ACT I
SCENE I. Rome. A street.
 Speak, what trade art thou?
- First Commoner
- Why, sir, a carpenter.
- MARULLUS
- Where is thy leather apron and thy rule?
- What dost thou with thy best apparel on?
- You, sir, what trade are you?
- Second Commoner
- Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am but,
- as you would say, a cobbler.
- MARULLUS
- But what trade art thou? answer me directly.
- Second Commoner
- A trade, sir, that, I hope, I may use with a safe
- conscience; which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles.
- MARULLUS
- What trade, thou knave? thou naughty knave, what trade?
- Second Commoner
- Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me: yet,
- if you be out, sir, I can mend you.
- MARULLUS
- What meanest thou by that? mend me, thou saucy fellow!
- Second Commoner
- Why, sir, cobble you.
- FLAVIUS
- Thou art a cobbler, art thou?
- Second Commoner
- Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the awl: I
- meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's
- matters, but with awl. I am, indeed, sir, a surgeon
- to old shoes; when they are in great danger, I
- recover them. As proper men as ever trod upon
- neat's leather have gone upon my handiwork.
- FLAVIUS
- But wherefore art not in thy shop today?
- Why dost thou lead these men about the streets?
- Second Commoner
- Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get myself
- into more work. But, indeed, sir, we make holiday,
- to see Caesar and to rejoice in his triumph.
- MARULLUS
- Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?
- What tributaries follow him to Rome,
- To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels?

- O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,
- Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft
- Have you climb'd up to walls and battlements,
- To towers and windows, yea, to chimney-tops,
- Your infants in your arms, and there have sat
- The livelong day, with patient expectation,
- To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome:
- And when you saw his chariot but appear,
- Have you not made an universal shout,
- That Tiber trembled underneath her banks,
- To hear the replication of your sounds
- Made in her concave shores?
- And do you now put on your best attire?
- And do you now cull out a holiday?
- And do you now strew flowers in his way
- That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood? Be gone!
- Run to your houses, fall upon your knees,
- Pray to the gods to intermit the plague
- That needs must light on this ingratitude.
- FLAVIUS
- Go, go, good countrymen, and, for this fault,
- Assemble all the poor men of your sort;
- Draw them to Tiber banks, and weep your tears
- Into the channel, till the lowest stream
- Do kiss the most exalted shores of all.
- Exeunt all the Commoners
- See whether their basest metal be not moved;
- They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness.
- Go you down that way towards the Capitol;
- This way will I disrobe the images,
- If you do find them deck'd with ceremonies.
- MARULLUS
- May we do so?
- You know it is the feast of Lupercal.
- FLAVIUS
- It is no matter; let no images
- Be hung with Caesar's trophies. I'll about,
- And drive away the vulgar from the streets:
- So do you too, where you perceive them thick.
- These growing feathers pluck'd from Caesar's wing
- Will make him fly an ordinary pitch,
- Who else would soar above the view of men
- And keep us all in servile fearfulness.
Exeunt
SCENE II. A public place.
Flourish. Enter CAESAR; ANTONY, for the course;
CALPURNIA, PORTIA, DECIUS BRUTUS, CICERO, BRUTUS,
CASSIUS, and CASCA; a great crowd following, among
them a Soothsayer
- CAESAR
- Calpurnia!
- CASCA
- Peace, ho! Caesar speaks.
- CAESAR
- Calpurnia!
- CALPURNIA
- Here, my lord.
- CAESAR
- Stand you directly in Antonius' way,
- When he doth run his course. Antonius!
- ANTONY
- Caesar, my lord?
- CAESAR
- Forget not, in your speed, Antonius,
- To touch Calpurnia; for our elders say,
- The barren, touched in this holy chase,
- Shake off their sterile curse.
- ANTONY
- I shall remember:
- When Caesar says 'do this,' it is perform'd.
- CAESAR
- Set on; and leave no ceremony out.
Flourish
- Soothsayer
- Caesar!
- CAESAR
- Ha! who calls?
- CASCA
- Bid every noise be still: peace yet again!
- CAESAR
- Who is it in the press that calls on me?
- I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music,
- Cry 'Caesar!' Speak; Caesar is turn'd to hear.
- Soothsayer
- Beware the ides of March.
- CAESAR
- What man is that?
