"Have had refort to you: for here have been Some fix or seven, who did hide their faces Even from darkness.

Bru. Kneel not, gentle Portia.

Por. I fhould not need, if you were gentle Brutus.
Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus,
Is it excepted, I should know no fecrets
That appertain to you? Am I yourself,
But, as it were, in fort, or limitation;

To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed,

And talk to you fometimes? Dwell I but in the suburbs Of your good pleafure? If it be no more,

Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife.

Bru. You are my true and honourable wife;

As dear to me, as are the ruddy drops

That vifit my fad heart.

Por. If this were true, then should I know this fecret. I grant, I am a woman; but, withal,

A woman that lord Brutus took to wife :
I grant, I am a woman; but, withal,
A woman well-reputed; Cato's daughter.
Think you, I am no ftronger than my fex,
Being fo father'd, and fo hufbanded?

Tell me your counfels, I will not disclose them:
1 have made strong proof of my conftancy,

Giving myself a voluntary wound

Here, in the thigh: Can I bear that with patience,

Render me worthy of this noble wife! [Knocking within. Hark, hark! one knocks: Portia, go in a while;

And by and by thy bosom shall partake

The fecrets of my heart.

All my engagements I will conftrue to thee,

All the charactery of my fad brows:

Leave me with hafte.

[Exit PORTIA,

Enter LUCIUS, and LIGARIUS.

Lucius, who is that, knocks?

Luc. Here is a fick man, that would fpeak with you.

Bru.

Bru. Caius Ligarius, that Metellus fpake of.Boy, ftand afide.-Caius Ligarius! how?

Lig. Vouchfafe good morrow from a feeble tongue. Bru. O, what a time have you chofe out, brave Caius, To wear a kerchief? 'Would you were not fick ! Lig. I am not fick, 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,.
There difcard my ficknefs. Soul of Rome!
Brave fon, deriv'd from honourable loins!
Thou, like an exorcift, haft conjur'd up
My mortified spirit. Now bid me run,
And I will strive with things impoffible;
Yea, get the better of them. What's to do?

Bru. A piece of work, that will make fick men whole.
Lig. But are not fome whole, that we must make fick ?
Bru. That muft we alfo. What it is, my Caius,

I shall unfold to thee, as we are going

To whom it must be done.

Lig. Set on your foot;

And, with a heart new-fir'd, I follow you,

To do I know not what: but it fufficeth,
That Brutus leads me on.

Bru. Follow me then..

[Exeunt.

The fame. A Room in Cæfar's Palace.

Thunder and lightning. Enter CESAR, in bis Night-gown. Caf. Nor heaven, nor earth, have been at peace tonight:

Thrice hath Calphurnia in her fleep cry'd out,

Help, bo! They murder Cæfar. Who's within?

Enter a Servant.

Serv. My lord?

C.3

Caf.

Exorcift in Shakspeare's age fignifies one who raifes fpirits by inchantment.

Cf. Go bid the priests do prefent facrifice, And bring me their opinions of success.

Serv. I will, my lord.

Enter CALPHURNIA.

[Exit.

Cal. What mean you, Cæfar? Think you to walk forth? You shall not ftir out of your house to-day.

Caf. Cæfar fhall forth: The things, that threaten'd me, Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they fhall fee The face of Cæfar, they are vanished.

Cal. Cæfar, I never flood on ceremonies,
Yet now they fright me. There is one within,
Befides the things that we have heard and feen,
Recounts moft horrid fights feen by the watch.
A lionefs hath whelped in the ftreets

And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead :
Fierce firy warriors fight upon the clouds,

In ranks, and fquadrons, and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol :

The noife of battle hurtled in the air,
Horfes do neigh, and dying men did groan;
And ghofts did fhriek, and fqueal about the streets.
O Cæfar! these things are beyond all use,
And I do fear them.

Caf. What can be avoided,

Whofe end is purpos'd by the mighty gods?
Yet Cæfar fhall go forth: for these predictions
Are to the world in general, as to Cæfar.

Cal. When beggars die, there are no comets feen;
The heavens themfelves blaze forth the death of princes.
Caf. Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never tafte of death but once.

Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,

It feems to me moft ftrange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a neceflary end,

Will come, when it will come.

Re-enter

7 i. e. I never paid a ceremonious or fuperftitious regard to prodigies

or omens.

This is a fentence derived from the ftoical doctrine of of predeftination, and is therefore improper in the mouth of Cæfar.

Re-enter a Servant.

What fay the augurers?

Serv. They would not have you to ftir forth to-day.
. Plucking the entrails of an offering forth,
They could not find a heart within the beaft.
Caf. The gods do this in fhame of cowardice":
Cæfar fhould be a beast without a heart,
If he should stay at home to-day for fear.
No, Cæfar fhall not: Danger knows full well,
That Cæfar is more dangerous than he.
We are two lions litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible;
And Cæfar fhall go forth.

Cal. Alas, my lord,

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

Caf. Mark Antony fhall fay, I am not well;
And, for thy humour, I will ftay at home.
Enter DECIUS.

Here's Decius Brutus, he fhall tell them fo.

Dec. Cæfar, all hail! Good morrow, worthy Cæsar : I come to fetch you to the senate-house.

Caf. And you are come in very happy time,

To bear my greeting to the fenators,

And tell them, that will not come to-day;
Cannot, is false; and that I dare not, falfer;
I will not come to-day: Tell them fo, Decius.
Cal. Say, he is fick.

Caf. Shall Cæfar fend a lye?
Have I in conquest stretch'd mine arm so far,
To be afeard to tell grey-beards the truth?-
Decius, go tell them, Cæfar will not come.
Dec. Most mighty Cæfar, let me know fome cause,
Left I be laugh'd at, when I tell them fo.

C 4

11 ancients did not place courage but wisdom in the heart.

Caf.

Caf. The cause is in my will, I will not come ;
That is enough to fatisfy the fenate.
But, for your private fatisfaction,
Because I love you, I will let you know.
Calphurnia here, my wife, ftays me at home;
She dreamt to-night fhe faw my ftatue, which
Like a fountain, with a hundred spouts,

Did run pure blood; and many lufty Romans
Came fmiling, and did bathe their hands in it.
And thefe does she apply for warnings, and portents,
And evils imminent; and on her knee
Hath begg'd, that I will stay at home to-day.
Dec. This dream is all amifs interpreted;

It was a vision, fair and fortunate :

Your ftatue spouting blood in many pipes,
In which so many smiling Romans bath'd,
Signifies, that from you great Rome sball fuck
Reviving blood; and that great men fhall prefs
For tinctures, ftains, relicks, and cognifance'.
This by Calphurnia's dream is fignify'd.

Caf. And this way have you well expounded it.
Dec. I have, when you have heard what I can fay:
And know it now; The fenate have concluded
To give, this day, a crown to mighty Cæfar.

If

you fhall fend them word, you will not come,
Their minds may change. Befides, it were a mock
Apt to be render'd, for fome one to say,
Break up the fenate till another time,

When Cafar's wife fhall meet with better dreams.
If Cæfar hide himfelf, fhall they not whisper,
Lo, Cæfar is afraid?

Pardon me, Cæfar; for my dear, dear love
To your proceeding bids me tell you this;

And

This fpeech, which is intentionally pompcus, is fomewhat confufed. There are two allufions; one to coats armorial, to which princes make additions, or give new tintures, and new marks of cognisance; the other to martyrs, whose reliques are preserved with veneration. The Romans, fays Decius, all come to you as to a faint, for reliques, as to a prince, for honours.