Swear priests, and cowards, and men cautelous,
Old feeble carrions, and such suffering souls
That welcome wrongs; unto bad causes swear
Such creatures as men doubt: but do not stain
The even virtue of our enterprise,

Nor the insupppressive metal of our spirits,
To think, that, or our cause, or our performance,
Did need an oath; when every drop of blood,
That every Roman bears, and nobly bears,
Is guilty of a several bastardy,

If he do break the smallest particle

Of any promise that hath pass'd from him.

(Exeunt all but BRUTUS.) Boy! Lucius !-Fast asleep? It is no matter; Lucius!-Fast

Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber :

Thou hast no figures, nor no fantasies,

Which busy care draws in the brains of men;
Therefore thou sleep'st so sound.

Portia.

(Enter PORTIA.)

Brutus, my lord!

Brutus. Portia, what mean you? Wherefore rise you now? It is not for your health, thus to commit

Your weak condition to the raw-cold morning.

Portia. Nor for your's neither. You have ungently, Brutus, Stole from my bed: And yesternight, at supper,

You suddenly arose, and walk'd about,

I

you

you

Musing and sighing, with your arms across :
And when I ask'd you what the matter was,
You star'd upon me with ungentle looks:
urg'd further: then scratch'd your
head,
And too impatiently stamp'd with your foot:
Yet I insisted, yet you answer'd not;
But with an angry wafture of your hand,
Gave sign for me to leave you: so I did;
Fearing to strengthen that impatience,
Which seem'd too much enkindled; and, withal,
Hoping it was but an effect of humour,
Which sometime hath his hour with every man.

.-Id.

Calphurnia. What mean you, Cæsar? Think you to

walk forth?

You shall not stir out of your house to-day.

Cesar. Cæsar shall forth: the things that threaten'd me Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they shall see

The face of Cæsar, they are vanished.

Calphurnia. Cæsar, I never stood on ceremonies, 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 graves have yawn'd and yielded up their dead:
Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds,
In ranks and squadrons, and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol :
The noise of battle hurtled in the air,
Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan;
And ghosts did shriek, and squeal about the 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.

Calphurnia. 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.-Sc. 2.

Antony. O! pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek amd gentle with these butchers!
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man,

That ever lived in the tide of times.

Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!

Over thy wounds now do I prophesy,

Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips,
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue!—
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;
Domestick fury, and fierce civil strife,
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy:
Blood and destruction shall be so in use,
And dreadful objects so familiar,

That mothers shall but smile, when they behold
Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war;
All pity chok'd with custom of fell deeds:
And Cæsar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Até by his side, come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines, with a monarch's voice,
Cry, Havock, and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth

With carrion men, groaning for burial.-Act. 3, Sc. 1.
Citizens. We will be satisfied; let us be satisfied;
Brutus. Then follow me, and give me audience, friends.—
Cassius, go you into the other street,

And part the numbers.—

Those that will hear me speak, let them stay here;

Those that will follow Cassius, go with him;

And publick reasons shall be rendered

Of Cæsar's death.

1st Citizen. I will hear Brutus speak.

2nd Citizen. I will hear Cassius; and compare their reasons,

When severally we hear them rendered.

(Exit CASSIUS, with some of the Citizens. BRUTUS goes into the Rostrum.) 3rd Citizen. The noble Brutus is ascended: Silence! Brutus. Be patient till the last. Romans, countrymen, and lovers! hear me for my cause; and be silent, that you may hear: believe me for mine honour; and have respect to mine honour, that you may believe: censure me in your wisdom; and awake your senses, that you may the better judge. If there be any in this assembly, any dear friends of Cæsar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Cæsar was no less than his. If then that friend demand, why Brutus rose against Cæsar, this is my answer,-Not that I loved Cæsar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Cæsar were living, and die all slaves, than that Cæsar were dead, to live all freemen? As Cæsar loved me, I weep for him as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it: as he was valiant, I honour him: but as he was ambitious, I slew him: There is tears for his love; joy for his fortune; honour for his valour; and death for his ambition. Who is here so base, that would be a bondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so rude, that would not be a Roman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so vile, that will not love his country? If any, speak; for him have I offended. I pause for a reply. Citizens. None, Brutus, none. (Several speaking at once.) Brutus. Then none have I offended. I have done no more to Cæsar, than you should do to Brutus. The question of his death is enrolled in the Capitol: his glory not extenuated, wherein he was worthy; nor his offences enforced, for which he suffered death.