- BRUTUS
- A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.
- CAESAR
- Set him before me; let me see his face.
- CASSIUS
- Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar.
- CAESAR
- What say'st thou to me now? speak once again.
- Soothsayer
- Beware the ides of March.
- CAESAR
- He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass.
Sennet. Exeunt all except BRUTUS and CASSIUS
- CASSIUS
- Will you go see the order of the course?
- BRUTUS
- Not I.
- CASSIUS
- I pray you, do.
- BRUTUS
- I am not gamesome: I do lack some part
- Of that quick spirit that is in Antony.
- Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires;
- I'll leave you.
- CASSIUS
- Brutus, I do observe you now of late:
- I have not from your eyes that gentleness
- And show of love as I was wont to have:
- You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand
- Over your friend that loves you.
- BRUTUS
- Cassius,
- Be not deceived: if I have veil'd my look,
- I turn the trouble of my countenance
- Merely upon myself. Vexed I am
- Of late with passions of some difference,
- Conceptions only proper to myself,
- Which give some soil perhaps to my behaviors;
- But let not therefore my good friends be grieved —
- Among which number, Cassius, be you one —
- Nor construe any further my neglect,
- Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,
- Forgets the shows of love to other men.
- CASSIUS
- Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion;
- By means whereof this breast of mine hath buried
- Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.
- Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?
- BRUTUS
- No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself,
- But by reflection, by some other things.
- CASSIUS
- 'Tis just:
- And it is very much lamented, Brutus,
- That you have no such mirrors as will turn
- Your hidden worthiness into your eye,
- That you might see your shadow. I have heard,
- Where many of the best respect in Rome,
- Except immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus
- And groaning underneath this age's yoke,
- Have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes.
- BRUTUS
- Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius,
- That you would have me seek into myself
- For that which is not in me?
- CASSIUS
- Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear:
- And since you know you cannot see yourself
- So well as by reflection, I, your glass,
- Will modestly discover to yourself
- That of yourself which you yet know not of.
- And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus:
- Were I a common laugher, or did use
- To stale with ordinary oaths my love
- To every new protester; if you know
- That I do fawn on men and hug them hard
- And after scandal them, or if you know
- That I profess myself in banqueting
- To all the rout, then hold me dangerous.
Flourish, and shout
- BRUTUS
- What means this shouting? I do fear, the people
- Choose Caesar for their king.
- CASSIUS
- Ay, do you fear it?
- Then must I think you would not have it so.
- BRUTUS
- I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well.
- But wherefore do you hold me here so long?
- What is it that you would impart to me?
- If it be aught toward the general good,
- Set honour in one eye and death i' the other,
- And I will look on both indifferently,
- For let the gods so speed me as I love
- The name of honour more than I fear death.
- CASSIUS
- I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
- As well as I do know your outward favour.
- Well, honour is the subject of my story.
- I cannot tell what you and other men
- Think of this life; but, for my single self,
- I had as lief not be as live to be
- In awe of such a thing as I myself.
- I was born free as Caesar; so were you:
- We both have fed as well, and we can both
- Endure the winter's cold as well as he:
- For once, upon a raw and gusty day,
- The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
- Caesar said to me 'Darest thou, Cassius, now
- Leap in with me into this angry flood,
- And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word,
- Accoutred as I was, I plunged in
- And bade him follow; so indeed he did.
- The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it
- With lusty sinews, throwing it aside
- And stemming it with hearts of controversy;
- But ere we could arrive the point proposed,
- Caesar cried 'Help me, Cassius, or I sink!'
- I, as Aeneas, our great ancestor,
- Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder
- The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber
- Did I the tired Caesar. And this man
- Is now become a god, and Cassius is
- A wretched creature and must bend his body,
- If Caesar carelessly but nod on him.
 Ye gods, it doth amaze me
- A man of such a feeble temper should
- So get the start of the majestic world
- And bear the palm alone.
Shout. Flourish
- BRUTUS
- Another general shout!
- I do believe that these applauses are
- For some new honours that are heap'd on Caesar.
- CASSIUS
- Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
- Like a Colossus, and we petty men
- Walk under his huge legs and peep about
- To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
- Men at some time are masters of their fates:
- The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
- But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
- Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that 'Caesar'?
- Why should that name be sounded more than yours?
