Enter Brutus in his orchard.BRUTUS What, Lucius, ho!— I cannot by the progress of the stars Give guess how near to day.—Lucius, I say!— I would it were my fault to sleep so soundly.—5 When, Lucius, when? Awake, I say! What, Lucius!Enter Lucius.LUCIUS Called you, my lord?BRUTUS Get me a taper in my study, Lucius. When it is lighted, come and call me here.LUCIUS I will, my lord.He exits.BRUTUS 10 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 crowned: How that might change his nature, there’s the question.15 It is the bright day that brings forth the adder, And that craves wary walking. Crown him that, And then I grant we put a sting in him That at his will he may do danger with. Th’ abuse of greatness is when it disjoins
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20 Remorse from power. And, to speak truth of Caesar, I have not known when his affections swayed More than his reason. But ’tis a common proof That lowliness is young ambition’s ladder, Whereto the ⌜climber-upward⌝ turns his face;25 But, when he once attains the upmost round, He then unto the ladder turns his back, Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees By which he did ascend. So Caesar may. Then, lest he may, prevent. And since the quarrel30 Will bear no color for the thing he is, Fashion it thus: that what he is, augmented, Would run to these and these extremities. And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg, Which, hatched, would, as his kind, grow35 mischievous, And kill him in the shell.Enter Lucius.LUCIUS The taper burneth in your closet, sir. Searching the window for a flint, I found This paper, thus sealed up, and I am sure40 It did not lie there when I went to bed.Gives him the letter.BRUTUS Get you to bed again. It is not day. Is not tomorrow, boy, the ⌜ides⌝ of March?LUCIUS I know not, sir.BRUTUS Look in the calendar, and bring me word.LUCIUS 45I will, sir.He exits.BRUTUS The exhalations, whizzing in the air, Give so much light that I may read by them.Opens the letter and reads.
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Brutus, thou sleep’st. Awake, and see thyself!
Shall Rome, etc. Speak, strike, redress!50 “Brutus, thou sleep’st. Awake.” Such instigations have been often dropped Where I have took them up. “Shall Rome, etc.” Thus must I piece it out: Shall Rome stand under one man’s awe? What,55 Rome? My ancestors did from the streets of Rome The Tarquin drive when he was called a king. “Speak, strike, redress!” Am I entreated To speak and strike? O Rome, I make thee promise,60 If the redress will follow, thou receivest Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus.Enter Lucius.LUCIUS Sir, March is wasted fifteen days.Knock within.BRUTUS ’Tis good. Go to the gate; somebody knocks.⌜Lucius exits.⌝ Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar,65 I have not slept. Between the acting of a dreadful thing And the first motion, all the interim is Like a phantasma or a hideous dream. The genius and the mortal instruments70 Are then in council, and the state of man, Like to a little kingdom, suffers then The nature of an insurrection.Enter Lucius.LUCIUS Sir, ’tis your brother Cassius at the door, Who doth desire to see you.
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BRUTUS 75 Is he alone?LUCIUS No, sir. There are more with him.BRUTUS Do you know them?LUCIUS No, sir. Their hats are plucked about their ears,80 And half their faces buried in their cloaks, That by no means I may discover them By any mark of favor.BRUTUS Let ’em enter.⌜Lucius exits.⌝ They are the faction. O conspiracy,85 Sham’st thou to show thy dang’rous 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, conspiracy.90 Hide it in smiles and affability; For if thou path, thy native semblance on, Not Erebus itself were dim enough To hide thee from prevention.Enter the conspirators, Cassius, Casca, Decius, Cinna,
Metellus, and Trebonius.CASSIUS I think we are too bold upon your rest.95 Good morrow, Brutus. Do we trouble you?BRUTUS I have been up this hour, awake all night. Know I these men that come along with you?CASSIUS Yes, every man of them; and no man here But honors you, and every one doth wish100 You had but that opinion of yourself Which every noble Roman bears of you. This is Trebonius.
