And talk to you fometimes? dwell I but in the fuburbs Of your good pleasure? if it be no more,

Porcia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife.

Bru. You are my true and honourable wife ; As dear to me, as are the ruddy drops

That vifit my fad heart.

Por. If this were true, then fhould I know this fecret.

I grant, I am a woman; but withal,
A woman that lord Brutus took to wife:
I grant, I am a woman; but withal,
A woman well reputed, Cato's daughter.
Think you,
I am no ftronger than my fex,
Being fo father'd, and so husbanded?

Tell me your counfels, I will not disclose them:
I have made ftrong proof of my conftancy,
Giving myself a voluntary wound

Here, in the thigh: can I bear that with patience, husband's fecrets?

And not my

Bru. O ye Gods!

Render me worthy of this noble wife.

[Knock.

Hark, hark, one knocks: Porcia, go in a while;
And, by and by, thy bosom shall partake

The fecrets of my heart.

All my engagements I will construe to thee,
All the charactery of my fad brows.

Leave me with hafte.

Enter Lucius and Ligarius.

Lucius, who's there that knocks?

[Exit Porcia.

Luc. Here is a fick man, that would speak with you.
Bru. Caius Ligarius, that Metellus fpake of.

Boy, ftand afide. Caius Ligarius! how?

Cai. Vouchfafe good-morrow from a feeble tongue.
Bru. O, what a time have you chofe out, brave

Caius,

To wear a kerchief? 'would, you were not fick !
Cai. I am not fick, if Brutus have in hand
G 2

Any

Any exploit worthy the name of honour.
Bru. Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius,
Had you an healthful ear to hear of it.

Cai. By all the Gods the Romans bow before,
I here difcard my fickness. 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 strive with things impossible;
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 must 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.

Caf.

SCENE IV.

Changes to Cæfar's Palace.

[Exeunt.

Thunder and Lightning. Enter Julius Cæfar. TOR heav'n, nor earth, have been at peace to-night;

NOR

Thrice hath Calphurnia in her sleep cry'd out,
Help, ho! they murder Cafar." Who's within?

66

Ser. My lord ?

Enter a Servant.

Caf. Go bid the priests do prefent facrifice,
And bring me their opinions of fuccefs.
Ser. I will, my lord.

[Exit. Enter

Enter Calphurnia.

Cal. What mean you, Cæfar? think you to walk forth ?

You fhall not ftir out of your house to-day.

Caf.Cæfar fhall forth; the things, that threatned me, Ne'er lookt but on my back: when they shall fee The face of Caefar, 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 noise of battle hurtled in the air;
Horfes did neigh, and dying men did groan;
And Ghosts did fhriek, and squeal about the streets.
Cæfar! these 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 seems to me moft ftrange, that men should fear: Seeing that death, a neceffary end,

Will come, when it will come.

Enter a Servant.

What fay the Augurs?

G 3

Ser.

Ser. They would not have you to flir 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, Cafar fhall not; Danger knows full well, That Cafar is more dangerous than he. We were two lions litter'd in one day, And I the elder and more terrible; And Cæfar fhall go forth.

Cal. Alas, my lord,

Your wisdom is confum'd in confidence :
Do not go forth to-day; call it my fear,

That keeps you in the house, and not your own.
We'll fend Mark Antony to the Senate-house,
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 flay at home.

SCENE V.

Enter Decius.

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

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 false; and that I dare not, falfer ;
I will not come to-day; tell them fo, Decius.
Cal. Say, he is fick.

Cf. Shall Cafar fend a lie?

Have I in conqueft ftretch'd mine arm so far,

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

Dec. Moft mighty Cæfar, let me know some cause, 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,

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

Your Statue, fpouting blood in many pipes,
In which so many smiling Romans bath'd,
Signifies, that from You great Rome shall fuck ·
Reviving blood: and that Great Men fhall prefs
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 Cæfar.

If

you fhall fend them word you will not come,

Their minds may change. Belides, it were a mock
Apt to be render'd, for fome one to say,
Break up the Senate 'till another time,

When Cafar's wife fhall meet with better Dreams :
If Cafar hide himfelf, fhall they not whisper,
Lo, Cafar is afraid!

Pardon me, Cafar; for my dear, dear, love

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