- Write them together, yours is as fair a name;
- Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;
- Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with 'em,
- Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Caesar.
- Now, in the names of all the gods at once,
- Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed,
- That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed!
- Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!
- When went there by an age, since the great flood,
- But it was famed with more than with one man?
- When could they say till now, that talk'd of Rome,
- That her wide walls encompass'd but one man?
- Now is it Rome indeed and room enough,
- When there is in it but one only man.
- O, you and I have heard our fathers say,
- There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd
- The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome
- As easily as a king.
- BRUTUS
- That you do love me, I am nothing jealous;
- What you would work me to, I have some aim:
- How I have thought of this and of these times,
- I shall recount hereafter; for this present,
- I would not, so with love I might entreat you,
- Be any further moved. What you have said
- I will consider; what you have to say
- I will with patience hear, and find a time
- Both meet to hear and answer such high things.
- Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this:
- Brutus had rather be a villager
- Than to repute himself a son of Rome
- Under these hard conditions as this time
- Is like to lay upon us.
- CASSIUS
- I am glad that my weak words
- Have struck but thus much show of fire from Brutus.
- BRUTUS
- The games are done and Caesar is returning.
- CASSIUS
- As they pass by, pluck Casca by the sleeve;
- And he will, after his sour fashion, tell you
- What hath proceeded worthy note to-day.
Re-enter CAESAR and his Train
- BRUTUS
- I will do so.
- CASSIUS
- Casca will tell us what the matter is.
- CAESAR
- Antonius!
- ANTONY
- Caesar?
- CAESAR
- Let me have men about me that are fat;
- Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights:
- Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
- He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
- ANTONY
- Fear him not, Caesar; he's not dangerous;
- He is a noble Roman and well given.
- CAESAR
- Would he were fatter! But I fear him not:
- Yet if my name were liable to fear,
- I do not know the man I should avoid
- So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much;
- He is a great observer and he looks
- Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays,
- As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music;
- Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort
- As if he mock'd himself and scorn'd his spirit
- That could be moved to smile at any thing.
- Such men as he be never at heart's ease
- Whiles they behold a greater than themselves,
- And therefore are they very dangerous.
- I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd
- Than what I fear; for always I am Caesar.
- Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf,
- And tell me truly what thou think'st of him.
Sennet. Exeunt CAESAR and all his Train, but CASCA
- CASCA
- You pull'd me by the cloak; would you speak with me?
- BRUTUS
- Ay, Casca; tell us what hath chanced to-day,
- That Caesar looks so sad.
- CASCA
- Why, you were with him, were you not?
- BRUTUS
- I should not then ask Casca what had chanced.
- CASCA
- Why, there was a crown offered him: and being
- offered him, he put it by with the back of his hand,
- thus; and then the people fell a-shouting.
- BRUTUS
- What was the second noise for?
- CASCA
- Why, for that too.
- CASSIUS
- They shouted thrice: what was the last cry for?
- CASCA
- Why, for that too.
- BRUTUS
- Was the crown offered him thrice?
- CASCA
- Ay, marry, was't, and he put it by thrice, every
- time gentler than other, and at every putting-by
- mine honest neighbours shouted.
- CASSIUS
- Who offered him the crown?
- CASCA
- Why, Antony.
- BRUTUS
- Tell us the manner of it, gentle Casca.
- CASCA
- I can as well be hanged as tell the manner of it:
- it was mere foolery; I did not mark it. I saw Mark
- Antony offer him a crown; — yet 'twas not a crown
- neither, 'twas one of these coronets; — and, as I told
- you, he put it by once: but, for all that, to my
- thinking, he would fain have had it. Then he
- offered it to him again; then he put it by again:
- but, to my thinking, he was very loath to lay his
- fingers off it. And then he offered it the third
- time; he put it the third time by: and still as he
- refused it, the rabblement hooted and clapped their
- chapped hands and threw up their sweaty night-caps
- and uttered such a deal of stinking breath because
- Caesar refused the crown that it had almost choked
- Caesar; for he swounded and fell down at it: and
- for mine own part, I durst not laugh, for fear of
- opening my lips and receiving the bad air.
- CASSIUS
- But, soft, I pray you: what, did Caesar swound?
- CASCA
- He fell down in the market-place, and foamed at
- mouth, and was speechless.
