Julius Caesar Page #3

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- No, not an oath.

What need we any spur but our own cause, 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?

Can no man else be touch'd but only Caesar?

Decius, well urged

I think it is not meet, Mark Antony,

so well beloved of Caesar,

should outlive Caesar.

We shall find of him a shrewd contrive.

Let Antony and Caesar fall together.

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 us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.

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, 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 for Mark Antony, think not of him

for he can do no more than Caesar's arm, when Caesar's head is off.

Yet I fear him.

For in the ingrafted love he bears to Caesar.

Alas, good Cassius, do not think of him.

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.

But it is doubtful yet, whether Caesar will come forth to-day, or no.

For he is superstitious grown of late.

It may be, these apparent prodigies, the unaccustom'd terror of this night,

and the persuasion of his augurers,

may hold him from the Capitol to-day.

Never fear that.

If he be so resolved, I can o'ersway him.

for he loves to hear that unicorns may be betray'd with trees,

and bears with glasses, elephants with holes,

lions with toils and men with flatterers.

But when I tell him he hates flatterers, he says he does, being then most flattered.

Let me work; for I can give his humour the true bent, and I will bring him to the Capitol.

The morning comes upon 's, Brutus.

And, friends,

disperse yourselves.

But all remember what you have said,

and show yourselves true Romans.

Brutus, my lord!

Portia, what mean you? wherefore rise you now?

It is not for your health thus to commit your weak condition

to the raw cold morning.

Nor for yours neither.

You've ungently, Brutus, stole from my bed.

Dear my lord,

Make me acquainted with your cause of grief.

I am not well in health, and that is all.

Brutus is wise,

and, were he not in health, he would embrace the means to come by it.

Why, so I do.

Good Portia, go to bed.

Is Brutus sick?

and is it physical to walk unbraced and suck up the humours of the dank morning?

What, is Brutus sick

And will he steal out of his wholesome bed

to dare the vile contagion of the night

and tempt the rheumy and unpurged air

to add unto his sickness? No, my Brutus.

You have some sick offence within your mind

which, by the right and virtue of my place, I ought to know of.

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

that you unfold to me, yourself, your half,

why you are heavy,

and what men to-night have had to resort to you.

for here have been some 6 or 7, who did hide their faces even from darkness.

Kneel not, gentle 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 wife 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,

Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife.

You are my true and honourable wife,

As dear to me as are the ruddy drops that visit my sad heart.

If this were true, then I should know this secret.

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, being so father'd and so husbanded?

Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose 'em.

I have made strong proof of my constancy.

O ye gods, render me worthy of this noble wife!

By and by thy bosom shall partake the secrets of my heart.

Caesar

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. There's but it's bent against Caesar.

Beware the ides of March.

March... March... March.

March... March... March

Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace to-night.

Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out.

'Help, ho! they murder Caesar!'

- Who's within?

- My lord?

Go bid the priests do present sacrifice

- and bring me their opinions of success.

- I will, my lord.

What mean you, Caesar?

Think you to walk forth?

You shall not stir out of your house to-day.

Caesar shall forth.

The things that threaten'd me ne'er look'd but on my back.

When they shall see the face of Caesar, they are vanished.

Caesar,

I never stood on ceremonies,

Yet now they fright me.

There is one within,

besides the things that we have heard and seen, recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.

A lioness hath whelped in the streets.

and graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead.

Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds, in ranks and squadrons and right form of war,

which drizzled blood upon the Capitol!

The noise of battle hurtled in the air,

horses did neigh, and dying men did groan,

And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.

Oh, Caesar!

These things are beyond all use,

and I do fear them.

What can be avoided whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?

Yet Caesar shall go forth.

for these predictions are to the world in general as to Caesar.

When beggars die, there are no comets seen.

The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.

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.

What say the augurers?

They would not have you to stir forth to-day.

Plucking the entrails of an offering forth,

they could not find a heart within the beast.

The gods do this in shame of cowardice.

Caesar should bea beast without a heart, if he should stay at home to-day for fear.

No, Caesar shall not.

Danger knows full well that Caesar is more dangerous than he.

We are two lions litter'd in one day,

and I the elder and more terrible.

And Caesar shall go forth.

Alas, my lord,

your wisdom is consumed in confidence.

Do not go forth to-day!

Call it my fear that keeps you in the house, and not your own.

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