tongue.

BRU. O, what a time have you chose out, brave Caius,

To wear a kerchief! (3) Would you were not sick! LIG. I am not sick, 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, I here discard my sickness! Soul of Rome ! Brave son, deriv'd from honourable loins!

CAL. What mean you, Cæsar? think you to walk forth?

You shall not stir out of your house to-day. CES. Cæsar shall forth: the things that threaten'd me

Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they shall sec The face of Cæsar, they are vanished.

CAL. Cæsar, I never stood on ceremonies, Yet now they fright me. There is one within, Besides the things that we have heard and seen,

"A woman, well-reputed Cato's daughter," ?

that is, A woman, daughter of the much-esteemed Cato? There is a marked propriety, then, in her asking,

"Think you I am no stronger than my sex,
Being so father'd and so husbanded?"

All the charactery of my sad brows:-] All that is written in my melancholy aspect.

No, Cæsar shall not: Danger knows full well
That Cæsar is more dangerous than he:
We are two lions litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible ;-
And Cæsar shall go forth.

CAL.
Alas, my lord,
Your wisdom is consum'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 send Mark Antony to the senate-house;
And he shall say you are not well to-day :
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.

CES. Mark Antony shall say I am not well; And, for thy humour, I will stay at home.

Enter DECIUS.

Here's Decius Brutus, he shall tell them so.
DEC. Cæsar, all hail! good morrow, worthy
Cæsar :

I come to fetch you to the senate-house.

CES. And you are come in very happy time, To bear my greeting to the senators, And tell them that I will not come to-day: Cannot, is false; and that I dare not, falser: I will not come to-day,―tell them so, Decius. CAL. Say he is sick. CES.

Shall Cæsar send a lie? Have I in conquest stretch'd mine arm so far, To be afeard to tell grey-beards the truth? Decius, go tell them Cæsar will not come.

DEC. Most mighty Cæsar, let me know some

cause,

Lest I be laugh'd at when I tell them so.

CES. The cause is in my will,—I will not

come;

That is enough to satisfy the senate.
But, for your private satisfaction,
Because I love you, I will let you know,—
Calphurnia here, my wife, stays me at home:
She dreamt, to-night she saw my statua,
Which, like a fountain with an hundred spouts,
Did run pure blood; and many lusty Romans
Came smiling, and did bathe their hands in it:
And these 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 amiss interpreted;
It was a vision fair and fortunate:

Your statue spouting blood in many pipes,
In which so many smiling Romans bath'd,

a We are two lions, &c.] The old reading is, "We heare," &c., for which Theobald printed "We were," &c., and this until recently has been the ordinary text; at the present time, however, Upton's emendation, "We are," &c., is very justly preferred.

Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck Reviving blood; and that great men shall press For tinctures, stains, relics, and cognizance. This by Calphurnia's dream is signified.

CES. And this way have you well expounded it. DEC. I have, when you have heard what I

can say:

And know it now,-the senate have concluded
To give, this day, a crown to mighty Cæsar.
If you shall send them word you will not come,
Their minds may change. Besides, it were a
mock

Apt to be render'd, for some one to say,
Break up the senate till another time,
When Casar's wife shall meet with better dreams.
If Cæsar hide himself, shall they not whisper,
Lo, Cæsar is afraid?

Pardon me, Cæsar; for my dear-dear love
To your proceeding bids me tell you this;
And reason to my love is liable."

CES. How foolish do your fears seem now,
Calphurnia!

I am ashamed I did yield to them.—
Give me my robe, for I will go :—

SCENE III.-The same. A street near the Capitol.

Enter ARTEMIDORUS, reading a paper. ART. Caesar, beware of Brutus; take heed of Cassius; come not near Casca; have an eye to Cinna; trust not Trebonius; mark well Metellus Cimber; Decius Brutus loves thee not; thou hast wronged Caius Ligarius. There is but one mind in all these men, and it is bent against Cæsar.

a Security gives way to, &c.] The meaning is, over-confidence affords a passage, &c.

b Thy lover,-1 It need hardly be repeated that "lover" was

Here will I stand till Cæsar pass along,
And as a suitor will I give him this.
My heart laments that virtue cannot live
Out of the teeth of emulation.

If thou read this, O, Cæsar, thou mayst live;
If not, the Fates with traitors do contrive. [Exit.

SCENE IV.-The same. Another part of the same Street, before the House of Brutus.

Enter PORTIA and LUCIUS.

POR. I pr'ythee, boy, run to the senate-house; Stay not to answer me, but get thee gone: Why dost thou stay?

formerly equivalent to friend.

c-contrive.] See note (a), p. 429, Vol. II.