- BRUTUS
- 'Tis very like: he hath the failing sickness.
- CASSIUS
- No, Caesar hath it not; but you and I,
- And honest Casca, we have the falling sickness.
- CASCA
- I know not what you mean by that; but, I am sure,
- Caesar fell down. If the tag-rag people did not
- clap him and hiss him, according as he pleased and
- displeased them, as they use to do the players in
- the theatre, I am no true man.
- BRUTUS
- What said he when he came unto himself?
- CASCA
- Marry, before he fell down, when he perceived the
- common herd was glad he refused the crown, he
- plucked me ope his doublet and offered them his
- throat to cut. An I had been a man of any
- occupation, if I would not have taken him at a word,
- I would I might go to hell among the rogues. And so
- he fell. When he came to himself again, he said,
- If he had done or said any thing amiss, he desired
- their worships to think it was his infirmity. Three
- or four wenches, where I stood, cried 'Alas, good
- soul!' and forgave him with all their hearts: but
- there's no heed to be taken of them; if Caesar had
- stabbed their mothers, they would have done no less.
- BRUTUS
- And after that, he came, thus sad, away?
- CASCA
- Ay.
- CASSIUS
- Did Cicero say any thing?
- CASCA
- Ay, he spoke Greek.
- CASSIUS
- To what effect?
- CASCA
- Nay, an I tell you that, Ill ne'er look you i' the
- face again: but those that understood him smiled at
- one another and shook their heads; but, for mine own
- part, it was Greek to me. I could tell you more
- news too: Marullus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs
- off Caesar's images, are put to silence. Fare you
- well. There was more foolery yet, if I could
- remember it.
- CASSIUS
- Will you sup with me to-night, Casca?
- CASCA
- No, I am promised forth.
- CASSIUS
- Will you dine with me to-morrow?
- CASCA
- Ay, if I be alive and your mind hold and your dinner
- worth the eating.
- CASSIUS
- Good: I will expect you.
- CASCA
- Do so. Farewell, both.
Exit
- BRUTUS
- What a blunt fellow is this grown to be!
- He was quick mettle when he went to school.
- CASSIUS
- So is he now in execution
- Of any bold or noble enterprise,
- However he puts on this tardy form.
- This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit,
- Which gives men stomach to digest his words
- With better appetite.
- BRUTUS
- And so it is. For this time I will leave you:
- To-morrow, if you please to speak with me,
- I will come home to you; or, if you will,
- Come home to me, and I will wait for you.
- CASSIUS
- I will do so: till then, think of the world.
- Exit BRUTUS
- Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see,
- Thy honourable metal may be wrought
- From that it is disposed: therefore it is meet
- That noble minds keep ever with their likes;
- For who so firm that cannot be seduced?
- Caesar doth bear me hard; but he loves Brutus:
- If I were Brutus now and he were Cassius,
- He should not humour me. I will this night,
- In several hands, in at his windows throw,
- As if they came from several citizens,
- Writings all tending to the great opinion
- That Rome holds of his name; wherein obscurely
- Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at:
- And after this let Caesar seat him sure;
- For we will shake him, or worse days endure.
Exit
SCENE III. The same. A street.
Thunder and lightning. Enter from opposite sides,
CASCA, with his sword drawn, and CICERO
- CICERO
- Good even, Casca: brought you Caesar home?
- Why are you breathless? and why stare you so?
- CASCA
- Are not you moved, when all the sway of earth
- Shakes like a thing unfirm? O Cicero,
- I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds
- Have rived the knotty oaks, and I have seen
- The ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam,
- To be exalted with the threatening clouds:
- But never till to-night, never till now,
- Did I go through a tempest dropping fire.
- Either there is a civil strife in heaven,
- Or else the world, too saucy with the gods,
- Incenses them to send destruction.
- CICERO
- Why, saw you any thing more wonderful?
- CASCA
- A common slave — you know him well by sight —
- Held up his left hand, which did flame and burn
- Like twenty torches join'd, and yet his hand,
- Not sensible of fire, remain'd unscorch'd.

- And yesterday the bird of night did sit
- Even at noon-day upon the market-place,
- Hooting and shrieking. When these prodigies
- Do so conjointly meet, let not men say
- 'These are their reasons; they are natural;'
- For, I believe, they are portentous things
- Unto the climate that they point upon.
