Ike a Colossus: and we petty men 'Would he were fatter:-But I fear him not: Yet if my name were liable to fear, I do not know the man I should avoid So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much: Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays, SPIRIT OF LIBERTY. 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, ACT II. AMBITION CLOTHED IN SPECIOUS HUMILITY. But 'tis a common proof,* That lowliness is young ambition's ladder, CONSPIRACY DREADFUL TILL EXECUTED Between the acting of a dreadful thing BRUTUS'S APOSTROPHE TO CONSPIRACY. O conspiracy! Sham'st thou to show thy dangerous brow by night, When evils are most free! O, then, by day, Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, conspi racy; Hide in it smiles, and affability: For if thou path thy native semblance§ on, Not Erebus itself were dim enough To hide thee from prevention. * Experience. + Low steps. + Visionary Hell § Walk in thy true form. Gentle friends, AGAINST CRUELTY. Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully; SLEEP. Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber: Thou hast no figures,* nor no fantasies, Which busy care draws in the brains of men; Therefore thou sleep'st so sound. PORTIA'S SPEECH TO BRUTUS. You have ungently, Brutus, Stole from my bed; and gesternight at supper, I urg'd you further; then you scratch'd your head, Cal. Cesar, I never stood on ceremonies,‡ Shapes created by imagination. + Temper. Besides the things that we have heard and seen, And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead And I do fear them. Ces. What can be avoided, Whose end is purpos'd by the mighty gods? Yet Cesar shall go forth: for these predictions Are to the world in general, as to Česar. Cal. When beggars die, there are no comets seen, The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes. AGAINST THE FEAR OF DEATH. 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. DANGER. Danger knows full well That Cesar is more dangerous than he. ENVY. My heart laments that virtue cannot live Out of the teeth of emulation.‡ ACT III. ANTONY'S ADDRESS TO TIE CORPSE OF CESAR O, mighty Cesar! Dost thou lie so low? * Encountered. † Cry with pain. + Envy. Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, ANTONY'S SPEECH TO THE CONSPIRATORS. I know not, gentlemen, what you intend, Who else must be let blood, who else is rank:* If I myself, there is no hour so fit As Cesar's death's hour; nor no instrument I do beseech ye, if you bear me hard, Now, whilst your purpled hands do reek and smoke No place will please me so, no mean of death, REVENGE. Cesar's spirit, ranging for revenge, BRUTUS'S SPEECH TO THE PEOPLE. If there be any in this assembly, any dear frien of Cesar's; to him I say, that Brutus's love to Cesa, was no less than his. If then that friend demand, why Brutus rose against Cesar, this is my answer, -Not that I loved Cesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Cesar were living, and die all slaves; than that Cesar were dead, to live all freemen? As Cesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honour him; but, as he was ambitious, I slew him. There is tears for his love; joy, for his fortune: honour, for his valour; and death, for his ambition. Who is here so base, that would be a bondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so * Grown too high for the public safety. The signal for giving no quarter. To let slip a dog at a deer, &c. was the technical hrase of Shakspeare's time. |