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BRUTUS He is welcome hither.CASSIUS This, Decius Brutus.BRUTUS 105 He is welcome too.CASSIUS This, Casca; this, Cinna; and this, Metellus Cimber.BRUTUS They are all welcome. What watchful cares do interpose themselves Betwixt your eyes and night?CASSIUS 110Shall I entreat a word?⌜Brutus and Cassius⌝ whisper.DECIUS Here lies the east; doth not the day break here?CASCA No.CINNA O pardon, sir, it doth; and yon gray lines That fret the clouds are messengers of day.CASCA 115 You shall confess that you are both deceived. Here, as I point my sword, the sun arises, Which is a great way growing on the south, Weighing the youthful season of the year. Some two months hence, up higher toward the120 north He first presents his fire, and the high east Stands, as the Capitol, directly here.BRUTUS, ⌜coming forward with Cassius⌝ Give me your hands all over, one by one.CASSIUS And let us swear our resolution.BRUTUS 125 No, not an oath. If not the face of men, The sufferance of our souls, the time’s abuse— If these be motives weak, break off betimes, And every man hence to his idle bed. So let high-sighted tyranny range on
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130 Till each man drop by lottery. But if these— As I am sure they do—bear fire enough To kindle cowards and to steel with valor The melting spirits of women, then, countrymen, What need we any spur but our own cause135 To prick us to redress? What other bond Than secret Romans that have spoke the word And will not palter? And what other oath Than honesty to honesty engaged That this shall be or we will fall for it?140 Swear priests and cowards and men cautelous, Old feeble carrions, and such suffering souls That welcome wrongs; unto bad causes swear Such creatures as men doubt; but do not stain The even virtue of our enterprise,145 Nor th’ insuppressive mettle of our spirits, To think that or our cause or our performance Did need an oath, when every drop of blood That every Roman bears, and nobly bears, Is guilty of a several bastardy150 If he do break the smallest particle Of any promise that hath passed from him.CASSIUS But what of Cicero? Shall we sound him? I think he will stand very strong with us.CASCA Let us not leave him out.CINNA 155 No, by no means.METELLUS O, let us have him, for his silver hairs Will purchase us a good opinion And buy men’s voices to commend our deeds. It shall be said his judgment ruled our hands.160 Our youths and wildness shall no whit appear, But all be buried in his gravity.
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BRUTUS O, name him not! Let us not break with him, For he will never follow anything That other men begin.CASSIUS 165Then leave him out.CASCA Indeed, he is not fit.DECIUS Shall no man else be touched, but only Caesar?CASSIUS Decius, well urged. I think it is not meet Mark Antony, so well beloved of Caesar,170 Should outlive Caesar. We shall find of him A shrewd contriver; and, you know, his means, If he improve them, may well stretch so far As to annoy us all; which to prevent, Let Antony and Caesar fall together.BRUTUS 175 Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, To cut the head off and then hack the limbs, Like wrath in death and envy afterwards; For Antony is but a limb of Caesar. Let’s be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.180 We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar, And in the spirit of men there is no blood. O, that we then could come by Caesar’s spirit And not dismember Caesar! But, alas, Caesar must bleed for it. And, gentle friends,185 Let’s kill him boldly, but not wrathfully. Let’s carve him as a dish fit for the gods, Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds. And let our hearts, as subtle masters do, Stir up their servants to an act of rage190 And after seem to chide ’em. This shall make Our purpose necessary and not envious; Which so appearing to the common eyes, We shall be called purgers, not murderers.
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And for Mark Antony, think not of him,195 For he can do no more than Caesar’s arm When Caesar’s head is off.CASSIUS Yet I fear him, For in the engrafted love he bears to Caesar—BRUTUS Alas, good Cassius, do not think of him.200 If he love Caesar, all that he can do Is to himself: take thought and die for Caesar. And that were much he should, for he is given To sports, to wildness, and much company.TREBONIUS There is no fear in him. Let him not die,205 For he will live and laugh at this hereafter.Clock strikes.BRUTUS Peace, count the clock.CASSIUS The clock hath stricken three.TREBONIUS ’Tis time to part.CASSIUS 210 But it is doubtful yet Whether Caesar will come forth today or no, For he is superstitious grown of late, Quite from the main opinion he held once Of fantasy, of dreams, and ceremonies.215 It may be these apparent prodigies, The unaccustomed terror of this night, And the persuasion of his augurers May hold him from the Capitol today.DECIUS Never fear that. If he be so resolved,220 I can o’ersway him, for he loves to hear That unicorns may be betrayed with trees, And bears with glasses, elephants with holes, Lions with toils, and men with flatterers.