- CICERO
- Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time:
- But men may construe things after their fashion,
- Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.
- Come Caesar to the Capitol to-morrow?
- CASCA
- He doth; for he did bid Antonius
- Send word to you he would be there to-morrow.
- CICERO
- Good night then, Casca: this disturbed sky
- Is not to walk in.
- CASCA
- Farewell, Cicero.
Exit CICERO
Enter CASSIUS
- CASSIUS
- Who's there?
- CASCA
- A Roman.
- CASSIUS
- Casca, by your voice.
- CASCA
- Your ear is good. Cassius, what night is this!
- CASSIUS
- A very pleasing night to honest men.
- CASCA
- Who ever knew the heavens menace so?
- CASSIUS
- Those that have known the earth so full of faults.
- For my part, I have walk'd about the streets,
- Submitting me unto the perilous night,
- And, thus unbraced, Casca, as you see,
- Have bared my bosom to the thunder-stone;
- And when the cross blue lightning seem'd to open
- The breast of heaven, I did present myself
- Even in the aim and very flash of it.
- CASCA
- But wherefore did you so much tempt the heavens?
- It is the part of men to fear and tremble,
- When the most mighty gods by tokens send
- Such dreadful heralds to astonish us.
- CASSIUS
- You are dull, Casca, and those sparks of life
- That should be in a Roman you do want,
- Or else you use not. You look pale and gaze
- And put on fear and cast yourself in wonder,
- To see the strange impatience of the heavens:
- But if you would consider the true cause
- Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts,
- Why birds and beasts from quality and kind,
- Why old men fool and children calculate,
- Why all these things change from their ordinance
- Their natures and preformed faculties
- To monstrous quality — why, you shall find
- That heaven hath infused them with these spirits,
- To make them instruments of fear and warning
- Unto some monstrous state.
- Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man
- Most like this dreadful night,
- That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars
- As doth the lion in the Capitol,
- A man no mightier than thyself or me
- In personal action, yet prodigious grown
- And fearful, as these strange eruptions are.
- CASCA
- 'Tis Caesar that you mean; is it not, Cassius?
- CASSIUS
- 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,
- And we are govern'd with our mothers' spirits;
- Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish.
- CASCA
- Indeed, they say the senators tomorrow
- Mean to establish Caesar as a king;
- And he shall wear his crown by sea and land,
- In every place, save here in Italy.
- CASSIUS
- I know where I will wear this dagger then;
- Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius:
- Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong;
- Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat:
- Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass,
- Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron,
- Can be retentive to the strength of spirit;
- But life, being weary of these worldly bars,
- Never lacks power to dismiss itself.
- If I know this, know all the world besides,
- That part of tyranny that I do bear
- I can shake off at pleasure.
Thunder still
- CASCA
- So can I:
- So every bondman in his own hand bears
- The power to cancel his captivity.
- CASSIUS
- And why should Caesar be a tyrant then?
- Poor man! I know he would not be a wolf,
- But that he sees the Romans are but sheep:
- He were no lion, were not Romans hinds.
 But, O grief,
- Where hast thou led me? I perhaps speak this
- Before a willing bondman; then I know
- My answer must be made. But I am arm'd,
- And dangers are to me indifferent.
- CASCA
- You speak to Casca, and to such a man
- That is no fleering tell-tale. Hold, my hand:
- Be factious for redress of all these griefs,
- And I will set this foot of mine as far
- As who goes farthest.
- CASSIUS
- There's a bargain made.
- Now know you, Casca, I have moved already
- Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans
- To undergo with me an enterprise
- Of honourable-dangerous consequence;
- And I do know, by this, they stay for me
- In Pompey's porch: for now, this fearful night,
- There is no stir or walking in the streets;
- And the complexion of the element
- In favour's like the work we have in hand,
- Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible.
- CASCA
- Stand close awhile, for here comes one in haste.
- CASSIUS
- 'Tis Cinna; I do know him by his gait;
- He is a friend.
- Enter CINNA
- Cinna, where haste you so?
- CINNA
- To find out you. Who's that? Metellus Cimber?
- CASSIUS
- No, it is Casca; one incorporate
- To our attempts. Am I not stay'd for, Cinna?
