ACTUS II.

SCENA I.

BRUTI Pomarium.

BRUTUS.

Brut.-Heus, Lucius! heus, tu!-hora quota est? nequeo per astrorum cursus conjicere. Lucius, inquam! Ah utinam istiusmodi sopor meus esset, quamvis culpandus. Huc, Lucius, huc; expergiscere, Lucium voco.

Luc.-Mene, domine, vocabas?

Brut.-Lucernam in bibliothecam, Lucius; accensâ, redi ut sciam.

Luc.-Factum erit, domine.

[Exit.

Brut.-Viam nullam invenio nisi morte ejus. Certe quod meum est, nihil habeo quare de illo querar: causa publica est. Regiam coronam appetit:-quæ hujus vis in naturam ejus futura sit, subit quæstio. Sol viperas in lucem edit; tunc ambulantibus cavendum est. Deturcoronam damus-tunc, fateor, aculeo illum armamus, quo in nostram injuriam pro arbitrio uti poterit. Tyrannidis hæc culpa est, quod pietatem et misericordiam ab imperantis statu sejungere solet. Nec, ut verum dicam, unquam novi voluntatem et affectus Cæsaris plus apud eum quam consilium valuisse. Ambitio autem adolescens, uti ex

That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber-upward turns his face :
But when he once attains the utmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend: So Cæsar may;

Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel
Will bear no colour for the thing he is,

Fashion it thus; that what he is, augmented,

Would run to these and these extremities:

And therefore think him as a serpent's egg,

Which, hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous;
And kill him in the shell.

Re-enter LUCIUS.

Luc.-The taper burneth in your closet, sir.
Searching the window for a flint, I found
This paper, thus sealed up; and, I am sure,
It did not lie there when I went to bed.

Bru.-Get you to bed again, it is not day.
Is not to-morrow, boy, the ides of March?
Luc.-I know not, sir.

Bru.-Look in the calendar, and bring me word.
Luc. I will, sir.

[Exit.

[Opens the letter, and reads.

Bru.-The exhalations, whizzing in the air, Give so much light that I may read by them.

"Brutus, thou sleep'st; awake, and see thyself.

Brutus, thou sleep'st; awake!"

Such instigations have been often dropped

Where I have took them up.

"Shall Rome," &c. Thus must I piece it out;

Shall Rome stand under one man's awe? What! Rome?

My ancestors did from the streets of Rome

The Tarquin drive, when he was called a king.

"Speak, strike, redress!"-Am I entreated then

exemplis patet, modestiam scalarum vice usurpat; in quas, dum scandit, oculos figit; at, simul ac apicem occupaverit, subito se convertit, cœlum suspicit, et viles, per quos ascenderat, gradus contemptim despectat. Sic fortasse Cæsar: idcirco, ne sic, præveniendum. Et cum lis nostra vix satis adhuc coloris præ se ferat ad hoc facinus vindicandum, huc rem reducimus; Cæsarem, imperio addito, in pejus pejusque ruiturum; agendumque cum eo veluti cum pullo serpentis, quem, ne, suorum more, noxius excludatur, in ovo extingui necesse est.

LUCIUS.

Luc.-Lucerna, domine, in bibliothecâ accenditur. Silicem apud fenestram quærenti hæc charta obsignata mihi in manus venit: dormitum iens non vidi, neque profecto ibi erat.

Brut.-Redi, puer, ad lectum; nondum diluculum est. Annon cras idus Martii?

Luc.-Here, nescio.

Brut.-Fastos inspice, et renuntia mihi.

Luc.-Faciam.

[Exit LUCIUS.

Brut.-Fulgura, per aerem coruscantia, satis lucis reddunt ut legam.

[Chartam explicat et legit.

"Brute, dormis; expergiscere, ut te ipsum videas. An Roma? Eloquere, feri, ulciscere! Dormis, Brute,

expergiscere disposita offendi.

Hujusmodi incitamenta sæpius obiter "An Roma -?" Sermo sic complendus. An Roma reformidabit unum? Quid—Roma ? Avi mei ex Romæ viis Tarquinium expulerunt, quamvis Rex nominabatur. Eloquere, feri, ulciscere!"-Mene rogas ut eloquar, ut feriam? O Roma, si sic ulciscenda

To speak, and strike? O Rome! I make thee promise,
If the redress will follow, thou receivest
Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus!

Re-enter LUCIUS.

Luc.-Sir, March is wasted fourteen days.

Bru.-'Tis good. Go to the gate: somebody

Since Cassius first did whet me against Cæsar,
I have not slept.

Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream:
The genius and the mortal instruments
Are then in counsel; and the state of man,
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
The nature of an insurrection.

[Knock within. knocks.

[Exit LUCIUS.

Re-enter LUCIUS.

Luc.-Sir, 'tis your brother Cassius at the door,

Who doth desire to see you.

Bru.-Is he alone?

Luc.-No, sir, there are more with him.

Bru.-Do you know them?

Luc.-No, sir; their hats are plucked about their ears,

And half their faces buried in their cloaks,

That by no means I may discover them

By any mark of favour.

Bru.-Let them enter.

They are the faction. O Conspiracy!

[Exit LUCIUS.

Sham'st thou to shew thy dangerous brow by night,

When evils are most free? O, then, by day

Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough

To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, Conspiracy;

Hide it in smiles and affability:

For if thou path, thy native semblance on,

Not Erebus itself were dim enough

To hide thee from prevention.

Enter CASSIUS, CASCA, DECIUS, CINNA, METELLUS CIMBER,

Cas.-I think we are Good morrow, Brutus.

and TREBONIUS.

too bold upon your rest:
Do we trouble you?

eris, omnia, uti poscis, se pro virili facturum spondet Brutus.

Luc.-Here, quatuordecim dies Martii effluxerunt.

[Fores pulsantur.

Brut.-Bene est. Ad portam; pulsat aliquis.

[Exit LUCIUS.

Ex quo me in Cæsarem Cassius primum instigabat, dormire nequeo. Quod temporis inter actum rei diræ et conceptum intersit, phantasmati vel somnio horribili simile est. Tum inter se disceptant Genius et ministri voluntatis humanæ, animi affectus; et tota hominis natura, civitatis angustæ instar, seditione quadam laborat.

LUCIUS.

Luc.-Here, Cassius tuus januam pulsat, et te videre cupit.

Brut.-Num solus est ?

Luc.-Non, here; plures simul.

Brut.-Nôstine?

Luc.-Non, here; pilei enim in supercilia contracti, palliaque vultus circumfusa sunt, ut illos nequaquam agnoscere possim.

Brut.-Fac ut intrent. Hæc conjuratorum manus est. O conjuratio! Nonne audes noctu etiam vultum minacem tuum revelare, cum mala omnia liberrima sunt? O ubi igitur invenies antrum ita tenebrosum ut hanc monstrosam faciem tuam interdiu abscondere possis? Ne ergo antrum quæras; sed in risu et comitate delitescas: nam si foris eas, specie propriâ tuâ induta, non Erebi ipsius caligo ea est ut te indeprehensam habeas.

CASSIUS, CASCA, DECIUS, CINNA, METELLUS CIMBER,

TREBONIUS.

Cass.-Vereor ne somnium tuum interruperimus. Salve, Brute; num importuni sumus?