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Have thews1 and limbs like to their ancestors:
But, woe the while! our fathers' minds are dead,
And we are governed with our mothers' spirits;
Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish.

Casca. Indeed, they say, the senators to-morrow Mean to establish Cæsar as a king:

And he shall wear his crown by sea and land,
In every place, save here in Italy.

Cas. I know where I will wear this dagger then;
Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius:
Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong;
Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat:
Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass,
Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron,
Can be retentive to the strength of spirit;
But life, being weary of these worldly bars,
Never lacks power to dismiss itself.

If I know this, know all the world besides,
That part of tyranny, that I do bear,
I can shake off at pleasure.

So

Casca.

So can I;

every bondman in his own hand bears The power to cancel his captivity.

Cas. And why should Cæsar be a tyrant, then?
Poor man! I know he would not be a wolf,
But that he sees the Romans are but sheep;
He were no lion, were not Romans hinds.
Those that with haste will make a mighty fire,
Begin it with weak straws. What trash is Rome,
What rubbish, and what offal, when it serves
For the base matter to illuminate
So vile a thing as Cæsar?
Where hast thou led me?
Before a willing bondman;
My answer must be made.
And dangers are to me indifferent.

2

But, O grief!

I, perhaps, speak this
then I know
But I am armed,

1 i. e. sinews, muscular strength. See note on King Henry IV. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 2.

2 "I know I shall be called to account, and must answer for having uttered seditious words."

Casca. You speak to Casca; and to such a man, That is no fleering telltale. Hold my hand:1 Be factious for redress of all these griefs;

And I will set this foot of mine as far,

As who goes farthest.

Cas.

There's a bargain made.

Now know you, Casca, I have moved already
Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans,
To undergo, with me, an enterprise
Of honorable-dangerous consequence;
And I do know, by this, they stay for me
In Pompey's porch; for now, this fearful night
There is no stir, or walking in the streets;
And the complexion of the element,

In favor's 2 like the work we have in hand,
Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible.

Enter CINNA.

Casca. Stand close awhile, for here comes one in haste.

Cas. 'Tis Cinna; I do know him by his gait;
He is a friend.-Cinna, where haste you so?
Cin. To find out you. Who's that?

Cimber?

Cas. No, it is Casca; one incorporate
To our attempts. Am I not staid for, Cinna?

Metellus

Cin. I am glad on't. What a fearful night is this! There's two or three of us have seen strange sights. Cas. Am I not staid for, Cinna? Tell me.

Cin.

You are.

O Cassius, if you could but win

The noble Brutus to our
Cas. Be you content.

party—

Yes,

Good Cinna, take this paper,

And look you lay it in the prætor's chair,
Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this

1 "Hold my hand" is the same as "Here's my hand." for redress," means, be contentious, enterprising for redress.

"Be factious

2 The old copy reads, "Is favors." Favor here is put for appearance,

look.

In at his window; set this up with wax
Upon old Brutus' statue: all this done,

Repair to Pompey's porch, where you shall find us.
Is Decius Brutus, and Trebonius, there?

Cin. All but Metellus Cimber; and he's gone
To seek you at your house. Well, I will hie,
And so bestow these papers as you bade me.
Cas. That done, repair to Pompey's theatre.

[Exit CINNA.

Come, Casca, you and I will yet, ere day,
See Brutus at his house: three parts of him
Is ours already; and the man entire,

Upon the next encounter, yields him ours.

Casca. O, he sits high in all the people's hearts; And that which would appear offence in us,

His countenance, like richest alchemy,

Will change to virtue, and to worthiness.

Cas. Him and his worth, and our great need of him,

You have right well conceited. Let us go,

For it is after midnight; and, ere day,
We will awake him, and be sure of him.

[Exeunt.

ACT II.

SCENE I. The same.

Brutus's Orchard.1

Enter BRUTUS.

Bru. What, Lucius! ho!

I cannot, by the progress of the stars,

Give guess how near to day.-Lucius, I say!-
I would it were my fault to sleep so soundly.-

When, Lucius, when? Awake, I say.

What, Lucius!

1 Orchard and garden appear to have been synonymous with our

ancestors.

Enter LUCIUS.

Luc. Called you, my lord?

Bru. Get me a taper in my study, Lucius; When it is lighted, come and call me here. Luc. I will, my lord.

[Exit.

Bru. It must be by his death; and for my part,

I know no personal cause to spurn at him,

But for the general. He would be crowned ;

How that might change his nature, there's the question.
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder;
And that craves wary walking. Crown him?-That ;—
And then, I grant, we put a sting in him,

That at his will he may do danger with.
The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins
Remorse from power. And, to speak truth of Cæsar,
I have not known when his affections swayed
More than his reason. But 'tis a common proof,2
That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber-upward turns his face;
But when he once attains the upmost 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 color 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,3 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.

[blocks in formation]

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.

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

[Exit.

[Opens the letter, and reads.
Brutus, thou sleep'st; awake, and see thyself.
Shall Rome, &c. Speak, strike, redress!
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

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.2

[Knock within.

Bru. 'Tis good. Go to the gate; somebody knocks.

[Exit LUCIUS.

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,

1 The old copy erroneously reads, "the first of March." The correction was made by Theobald; as was the following.

2 Here again the old copy reads, fifteen. This was only the dawn of the fifteenth when the boy makes his report.

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