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2
Enter FLAVIUS, MARULLUS, and certain Commoners
4
Hence! home, you idle creatures get you home:
5
Is this a holiday? what! know you not,
6
Being mechanical, you ought not walk
7
Upon a labouring day without the sign
8
Of your profession? Speak, what trade art thou?
10
Why, sir, a carpenter.
12
Where is thy leather apron and thy rule?
13
What dost thou with thy best apparel on?
14
You, sir, what trade are you?
16
Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am but,
17
as you would say, a cobbler.
19
But what trade art thou? answer me directly.
21
A trade, sir, that, I hope, I may use with a safe
22
conscience; which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles.
24
What trade, thou knave? thou naughty knave, what trade?
26
Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me: yet,
27
if you be out, sir, I can mend you.
29
What meanest thou by that? mend me, thou saucy fellow!
33
Thou art a cobbler, art thou?
35
Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the awl: I
36
meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's
37
matters, but with awl. I am, indeed, sir, a surgeon
38
to old shoes; when they are in great danger, I
39
recover them. As proper men as ever trod upon
40
neat's leather have gone upon my handiwork.
42
But wherefore art not in thy shop today?
43
Why dost thou lead these men about the streets?
45
Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get myself
46
into more work. But, indeed, sir, we make holiday,
47
to see Caesar and to rejoice in his triumph.
49
Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?
50
What tributaries follow him to Rome,
51
To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels?
52
You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!
53
O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,
54
Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft
55
Have you climb'd up to walls and battlements,
56
To towers and windows, yea, to chimney-tops,
57
Your infants in your arms, and there have sat
58
The livelong day, with patient expectation,
59
To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome:
60
And when you saw his chariot but appear,
61
Have you not made an universal shout,
62
That Tiber trembled underneath her banks,
63
To hear the replication of your sounds
64
Made in her concave shores?
65
And do you now put on your best attire?
66
And do you now cull out a holiday?
67
And do you now strew flowers in his way
68
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood? Be gone!
69
Run to your houses, fall upon your knees,
70
Pray to the gods to intermit the plague
71
That needs must light on this ingratitude.
73
Go, go, good countrymen, and, for this fault,
74
Assemble all the poor men of your sort;
75
Draw them to Tiber banks, and weep your tears
76
Into the channel, till the lowest stream
77
Do kiss the most exalted shores of all.
78
[Exeunt all the Commoners]
79
See whether their basest metal be not moved;
80
They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness.
81
Go you down that way towards the Capitol;
82
This way will I disrobe the images,
83
If you do find them deck'd with ceremonies.
86
You know it is the feast of Lupercal.
88
It is no matter; let no images
89
Be hung with Caesar's trophies. I'll about,
90
And drive away the vulgar from the streets:
91
So do you too, where you perceive them thick.
92
These growing feathers pluck'd from Caesar's wing
93
Will make him fly an ordinary pitch,
94
Who else would soar above the view of men
95
And keep us all in servile fearfulness.
2
[Flourish. Enter CAESAR; ANTONY, for the course; CALPURNIA, PORTIA, DECIUS BRUTUS, CICERO, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, and CASCA; a great crowd following, among them a Soothsayer]
6
Peace, ho! Caesar speaks.
12
Stand you directly in Antonius' way,
13
When he doth run his course. Antonius!
17
Forget not, in your speed, Antonius,
18
To touch Calpurnia; for our elders say,
19
The barren, touched in this holy chase,
20
Shake off their sterile curse.
23
When Caesar says 'do this,' it is perform'd.
25
Set on; and leave no ceremony out.
32
Bid every noise be still: peace yet again!
34
Who is it in the press that calls on me?
35
I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music,
36
Cry 'Caesar!' Speak; Caesar is turn'd to hear.
38
Beware the ides of March.
42
A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.
44
Set him before me; let me see his face.
46
Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar.
48
What say'st thou to me now? speak once again.
50
Beware the ides of March.
52
He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass.
53
Sennet. Exeunt all except BRUTUS and CASSIUS
55
Will you go see the order of the course?
61
I am not gamesome: I do lack some part
62
Of that quick spirit that is in Antony.
63
Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires;
66
Brutus, I do observe you now of late:
67
I have not from your eyes that gentleness
68
And show of love as I was wont to have:
69
You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand
70
Over your friend that loves you.