:

(Enter ANTONY and others with CESAR's body.) Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony: who, though he had no hand in his death, shall receive the benefit of his dying, a place in the commonwealth; as which of you shal]

not? With this I depart; That as I slew my best lover for the good of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself, when it shall please my country to need my death.

Citizens. Live, Brutus, live! live!

1st Citizen. Bring him with triumph home unto his house. 2nd Citizen. Give him a statue with his ancestors.

3rd Citizen. Let him be Cæsar.

4th Citizen.

Shall now be crown'd in Brutus.

Cæsar's better parts

1st Citizen. We'll bring him to his house with shouts and

clamours.

Brutus. My countrymen,

:

2nd Citizen. Peace silence! Brutus speaks. 1st Citizen. Peace, ho!

Brutus. Good countrymen, let me depart alone,
And for my sake, stay here with Antony:

Do grace to Cæsar's corpse, and grace his speech
Tending to Cæsar's glories; which Mark Antony,
By our permission, is allow'd to make.

I do intreat you, not a man depart,
Save I alone, till Antony have spoke.

1st Citizen. Stay, ho! and let us hear Mark Antony. 3rd Citizen. Let him go up into the publick chair; We'll hear him :-Noble Antony, go up.

Antony. For Brutus' sake, I am beholden to you.
4th Citizen. What does he say of Brutus ?
3rd Citizen.

He finds himself beholden to us all.

(Exit.)

He says for Brutus' sake,

4th Citizen. "Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here. 1st Citizen. This Cæsar was a tyrant.

3rd Citizen.

We are bless'd, that Rome is rid of him.

Nay, that's certain;

2nd Citizen. Peace; let us hear what Antony can say. Antony. You gentle Romans,

Citizens.

Peace, ho! let us hear him. Antony. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears: I come to bury Cæsar, not to praise him. The evil, that men do, lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Cæsar. The noble Brutus Hath told you, that Cæsar was ambitious: If it were so, it was a grievous fault; And grievously hath Cæsar answer'd it. Here, under leave of Brutus, and the rest (For Brutus is an honourable man;

SCRAPS.

So are they all; all honourable men),
Come I to speak in Cæsar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me;
But Brutus says he was ambitious,

And Brutus is an honourable man.

He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill :
Did this in Cæsar seem ambitious?

When that the poor have cried, Cæsar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;

And Brutus is an honorable man.
You all did see, that on the Lupercal,

I thrice presented him a kingly crown,

Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition ?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;

And sure, he is an honourable man.

I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause;
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
O! judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason!

Bear with me;

My heart is in the coffin there with Cæsar,

And I must pause till it come back to me.

325

1st Citizen. Methinks, there is much reason in his sayings. 2nd Citizen. If thou consider rightly of the matter,

Cæsar has had great wrong.

3rd Citizen.

Has he, masters ?

I fear there will a worse come in his place.

4th Citizen. Mark'dye his words? he would not take the crown? Therefore, tis certain, he was not ambitious.

1st Citizen. If it be found so, some will dear abide by it. 2nd Citizen. Poor soul! his eyes are red as fire with weeping. 3rd Citizen. There's not a nobler man in Rome, than Antony. 4th Citizen. Now mark him, he begins again to speak. Antony. But yesterday the word of Cæsar might Have stood against the world: now lies he there, And none so poor to do him reverence.

O! masters, if I were dispos'd to stir
Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,
I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong,
Who, you all know, are honourable men:
I will not do them wrong; I rather choose
To wrong the dead, to wrong myself, and you,