge legs, and peep about
To find ourselves dishonorable graves.

Men at some time are masters of their fates.

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,

But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

Brutus, and Cæsar: what should be in that Cæsar?

Why should that name be sounded more than

yours?

[shout.

Write them together, yours is as fair a name;
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;
Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with them,
Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Cæsar.
Now, in the names of all the gods at once,
Upon what meat doth this our Cæsar feed,
That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed:
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!
When went there by an age, since the great flood,
But it was famed with more than with one man ?
When could they say, till now, that talk'd of

Rome,

That her wide walks encompass'd but one man ?
Now is it Rome indeed, and room enough,
When there is in it but one only man!

O! you and I have heard our fathers say,
There was a Brutus once,1 that would have brook'd
The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome,

As easily as a king.

Bru. That you do love me, I am nothing jealous;

1 Lucius Junius Brutus, who expelled the Tarquins.