73
Be not deceived: if I have veil'd my look,
74
I turn the trouble of my countenance
75
Merely upon myself. Vexed I am
76
Of late with passions of some difference,
77
Conceptions only proper to myself,
78
Which give some soil perhaps to my behaviors;
79
But let not therefore my good friends be grieved—
80
Among which number, Cassius, be you one—
81
Nor construe any further my neglect,
82
Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,
83
Forgets the shows of love to other men.
85
Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion;
86
By means whereof this breast of mine hath buried
87
Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.
88
Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?
90
No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself,
91
But by reflection, by some other things.
94
And it is very much lamented, Brutus,
95
That you have no such mirrors as will turn
96
Your hidden worthiness into your eye,
97
That you might see your shadow. I have heard,
98
Where many of the best respect in Rome,
99
Except immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus
100
And groaning underneath this age's yoke,
101
Have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes.
103
Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius,
104
That you would have me seek into myself
105
For that which is not in me?
107
Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear:
108
And since you know you cannot see yourself
109
So well as by reflection, I, your glass,
110
Will modestly discover to yourself
111
That of yourself which you yet know not of.
112
And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus:
113
Were I a common laugher, or did use
114
To stale with ordinary oaths my love
115
To every new protester; if you know
116
That I do fawn on men and hug them hard
117
And after scandal them, or if you know
118
That I profess myself in banqueting
119
To all the rout, then hold me dangerous.
122
What means this shouting? I do fear, the people
123
Choose Caesar for their king.
126
Then must I think you would not have it so.
128
I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well.
129
But wherefore do you hold me here so long?
130
What is it that you would impart to me?
131
If it be aught toward the general good,
132
Set honour in one eye and death i' the other,
133
And I will look on both indifferently,
134
For let the gods so speed me as I love
135
The name of honour more than I fear death.
137
I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
138
As well as I do know your outward favour.
139
Well, honour is the subject of my story.
140
I cannot tell what you and other men
141
Think of this life; but, for my single self,
142
I had as lief not be as live to be
143
In awe of such a thing as I myself.
144
I was born free as Caesar; so were you:
145
We both have fed as well, and we can both
146
Endure the winter's cold as well as he:
147
For once, upon a raw and gusty day,
148
The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
149
Caesar said to me 'Darest thou, Cassius, now
150
Leap in with me into this angry flood,
151
And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word,
152
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in
153
And bade him follow; so indeed he did.
154
The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it
155
With lusty sinews, throwing it aside
156
And stemming it with hearts of controversy;
157
But ere we could arrive the point proposed,
158
Caesar cried 'Help me, Cassius, or I sink!'
159
I, as Aeneas, our great ancestor,
160
Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder
161
The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber
162
Did I the tired Caesar. And this man
163
Is now become a god, and Cassius is
164
A wretched creature and must bend his body,
165
If Caesar carelessly but nod on him.
166
He had a fever when he was in Spain,
167
And when the fit was on him, I did mark
168
How he did shake: 'tis true, this god did shake;
169
His coward lips did from their colour fly,
170
And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world
171
Did lose his lustre: I did hear him groan:
172
Ay, and that tongue of his that bade the Romans
173
Mark him and write his speeches in their books,
174
Alas, it cried 'Give me some drink, Tintinius,'
175
As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me
176
A man of such a feeble temper should
177
So get the start of the majestic world
178
And bear the palm alone.
181
Another general shout!
182
I do believe that these applauses are
183
For some new honours that are heap'd on Caesar.
185
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
186
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
187
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
188
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
189
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
190
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
191
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
192
Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that 'Caesar'?
193
Why should that name be sounded more than yours?
194
Write them together, yours is as fair a name;
195
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;
196
Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with 'em,
197
Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Caesar.
198
Now, in the names of all the gods at once,
199
Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed,
200
That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed!
201
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!
202
When went there by an age, since the great flood,
203
But it was famed with more than with one man?
204
When could they say till now, that talk'd of Rome,
205
That her wide walls encompass'd but one man?
206
Now is it Rome indeed and room enough,
207
When there is in it but one only man.
208
O, you and I have heard our fathers say,
209
There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd
210
The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome
213
That you do love me, I am nothing jealous;
214
What you would work me to, I have some aim:
215
How I have thought of this and of these times,
216
I shall recount hereafter; for this present,
217
I would not, so with love I might entreat you,
218
Be any further moved. What you have said
219
I will consider; what you have to say
220
I will with patience hear, and find a time
221
Both meet to hear and answer such high things.
