Be factious a for redress of all these griefs; As who goes farthest. There's a bargain made, Of honourable-dangerous consequence; In Pompey's porch: For now, this fearful night, ; In favour's 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. T is 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? Metellus Cimber? Cas. No, it is Casca; one incorporate To our attempts. Am I not staid for, Cinna? 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? Tell me. Cin. Yes, you are. O, Cassius, if you could but win the noble Brutus To our party- Cas. Be you content: Good Cinna, take this paper, And look you, lay it in the prætor's chair, Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this In at his window: set this up with wax Upon old Brutus' statue: all this done, a Factious. To be factious, in its original sense, is to be doing; but Malone suggests that it means " embody a party or faction." Repair to Pompey's porch, where you shall find us. Cin. All, but Metellus Cimber; and he's gone [Exit CINNA Come, Casca, you and I will yet, ere day, Casca. O, he sits high in all the people's hearts: His countenance, like richest alchymy, 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 [Exeunt. ACT II. SCENE I.-The same. Brutus's Orchard. Enter BRUTUS. Bru. What, Lucius! ho! I cannot, by the progress of the stars, Give guess how near to day.-Lucius, I say!— Luc. Call'd 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 crown'd: 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 ;— a So in Richard II.' "When, Harry, when!" A common expression of impatience. b Remorse-pity, tenderness. He then unto the ladder turns his back, Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel Fashion it thus; that what he is, augmented, Which, hatch'd, would as his kind grow mischievous; Re-enter LUCIUS. Luc. The taper burneth in your closet, sir. Searching the window for a flint, I found This paper, thus seal'd 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. Bru. Look in the calendar, and bring me word. Bru. The exhalations, whizzing in the air, [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 dropp'd 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 call'd a king. Speak, strike, redress !"-Am I entreated To speak, and strike? O Rome! I make the 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. [Knock within. Bru. "T is 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 The nature of an insurrection. Re-enter LUCIUS. Luc. Sir, 't is your brother Cassius b at the door, Who doth desire to see you. Bru. Is he alone? Luc. No, sir, there are more with him. Bru. That by no means I may discover them Bru. ears, Let them enter. [Exit LUCIUS. They are the faction. O Conspiracy! a A man. So the original; but Steevens and other modern editors omit the article, which clearly explains what has preceded it. A man individualizes the description; and shows that "the genius" on the one hand, means the spirit, or the impelling higher power moving the spirit, whilst the mortal instruments" has reference to the bodily powers which the will sets in action. b Cassius had married Junia, the sister of Brutus. c Favour-countenance. VOL. X. K |