"In personal action; yet prodigious grown, And fearful, as these strange eruptions are. CASCA. "T is Cæsar that you mean: Is it not, Cassius? CAS. Let it be who it is: for Romans now Have thews and limbs like to their ancestors, But, woe the while! our fathers' minds are dead, CASCA. Indeed they say the senators to-morrow And he shall wear his crown by sea and land, CAS. I know where I will wear this dagger then; If I know this, know all the world besides, I can shake off at pleasure. CASCA. So can I: So every bondman in his own hand bear's The power to cancel his captivity. [Thunder still. CAS. And why should Cæsar be a tyrant then? Those that with haste will make a mighty fire So vile a thing as Cæsar! But, O, grief! I, perhaps, speak this then I know My answer must be made: But I am arm'd, CASCA. You speak to Casca; and to such a man As who goes farthest. CAS. There's a bargain made. Now know you, Casca, I have mov'd already Of honourable-dangerous consequence; In favour 's like the work we have in hand, Enter CINNA. CASCA. Stand close awhile, for here comes one in haste. CAS. 'T is Cinna, I do know him by his gait; He is a friend.-Cinna, where haste you so? CIN. To find out you: Who's that? Metellus Cimber? CAS. No, it is Casca; one incorporate To our attempts. Am I not staid for, Cinna? What a fearful night is this! us have seen strange sights. CIN. I am glad on 't. CIN. To our party CAS. Be you content: Good Cinna, take this paper, Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this Upon old Brutus' statue: all this done, Repair to Pompey's porch, where you shall find us. CIN All, but Metellus Cimber; and he's gone CAS. That done, repair to Pompey's theatre. Earit CINNA Come, Casca, you and I will yet, ere day, See Brutus at his house: three parts of him Is ours already; and the man entire, Upon the next encounter, yields him ours. CASCA. O, he sits high in all the people's hearts: And that which would appear offence in us, His countenance, like richest alchymy, Will change to virtue and to worthiness. Cas. Him, and his worth, and our great need of him, You have right well conceited. Let us go, For it is after midnight; and ere day We will awake him, and be sure of him. [Exeunt. ACT II. SCENE I.-The same. Brutus's Orchard. Enter BRUTUS. BRU. What, Lucius! ho! I cannot, by the progress of the stars, Give guess how near to day.-Lucius, I say!- Enter LUCIUS. LUC. Call'd you, my lord? BRU. Get me a taper in my study, Lucius: When it is lighted, come and call me here. Luc. I will, my lord. BRU. It must be by his death: and, for my part, I know no personal cause to spurn at him, [Exit But for the general. He would be crown'd:- And that craves wary walking. Crown him?-That;— And then, I grant, we put a sting in him, Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel Which, hatch'd, would as his kind grow mischievous; Re-enter LUCIUS. Luc. The taper burneth in your closet, sir. Searching the window for a flint, I found This paper, thus seal'd up; and, I am sure, It did not lie there when I went to bed. BRU. Get you to bed again, it is not day. BRU. Look in the calendar, and bring me word. BRU. The exhalations, whizzing in the air, Give so much light that I may read by them. [Exit. [Opens the letter, and reads. "Brutus, thou sleep'st; awake, and see thyself. Shall Rome, &c. Speak, strike, redress! Brutus, thou sleep'st; awake!" Such instigations have been often dropp'd Shall Rome, &c." Thus must I piece it out; Shall Rome stand under one man's awe? What! Rome? My ancestors did from the streets of Rome The Tarquin drive, when he was call'd a king. Speak, strike, redress!"-Am I entreated To speak, and strike? O Rome! I make thee promise, Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus! Re-enter LUCIUS. Luc. Sir, March is wasted fourteen days. [Knock within. BRU. 'Tis good. Go to the gate: somebody knocks. Since Cassius first did whet me against Cæsar I have not slept. Between the acting of a dreadful thing And the first motion, all the interim is The nature of an insurrection. [Exit LUCIUS. Re-enter LUCIUS. Luc. Sir, 't is your brother Cassius at the door, Who doth desire to see you. Luc. No, sir, there are more with him. BRU. Do you know them? Luc. No, sir; their hats are pluck'd about their ears, And half their faces buried in their cloaks, That by no means I may discover them By any mark of favour. They are the faction. O Conspiracy! [Exit LUCIUS. Sham'st thou to show thy dangerous brow by night, Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, Conspiracy; Hide it in smiles and affability: |