222
Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this:
223
Brutus had rather be a villager
224
Than to repute himself a son of Rome
225
Under these hard conditions as this time
226
Is like to lay upon us.
228
I am glad that my weak words
229
Have struck but thus much show of fire from Brutus.
231
The games are done and Caesar is returning.
233
As they pass by, pluck Casca by the sleeve;
234
And he will, after his sour fashion, tell you
235
What hath proceeded worthy note to-day.
236
Re-enter CAESAR and his Train
238
I will do so. But, look you, Cassius,
239
The angry spot doth glow on Caesar's brow,
240
And all the rest look like a chidden train:
241
Calpurnia's cheek is pale; and Cicero
242
Looks with such ferret and such fiery eyes
243
As we have seen him in the Capitol,
244
Being cross'd in conference by some senators.
246
Casca will tell us what the matter is.
252
Let me have men about me that are fat;
253
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights:
254
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
255
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
257
Fear him not, Caesar; he's not dangerous;
258
He is a noble Roman and well given.
260
Would he were fatter! But I fear him not:
261
Yet if my name were liable to fear,
262
I do not know the man I should avoid
263
So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much;
264
He is a great observer and he looks
265
Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays,
266
As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music;
267
Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort
268
As if he mock'd himself and scorn'd his spirit
269
That could be moved to smile at any thing.
270
Such men as he be never at heart's ease
271
Whiles they behold a greater than themselves,
272
And therefore are they very dangerous.
273
I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd
274
Than what I fear; for always I am Caesar.
275
Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf,
276
And tell me truly what thou think'st of him.
277
Sennet. Exeunt CAESAR and all his Train, but CASCA
279
You pull'd me by the cloak; would you speak with me?
281
Ay, Casca; tell us what hath chanced to-day,
282
That Caesar looks so sad.
284
Why, you were with him, were you not?
286
I should not then ask Casca what had chanced.
288
Why, there was a crown offered him: and being
289
offered him, he put it by with the back of his hand,
290
thus; and then the people fell a-shouting.
292
What was the second noise for?
296
They shouted thrice: what was the last cry for?
300
Was the crown offered him thrice?
302
Ay, marry, was't, and he put it by thrice, every
303
time gentler than other, and at every putting-by
304
mine honest neighbours shouted.
306
Who offered him the crown?
310
Tell us the manner of it, gentle Casca.
312
I can as well be hanged as tell the manner of it:
313
it was mere foolery; I did not mark it. I saw Mark
314
Antony offer him a crown;—yet 'twas not a crown
315
neither, 'twas one of these coronets;—and, as I told
316
you, he put it by once: but, for all that, to my
317
thinking, he would fain have had it. Then he
318
offered it to him again; then he put it by again:
319
but, to my thinking, he was very loath to lay his
320
fingers off it. And then he offered it the third
321
time; he put it the third time by: and still as he
322
refused it, the rabblement hooted and clapped their
323
chapped hands and threw up their sweaty night-caps
324
and uttered such a deal of stinking breath because
325
Caesar refused the crown that it had almost choked
326
Caesar; for he swounded and fell down at it: and
327
for mine own part, I durst not laugh, for fear of
328
opening my lips and receiving the bad air.
330
But, soft, I pray you: what, did Caesar swound?
332
He fell down in the market-place, and foamed at
333
mouth, and was speechless.
335
'Tis very like: he hath the failing sickness.
337
No, Caesar hath it not; but you and I,
338
And honest Casca, we have the falling sickness.
340
I know not what you mean by that; but, I am sure,
341
Caesar fell down. If the tag-rag people did not
342
clap him and hiss him, according as he pleased and
343
displeased them, as they use to do the players in
344
the theatre, I am no true man.
346
What said he when he came unto himself?
348
Marry, before he fell down, when he perceived the
349
common herd was glad he refused the crown, he
350
plucked me ope his doublet and offered them his
351
throat to cut. An I had been a man of any
352
occupation, if I would not have taken him at a word,
353
I would I might go to hell among the rogues. And so
354
he fell. When he came to himself again, he said,
355
If he had done or said any thing amiss, he desired
356
their worships to think it was his infirmity. Three
357
or four wenches, where I stood, cried 'Alas, good
358
soul!' and forgave him with all their hearts: but
359
there's no heed to be taken of them; if Caesar had
360
stabbed their mothers, they would have done no less.
