|
The Same. CÆSARS House. | |
|
Thunder and lightning. Enter CÆSAR in his night-gown. | |
Cæs. Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace to-night: | |
Thrice hath Calphurnia in her sleep cried out, | |
Help, ho! They murder Cæsar! Whos within? | 5 |
|
Enter a Servant. | |
Serv. My lord! | |
Cæs. Go bid the priests do present sacrifice, | |
And bring me their opinions of success. | |
Serv. I will, my lord. [Exit. | 10 |
|
Enter CALPHURNIA. | |
Cal. What mean you, Cæsar? Think you to walk forth? | |
You shall not stir out of your house to-day. | |
Cæs. Cæsar shall forth: the things that threatend me | |
Neer lookd but on my back; when they shall see | 15 |
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, | |
Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch. | 20 |
A lioness hath whelped in the streets; | |
And graves have yawnd 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; | 25 |
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. | |
O Cæsar! these things are beyond all use, | |
And I do fear them. | 30 |
Cæs. What can be avoided | |
Whose end is purposd by the mighty gods? | |
Yet Cæsar shall go forth; for these predictions | |
Are to the world in general as to Cæsar. | |
Cal. When beggars die there are no comets seen; | 35 |
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes. | |
Cæs. 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; | 40 |
Seeing that death, a necessary end, | |
Will come when it will come. | |
|
Re-enter Servant. | |
What say the augurers? | |
Serv. They would not have you to stir forth to-day. | 45 |
Plucking the entrails of an offering forth, | |
They could not find a heart within the beast. | |
Cæs. The gods do this in shame of cowardice: | |
Cæsar should be a beast without a heart | |
If he should stay at home to-day for fear. | 50 |
No, Cæsar shall not; danger knows full well | |
That Cæsar is more dangerous than he: | |
We are two lions litterd in one day, | |
And I the elder and more terrible: | |
And Cæsar shall go forth. | 55 |
Cal. Alas! my lord, | |
Your wisdom is consumd in confidence. | |
Do not go forth to-day: call it my fear | |
That keeps you in the house, and not your own. | |
Well send Mark Antony to the senate-house, | 60 |
And he shall say you are not well to-day: | |
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this. | |
Cæs. Mark Antony shall say I am not well; | |
And, for thy humour, I will stay at home. | |
|
Enter DECIUS. | 65 |
Heres Decius Brutus, he shall tell them so. | |
Dec. Cæsar, all hail! Good morrow, worthy Cæsar: | |
I come to fetch you to the senate-house. | |
Cæs. And you are come in very happy time | |
To bear my greeting to the senators, | 70 |
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. | |
Cæs. Shall Cæsar send a lie? | 75 |
Have I in conquest stretchd mine arm so far | |
To be afeard to tell greybeards the truth? | |
Decius, go tell them Cæsar will not come. | |
Dec. Most mighty Cæsar, let me know some cause, | |
Lest I be laughd at when I tell them so. | 80 |
Cæs. 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: | 85 |
She dreamt to-night she saw my statua, | |
Which, like a fountain with a 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, | 90 |
And evils imminent; and on her knee | |
Hath beggd 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, | 95 |
In which so many smiling Romans bathd, | |
Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck | |
Reviving blood, and that great men shall press | |
For tinctures, stains, relics, and cognizance. | |
This by Calphurnias dream is signified. | 100 |
Cæs. 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, | 105 |
Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock | |
Apt to be renderd, for some one to say | |
Break up the senate till another time, | |
When Cæsars wife shall meet with better dreams. | |
If Cæsar hide himself, shall they not whisper | 110 |
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. | |
Cæs. How foolish do your fears seem now, Calphurnia! | 115 |
I am ashamed I did yield to them. | |
Give me my robe, for I will go: | |
|
Enter PUBLIUS, BRUTUS, LIGARIUS, METELLUS, CASCA, TREBONIUS, and CINNA. | |
And look where Publius is come to fetch me. | |
Pub. Good morrow, Cæsar. | 120 |
Cæs. Welcome, Publius. | |
What! Brutus, are you stirrd so early too? | |
Good morrow, Casca. Caius Ligarius, | |
Cæsar was neer so much your enemy | |
As that same ague which hath made you lean. | 125 |
What is t oclock? | |
Bru. Cæsar, tis strucken eight. | |
Cæs. I thank you for your pains and courtesy. | |
|
Enter ANTONY. | |
See! Antony, that revels long o nights, | 130 |
Is notwithstanding up. Good morrow, Antony. | |
Ant. So to most noble Cæsar. | |
Cæs. Bid them prepare within: | |
I am to blame to be thus waited for. | |
Now, Cinna; now, Metellus; what, Trebonius! | 135 |
I have an hours talk in store for you; | |
Remember that you call on me to-day: | |
Be near me, that I may remember you. | |
Treb. Cæsar, I will:[Aside.] and so near will I be, | |
That your best friends shall wish I had been further. | 140 |
Cæs. Good friends, go in, and taste some wine with me; | |
And we, like friends, will straightway go together. | |
Bru. [Aside.] That every like is not the same, O Cæsar! | |
The heart of Brutus yearns to think upon. [Exeunt. | |
|