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But when I tell him he hates flatterers,225 He says he does, being then most flatterèd. Let me work, For I can give his humor the true bent, And I will bring him to the Capitol.CASSIUS Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him.BRUTUS 230 By the eighth hour, is that the uttermost?CINNA Be that the uttermost, and fail not then.METELLUS Caius Ligarius doth bear Caesar hard, Who rated him for speaking well of Pompey. I wonder none of you have thought of him.BRUTUS 235 Now, good Metellus, go along by him. He loves me well, and I have given him reasons. Send him but hither, and I’ll fashion him.CASSIUS The morning comes upon ’s. We’ll leave you, Brutus.240 And, friends, disperse yourselves, but all remember What you have said, and show yourselves true Romans.BRUTUS Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily. Let not our looks put on our purposes,245 But bear it, as our Roman actors do, With untired spirits and formal constancy. And so good morrow to you every one.All but Brutus exit. Boy! Lucius!—Fast asleep? It is no matter. Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber.250 Thou hast no figures nor no fantasies
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Which busy care draws in the brains of men. Therefore thou sleep’st so sound.Enter Portia.PORTIA Brutus, my lord.BRUTUS Portia! What mean you? Wherefore rise you now?255 It is not for your health thus to commit Your weak condition to the raw cold morning.PORTIA Nor for yours neither. You’ve ungently, Brutus, Stole from my bed. And yesternight at supper You suddenly arose and walked about,260 Musing and sighing, with your arms across, And when I asked you what the matter was, You stared upon me with ungentle looks. I urged you further; then you scratched your head And too impatiently stamped with your foot.265 Yet I insisted; yet you answered not, But with an angry wafture of your hand Gave sign for me to leave you. So I did, Fearing to strengthen that impatience Which seemed too much enkindled, and withal270 Hoping it was but an effect of humor, Which sometime hath his hour with every man. It will not let you eat nor talk nor sleep, And could it work so much upon your shape As it hath much prevailed on your condition,275 I should not know you Brutus. Dear my lord, Make me acquainted with your cause of grief.BRUTUS I am not well in health, and that is all.PORTIA Brutus is wise and, were he not in health, He would embrace the means to come by it.
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BRUTUS 280 Why so I do. Good Portia, go to bed.PORTIA Is Brutus sick? And is it physical To walk unbracèd and suck up the humors Of the dank morning? What, is Brutus sick, And will he steal out of his wholesome bed285 To dare the vile contagion of the night And tempt the rheumy and unpurgèd air To add unto ⌜his⌝ sickness? No, my Brutus, You have some sick offense within your mind, Which by the right and virtue of my place290 I ought to know of. ⌜She kneels.⌝ And upon my knees I charm you, by my once commended beauty, By all your vows of love, and that great vow Which did incorporate and make us one,295 That you unfold to me, your self, your half, Why you are heavy, and what men tonight Have had resort to you; for here have been Some six or seven who did hide their faces Even from darkness.BRUTUS 300 Kneel not, gentle Portia.⌜He lifts her up.⌝PORTIA I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus. Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus, Is it excepted I should know no secrets That appertain to you? Am I your self305 But, as it were, in sort or limitation, To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed, And talk to you sometimes? Dwell I but in the suburbs Of your good pleasure? If it be no more,310 Portia is Brutus’ harlot, not his wife.
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BRUTUS You are my true and honorable wife, As dear to me as are the ruddy drops That visit my sad heart.PORTIA If this were true, then should I know this secret.315 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 stronger than my sex,320 Being so fathered and so husbanded? Tell me your counsels; I will not disclose ’em. I have made strong proof of my constancy, Giving myself a voluntary wound Here, in the thigh. Can I bear that with patience,325 And not my husband’s secrets?BRUTUS O you gods, Render me worthy of this noble wife!Knock. Hark, hark, one knocks. Portia, go in awhile, And by and by thy bosom shall partake330 The secrets of my heart. All my engagements I will construe to thee, All the charactery of my sad brows. Leave me with haste.Portia exits. Lucius, who ’s that knocks?Enter Lucius and Ligarius.LUCIUS 335 Here is a sick man that would speak with you.BRUTUS Caius Ligarius, that Metellus spoke of.— Boy, stand aside.⌜Lucius exits.⌝ Caius Ligarius, how?LIGARIUS Vouchsafe good morrow from a feeble tongue.
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BRUTUS 340 O, what a time have you chose out, brave Caius, To wear a kerchief! Would you were not sick!LIGARIUS I am not sick, if Brutus have in hand Any exploit worthy the name of honor.BRUTUS Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius,345 Had you a healthful ear to hear of it.LIGARIUS By all the gods that Romans bow before, I here discard my sickness.⌜He takes off his kerchief.⌝ Soul of Rome, Brave son derived from honorable loins,350 Thou like an exorcist hast conjured up My mortifièd spirit. Now bid me run, And I will strive with things impossible, Yea, get the better of them. What’s to do?BRUTUS A piece of work that will make sick men whole.LIGARIUS 355 But are not some whole that we must make sick?BRUTUS That must we also. What it is, my Caius, I shall unfold to thee as we are going To whom it must be done.LIGARIUS Set on your foot,360 And with a heart new-fired I follow you To do I know not what; but it sufficeth That Brutus leads me on.Thunder.BRUTUS Follow me then.They exit.
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