- CINNA
- I am glad on 't. What a fearful night is this!
- There's two or three of us have seen strange sights.
- CASSIUS
- Am I not stay'd for? tell me.
- CINNA
- Yes, you are.
- O Cassius, if you could
- But win the noble Brutus to our party —
- CASSIUS
- Be you content: good Cinna, take this paper,
- And look you lay it in the praetor's chair,
- Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this
- In at his window; set this up with wax
- Upon old Brutus' statue: all this done,
- Repair to Pompey's porch, where you shall find us.
- Is Decius Brutus and Trebonius there?
- CINNA
- All but Metellus Cimber; and he's gone
- To seek you at your house. Well, I will hie,
- And so bestow these papers as you bade me.
- CASSIUS
- That done, repair to Pompey's theatre.
- Exit 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 alchemy,
- Will change to virtue and to worthiness.
- CASSIUS
- 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. Rome. BRUTUS's orchard.
Enter BRUTUS
- 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.
- When, Lucius, when? awake, I say! what, Lucius!
Enter LUCIUS
- LUCIUS
- Call'd 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.
Exit
- BRUTUS
- 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 crown'd:
- How that might change his nature, there's the question.
- 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.
- The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins
- Remorse from power: and, to speak truth of Caesar,
- I have not known when his affections sway'd
- More than his reason. But 'tis a common proof,
- That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
- Whereto the climber-upward turns his face;
- 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.
Re-enter LUCIUS
- LUCIUS
- 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.
Gives him the letter
- BRUTUS
- Get you to bed again; it is not day.
- Is not to-morrow, boy, the ides of March?
- LUCIUS
- I know not, sir.
- BRUTUS
- Look in the calendar, and bring me word.
- LUCIUS
- I will, sir.
Exit
- BRUTUS
- The exhalations whizzing in the air
- Give so much light that I may read by them.
- Opens the letter and reads
- 'Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake, and see thyself.
- Shall Rome, etc.. Speak, strike, redress!
- Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake!'
- Such instigations have been often dropp'd
- Where I have took them up.
- '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:
- If the redress will follow, thou receivest
- Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus!
Re-enter LUCIUS
- LUCIUS
- Sir, March is wasted fourteen days.
Knocking within
- BRUTUS
- 'Tis good. Go to the gate; somebody knocks.
- Exit LUCIUS
- Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar,
- 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 instruments
- Are then in council; and the state of man,
- Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
- The nature of an insurrection.
Re-enter LUCIUS
- LUCIUS
- Sir, 'tis your brother Cassius at the door,
- Who doth desire to see you.
- BRUTUS
- Is he alone?
- LUCIUS
- No, sir, there are moe with him.
- BRUTUS
- Do you know them?
- LUCIUS
- 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.
- BRUTUS
- Let 'em enter.
- Exit LUCIUS
- They are the faction. O conspiracy,
- Shamest thou to show thy dangerous 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;
- 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
BRUTUS, CINNA, METELLUS CIMBER, and TREBONIUS
- CASSIUS
- I think we are too bold upon your rest:
- 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 honours you; and every one doth wish
- You had but that opinion of yourself
- Which every noble Roman bears of you.
- This is Trebonius.
- BRUTUS
- He is welcome hither.
- CASSIUS
- This, Decius Brutus.
- BRUTUS
- 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
- Shall I entreat a word?
BRUTUS and CASSIUS whisper
- DECIUS BRUTUS
- 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
- 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 the north
- He first presents his fire; and the high east
- Stands, as the Capitol, directly here.
- BRUTUS
- Give me your hands all over, one by one.
- CASSIUS
- And let us swear our resolution.
- BRUTUS
- 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,
- 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 valour
- The melting spirits of women, then, countrymen,
- 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?
- 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,
- Nor the 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 bastardy,
- If he do break the smallest particle
- Of any promise that hath pass'd 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
- No, by no means.
- METELLUS CIMBER
- 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;
- Our youths and wildness shall no whit appear,
- But all be buried in his gravity.
- BRUTUS
- O, name him not: let us not break with him;
- For he will never follow any thing
- That other men begin.
- CASSIUS
- Then leave him out.
- CASCA
- Indeed he is not fit.
- DECIUS BRUTUS
- Shall no man else be touch'd but only Caesar?