362
And after that, he came, thus sad, away?
366
Did Cicero say any thing?
372
Nay, an I tell you that, Ill ne'er look you i' the
373
face again: but those that understood him smiled at
374
one another and shook their heads; but, for mine own
375
part, it was Greek to me. I could tell you more
376
news too: Marullus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs
377
off Caesar's images, are put to silence. Fare you
378
well. There was more foolery yet, if I could
381
Will you sup with me to-night, Casca?
383
No, I am promised forth.
385
Will you dine with me to-morrow?
387
Ay, if I be alive and your mind hold and your dinner
390
Good: I will expect you.
392
Do so. Farewell, both.
395
What a blunt fellow is this grown to be!
396
He was quick mettle when he went to school.
398
So is he now in execution
399
Of any bold or noble enterprise,
400
However he puts on this tardy form.
401
This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit,
402
Which gives men stomach to digest his words
403
With better appetite.
405
And so it is. For this time I will leave you:
406
To-morrow, if you please to speak with me,
407
I will come home to you; or, if you will,
408
Come home to me, and I will wait for you.
410
I will do so: till then, think of the world.
412
Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see,
413
Thy honourable metal may be wrought
414
From that it is disposed: therefore it is meet
415
That noble minds keep ever with their likes;
416
For who so firm that cannot be seduced?
417
Caesar doth bear me hard; but he loves Brutus:
418
If I were Brutus now and he were Cassius,
419
He should not humour me. I will this night,
420
In several hands, in at his windows throw,
421
As if they came from several citizens,
422
Writings all tending to the great opinion
423
That Rome holds of his name; wherein obscurely
424
Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at:
425
And after this let Caesar seat him sure;
426
For we will shake him, or worse days endure.
2
[Thunder and lightning. Enter from opposite sides, CASCA, with his sword drawn, and CICERO]
4
Good even, Casca: brought you Caesar home?
5
Why are you breathless? and why stare you so?
7
Are not you moved, when all the sway of earth
8
Shakes like a thing unfirm? O Cicero,
9
I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds
10
Have rived the knotty oaks, and I have seen
11
The ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam,
12
To be exalted with the threatening clouds:
13
But never till to-night, never till now,
14
Did I go through a tempest dropping fire.
15
Either there is a civil strife in heaven,
16
Or else the world, too saucy with the gods,
17
Incenses them to send destruction.
19
Why, saw you any thing more wonderful?
21
A common slave—you know him well by sight—
22
Held up his left hand, which did flame and burn
23
Like twenty torches join'd, and yet his hand,
24
Not sensible of fire, remain'd unscorch'd.
25
Besides—I ha' not since put up my sword—
26
Against the Capitol I met a lion,
27
Who glared upon me, and went surly by,
28
Without annoying me: and there were drawn
29
Upon a heap a hundred ghastly women,
30
Transformed with their fear; who swore they saw
31
Men all in fire walk up and down the streets.
32
And yesterday the bird of night did sit
33
Even at noon-day upon the market-place,
34
Hooting and shrieking. When these prodigies
35
Do so conjointly meet, let not men say
36
'These are their reasons; they are natural;'
37
For, I believe, they are portentous things
38
Unto the climate that they point upon.
40
Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time:
41
But men may construe things after their fashion,
42
Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.
43
Come Caesar to the Capitol to-morrow?
45
He doth; for he did bid Antonius
46
Send word to you he would be there to-morrow.
48
Good night then, Casca: this disturbed sky
61
Your ear is good. Cassius, what night is this!
63
A very pleasing night to honest men.
65
Who ever knew the heavens menace so?
67
Those that have known the earth so full of faults.
68
For my part, I have walk'd about the streets,
69
Submitting me unto the perilous night,
70
And, thus unbraced, Casca, as you see,
71
Have bared my bosom to the thunder-stone;
72
And when the cross blue lightning seem'd to open
73
The breast of heaven, I did present myself
74
Even in the aim and very flash of it.
76
But wherefore did you so much tempt the heavens?
77
It is the part of men to fear and tremble,
78
When the most mighty gods by tokens send
79
Such dreadful heralds to astonish us.
