Cæs. Stand you directly in Antonius' way,'
When he doth run his course.-Antonius!
Ant. Cæsar, my lord!

Cæs. Forget not, in your speed, Antonius,
To touch Calphurnia; for our elders say,
The barren, touched in this holy chase,
Shake off their sterile curse.

Ant.

I shall remember;

When Cæsar says, Do this, it is performed.

Cas. Set on; and leave no ceremony out. [Music. Sooth. Cæsar!

Cæs. Ha! who calls?

Casca. Bid every noise be still.-Peace yet again.

[Music ceases. Cæs. Who is it in the press that calls on me? I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music, Cry, Cæsar. Speak; Cæsar is turned to hear. Sooth. Beware the ides of March. Cæs.

What man is that? Bru. A soothsayer, bids you beware the ides of

March.

Cæs. Set him before me; let me see his face.
Cas. Fellow, come from the throng. Look upon
Cæsar.

Cæs. What say'st thou to me now? Speak once again.

Sooth. Beware the ides of March.

Cæs. He is a dreamer; let us leave him ;-pass.
[Sennet. Exeunt all but BRU. and CAS.

Cas. Will you go see the order of the course?
Bru. Not I.

Cas. I pray you, do.

Bru. I am not gamesome; I do lack some part

Of that quick spirit that is in Antony.

Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires;

I'll leave you.

1 The old copy_reads “Antonio's way;" in other places we have Octavio, Flavio. The players were more accustomed to Italian than Latin terminations. The allusion is to a custom at the Lupercalia. 2 See King Henry VIII. Act ii. Sc. 4.

Cas. Brutus, I do observe you now of late. I have not from your eyes that gentleness, And show of love, as I was wont to have; You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand Over your friend that loves you.

Bru.

Cassius,

Be not deceived; if I have veiled my look,
I turn the trouble of my countenance
Merely upon myself. Vexed I am,

Of late, with passions of some difference,
Conceptions only proper to myself,

Which give some soil, perhaps, to my behaviors;
But let not therefore my good friends be grieved,
(Among which number, Cassius, be you one,)
Nor construe any further my neglect,

Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,
Forgets the shows of love to other men.

Cas. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion,1

By means whereof, this breast of mine hath buried
Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.
Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?
Bru. No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself,
But by reflection, by some other things.

Cas. 'Tis just;

And it is very much lamented, Brutus,

That you have no such mirrors, as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye,

That you might see your shadow. I have heard,
Where many of the best respect in Rome,
(Except immortal Cæsar,) speaking of Brutus,
And groaning underneath this age's yoke,
Have wished that noble Brutus had his eyes.

Bru. Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius, That you would have me seek into myself

For that which is not in me?

Cas. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear; And, since you know you cannot see yourself

1 i. e. the nature of the feelings which you are now suffering.

So well as by reflection, I, your glass,
Will modestly discover to yourself

That of yourself which you yet know not of.
And be not jealous of me, gentle Brutus.
Were I a common laugher, or did use
To stale' with ordinary oaths my love
To every new protester; if

you know
That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard,
And after scandal them; or if you know
That I profess myself in banqueting

To all the rout, then hold me dangerous.

[Flourish and shout.

Bru. What means this shouting? I do fear the

people

Choose Cæsar for their king.

Cas.

Ay, do you fear it?

Then must I think you would not have it so.

Bru. I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well.— But wherefore do you hold me here so long? What is it that you would impart to me? If it be aught toward the general good, Set honor in one eye, and death i' the other, And I will look on both indifferently; For, let the gods so speed me, as I love The name of honor more than I fear death. Cas. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, As well as I do know your outward favor. Well, honor is the subject of my story.— I cannot tell what you and other men Think of this life; but, for my single self, I had as lief not be, as live to be In awe of such a thing as I myself. I was born free as Cæsar; so were you. We both have fed as well; and we can both Endure the winter's cold as well as he. For once, upon a raw and gusty day,

The troubled Tyber chafing with her shores,

1 Johnson has erroneously given the meaning of allurement to stale, in this place. "To stale with ordinary oaths my love," is "to prostitute my

love."

Cæsar said to me, Dar'st thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,
And swim to yonder point? Upon the word,
Accoutered as I was, I plunged in,

And bade him follow; so, indeed, he did.
The torrent roared; and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews; throwing it aside,
And stemming it with hearts of controversy.
But ere we could arrive the point proposed,
Cæsar cried, Help me, Cassius, or I sink.
I, as Eneas, our great ancestor,

Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder
The old Anchises bear, so, from the waves of Tyber,
Did I the tired Cæsar. And this man

Is now become a god; and Cassius is

A wretched creature, and must bend his body,
If Cæsar carelessly but nod on him.

He had a fever when he was in Spain,

And, when the fit was on him, I did mark

How he did shake. 'Tis true, this god did shake:
His coward lips did from their color fly; 2

And that same eye, whose bend doth awe the world,
Did lose his lustre. I did hear him groan;
Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans
Mark him, and write his speeches in their books,
Alas! it cried, Give me some drink, Titinius;
As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me,
A man of such a feeble temper3 should
So get the start of the majestic world,
And bear the palm alone.

Bru. Another general shout!

I do believe that these applauses are

[Shout. Flourish.

For some new honors that are heaped on Cæsar.
Cas. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world,
Like a Colossus; and we petty men

Walk under his huge legs, and peep about

To find ourselves dishonorable graves.

1 The verb arrive is also used by Milton without the preposition.

2 Some commentators suppose that the allusion here is to a coward's desertion of his standard. Probably nothing more was intended than to describe the effect of the disease on the appearance of the lips.

3 Temperament, constitution.

yours?

Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
Brutus, and Cæsar! what should be in that Cæsar?
Why should that name be sounded more than
Write them together, yours is as fair a name ;
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;
Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with them,
Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Cæsar.
Now, in the names of all the gods at once,
Upon what meat doth this our Cæsar feed,

[Shout.

That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed!
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!
When went there by an age, since the great flood,
But it was famed with more than with one man?
When could they say, till now, that talked of Rome,
That her wide walls1 encompassed but one man?
Now is it Rome indeed, and room enough,
When there is in it but one only man.

O! you and I have heard our fathers say,

There was a Brutus 2 once, that would have brooked
The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome,
As easily as a king.

Bru. That you do love me, I am nothing jealous;
What you would work me to, I have some aim; 3
How I have thought of this, and of these times,
I shall recount hereafter; for this present,
I would not, so with love I might entreat you,
Be any further moved. What you have said,
I will consider; what you have to say,
I will with patience hear; and find a time
Both meet to hear, and answer, such high things.
Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this;
Brutus had rather be a villager,

Than to repute himself a son of Rome,
Under these hard conditions as 5 this time
Is like to lay upon us.

The first folio reads walks.

2 "Lucius Junius Brutus."

3 i. e. guess.

4 Ruminate on this.

5 As, according to Tooke, is an article, and means the same as that, which, or it; accordingly we find it often so employed by old writers, and particularly in our excellent version of the Bible.