To wear a kerchief? 'Would you were not sick!
Lig. I ain not sick, if Brutus have in hand
Any exploit worthy the name of honour.

Bru. Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius, Had you a healthful ear to hear of it.

Lig. By all the gods that Romans bow before, I here discard my sickness. Soul of Rome! Brave son, deriv'd from honourable loins! Thou, like an exorcist, hast conjur'd up My mortified spirit. 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 sick men

whole.

Lig. But are not some whole, that we must make

sick?

Bru. That must we also. I shall unfold to thee, as we To whom it must be done.

What it is, my Caius, are going

Set on your foot;

you,

Lig.
And, with a heart new-fir'd, I follow
To do I know not what: but it sufficeth,
That Brutus leads me on.

Cæs. Nor heaven, nor earth, have been at peace to-night:

• Thou, like an exorcist,] Here, and in all other places where the word occurs in Shakspeare, to exorcise means to raise spirits, not to lay them; and perhaps he is singular in his acceptation of it.

Thrice hath Calphurnia in her sleep cried out,
Help, ho! They murder Casar! Who's within?

Serv. My lord?

Enter a Servant.

Cæs. Go bid the priests do present sacrifice, And bring me their opinions of success.

Serv. I will, my lord.

[Exit.

Enter CALPHURNIA.

Cal. What mean you,

Cæsar? Think

you to walk

forth?

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

Cæs. Cæsar shall forth: The things that threat

en'd me,

Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they shall see The face of Cæsar, they are vanished.

Cal. Cæsar, I never stood on ceremonies,7
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.

Cæs.

What can be avoided,

1 Cæsar, I never stood on ceremonies,] i. e. I never paid a ceremonious or superstitious regard to prodigies or omens.

The noise of battle hurtled in the air,] To hurtle is to clash, or move with violence and noise.

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.

Cal. When beggars die, there are no comets seen; The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.

Cas. 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.

Re-enter a Servant.

What say

the augurers?

Serv. They would not have you to stir forth to-day. Plucking the entrails of an offering forth, They could not find a heart within the beast.

Ces. The gods do this in shame of cowardice:9 Cæsar should be a beast without a heart, If he should stay at home to-day for fear. No, Cæsar shall not: Danger knows full well, That Cæsar is more dangerous than he. We were two lions litter'd in one day,

And I the elder and more terrible;

And Cæsar shall go forth.

Cal.

Alas, my lord,

Your wisdom is consum'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 send Mark Antony to the senate-house;
And he shall say, you are not well to-day:
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.

in shame of cowardice:] The ancients did not place cou

rage but wisdom in the heart. JOHNSON.

Cæs. Mark Antony shall say, I am not well; And, for thy humour, I will stay at home.

Enter DECIUS.

Here's Decius Brutus, he shall tell them so.
Dec. Cæsar, all hail! Good morrow, worthy
Cæsar:

I come to fetch you to the senate-house.

Cæs. 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, falser;
I will not come to-day: Tell them so, Decius.
Cal. Say, he is sick.

Cæs.
Shall Cæsar send a lie?
Have I in conquest stretch'd mine arm so far,
To be afeard to tell grey-beards the truth?
Decius, go tell them, Cæsar will not come.

Dec. Most mighty Cæsar, let me know some cause, Lest I be laugh'd at, when I tell them so.

Ces. The cause is in my will, I will not come; That is enough to satisfy the senate.

But, for your private satisfaction,

Because I love you, I will let you know.
Calphurnia here, my wife, stays me at home:
She dreamt to-night she saw my statua,
Which like a fountain, with a hundred spouts,
Did run pure blood; and many lusty Romans
Came smiling, and did bathe their hands in it.
And these does she apply for warnings, portents,
And evils imminent; and on her knee
Hath begg'd, that I will stay at home to-day.
Dec. This dream is all amiss interpreted;
It was a vision, fair and fortunate:

Your statue spouting blood in many pipes,
In which so many smiling Romans bath'd,

Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck
Reviving blood; and that great men shall press
For tinctures, stains, relicks, and cognizance.'
This by Calphurnia's dream is signified.

Ces. And this way have you well expounded it.
Dec. I have, when you have heard what I can say:
And know it now; the senate have concluded
To give, this day, a crown to mighty Cæsar.

If

you shall send them word, you will not come,
Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock
Apt to be render'd, for some one to say,
Break up the senate till another time,

When Casar's wife shall meet with better dreams.
If Cæsar hide himself, shall they not whisper,
Lo, Cæsar is afraid?

Pardon me, Cæsar; for my dear, dear love
To your proceeding bids me tell you this;
And reason to my love is liable.

Cæs. How foolish do your fears seem now, Cal-
phurnia?

I am ashamed I did yield to them.—
Give me my robe, for I will go:—

For tinctures, stains relicks, and cognizance.] This speech, which is intentionally pompous, is somewhat confused. There are two allusions; one to coats armorial, to which princes make additions, or give new tinctures, and new marks of cognizance; the other to martyrs, whose relicks are preserved with veneration. But Messrs. Malone and Steevens think that tinctures has no relation to heraldry, but means merely handkerchiefs, or other linen, tinged with blood. At the execution of several of our ancient nobility, martyrs, &c. we are told that handkerchiefs were tinctured with their blood, and preserved as affectionate or salutary memorials of the deceased.

2 And reason, &c.] And reason, or propriety of conduct and language, is subordinate to my love.