81
You are dull, Casca, and those sparks of life
82
That should be in a Roman you do want,
83
Or else you use not. You look pale and gaze
84
And put on fear and cast yourself in wonder,
85
To see the strange impatience of the heavens:
86
But if you would consider the true cause
87
Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts,
88
Why birds and beasts from quality and kind,
89
Why old men fool and children calculate,
90
Why all these things change from their ordinance
91
Their natures and preformed faculties
92
To monstrous quality,—why, you shall find
93
That heaven hath infused them with these spirits,
94
To make them instruments of fear and warning
95
Unto some monstrous state.
96
Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man
97
Most like this dreadful night,
98
That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars
99
As doth the lion in the Capitol,
100
A man no mightier than thyself or me
101
In personal action, yet prodigious grown
102
And fearful, as these strange eruptions are.
104
'Tis Caesar that you mean; is it not, Cassius?
106
Let it be who it is: for Romans now
107
Have thews and limbs like to their ancestors;
108
But, woe the while! our fathers' minds are dead,
109
And we are govern'd with our mothers' spirits;
110
Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish.
112
Indeed, they say the senators tomorrow
113
Mean to establish Caesar as a king;
114
And he shall wear his crown by sea and land,
115
In every place, save here in Italy.
117
I know where I will wear this dagger then;
118
Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius:
119
Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong;
120
Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat:
121
Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass,
122
Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron,
123
Can be retentive to the strength of spirit;
124
But life, being weary of these worldly bars,
125
Never lacks power to dismiss itself.
126
If I know this, know all the world besides,
127
That part of tyranny that I do bear
128
I can shake off at pleasure.
132
So every bondman in his own hand bears
133
The power to cancel his captivity.
135
And why should Caesar be a tyrant then?
136
Poor man! I know he would not be a wolf,
137
But that he sees the Romans are but sheep:
138
He were no lion, were not Romans hinds.
139
Those that with haste will make a mighty fire
140
Begin it with weak straws: what trash is Rome,
141
What rubbish and what offal, when it serves
142
For the base matter to illuminate
143
So vile a thing as Caesar! But, O grief,
144
Where hast thou led me? I perhaps speak this
145
Before a willing bondman; then I know
146
My answer must be made. But I am arm'd,
147
And dangers are to me indifferent.
149
You speak to Casca, and to such a man
150
That is no fleering tell-tale. Hold, my hand:
151
Be factious for redress of all these griefs,
152
And I will set this foot of mine as far
153
As who goes farthest.
155
There's a bargain made.
156
Now know you, Casca, I have moved already
157
Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans
158
To undergo with me an enterprise
159
Of honourable-dangerous consequence;
160
And I do know, by this, they stay for me
161
In Pompey's porch: for now, this fearful night,
162
There is no stir or walking in the streets;
163
And the complexion of the element
164
In favour's like the work we have in hand,
165
Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible.
167
Stand close awhile, for here comes one in haste.
169
'Tis Cinna; I do know him by his gait;
172
Cinna, where haste you so?
174
To find out you. Who's that? Metellus Cimber?
176
No, it is Casca; one incorporate
177
To our attempts. Am I not stay'd for, Cinna?
179
I am glad on 't. What a fearful night is this!
180
There's two or three of us have seen strange sights.
182
Am I not stay'd for? tell me.
185
O Cassius, if you could
186
But win the noble Brutus to our party—
188
Be you content: good Cinna, take this paper,
189
And look you lay it in the praetor's chair,
190
Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this
191
In at his window; set this up with wax
192
Upon old Brutus' statue: all this done,
193
Repair to Pompey's porch, where you shall find us.
194
Is Decius Brutus and Trebonius there?
196
All but Metellus Cimber; and he's gone
197
To seek you at your house. Well, I will hie,
198
And so bestow these papers as you bade me.
200
That done, repair to Pompey's theatre.
202
Come, Casca, you and I will yet ere day
203
See Brutus at his house: three parts of him
204
Is ours already, and the man entire
205
Upon the next encounter yields him ours.
207
O, he sits high in all the people's hearts:
208
And that which would appear offence in us,
209
His countenance, like richest alchemy,
210
Will change to virtue and to worthiness.
212
Him and his worth and our great need of him
213
You have right well conceited. Let us go,
214
For it is after midnight; and ere day
215
We will awake him and be sure of him.
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