- CASSIUS
- 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 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
- 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!  This shall make
- Our purpose necessary and not envious:
- Which so appearing to the common eyes,
- We shall be call'd purgers, not murderers.
- And for Mark Antony, think not of him;
- For he can do no more than Caesar's arm
- When Caesar's head is off.
- CASSIUS
- Yet I fear him;
- For in the ingrafted love he bears to Caesar —
- BRUTUS
- 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.
- TREBONIUS
- There is no fear in him; let him not die;
- 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
- But it is doubtful yet,
- Whether Caesar will come forth to-day, or no;
- For he is superstitious grown of late,
- Quite from the main opinion he held once
- Of fantasy, of dreams and ceremonies:
- 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.
- DECIUS BRUTUS
- 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.
- CASSIUS
- Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him.
- BRUTUS
- By the eighth hour: is that the uttermost?
- CINNA
- Be that the uttermost, and fail not then.
- METELLUS CIMBER
- Caius Ligarius doth bear Caesar hard,
- Who rated him for speaking well of Pompey:
- I wonder none of you have thought of him.
- BRUTUS
- 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.
- 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,
- But bear it as our Roman actors do,
- With untired spirits and formal constancy:
- And so good morrow to you every one.
- Exeunt all but BRUTUS
- Boy! Lucius! Fast asleep? It is no matter;
- Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber:
- Thou hast no figures nor no fantasies,
- 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?
- 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 walk'd about,
- Musing and sighing, with your arms across,
- And when I ask'd you what the matter was,
- You stared upon me with ungentle looks;
- I urged you further; then you scratch'd your head,
- And too impatiently stamp'd with your foot;
- Yet I insisted, yet you answer'd 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 seem'd too much enkindled, and withal
- Hoping it was but an effect of humour,
- 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 prevail'd on your condition,
- 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.
- BRUTUS
- Why, so I do. Good Portia, go to bed.
 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 six or seven, who did hide their faces
- Even from darkness.
- BRUTUS
- Kneel not, gentle Portia.
- 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 yourself
- 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.
- BRUTUS
- You are my true and honourable 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.
- 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,
- Giving myself a voluntary wound
- Here, in the thigh: can I bear that with patience.
- And not my husband's secrets?
- BRUTUS
- O ye gods,
- Render me worthy of this noble wife!
- Knocking within
- Hark, hark! one knocks: Portia, go in awhile;
- And by and by thy bosom shall partake
- The secrets of my heart.
- All my engagements I will construe to thee,
- All the charactery of my sad brows:
- Leave me with haste.
- Exit PORTIA
- Lucius, who's that knocks?

- BRUTUS
- Caius Ligarius, that Metellus spake of.
- Boy, stand aside. Caius Ligarius! how?
- LIGARIUS
- Vouchsafe good morrow from a feeble tongue.
- BRUTUS
- 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 honour.
- BRUTUS
- Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius,
- Had you a healthful ear to hear of it.
- LIGARIUS
- By all the gods that Romans bow before,
- I here discard my sickness! Soul of Rome!
- Brave son, derived from honourable loins!
- Thou, like an exorcist, hast conjured up
- My mortified 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
- 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,
- And with a heart new-fired I follow you,
- To do I know not what: but it sufficeth
- That Brutus leads me on.
- BRUTUS
- Follow me, then.
Exeunt
SCENE II. CAESAR's house.
Thunder and lightning. Enter CAESAR, in his
night-gown
- CAESAR
- 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?
Enter a Servant
- Servant
- My lord?
- CAESAR
- Go bid the priests do present sacrifice
- And bring me their opinions of success.
- Servant
- I will, my lord.
Exit
Enter CALPURNIA
- CALPURNIA
- What mean you, Caesar? think you to walk forth?

- CAESAR
- 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.
- CALPURNIA
- 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.
- O Caesar! these things are beyond all use,
- And I do fear them.
- CAESAR
- 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.
- CALPURNIA
- When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
- The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.
- CAESAR
- 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;
- Seeing that death, a necessary end,
- Will come when it will come.
- Re-enter Servant
- What say the augurers?
- Servant
- 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.
- CAESAR
- The gods do this in shame of cowardice:
- Caesar should be a 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.
- CALPURNIA
- 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.
- 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.
- CAESAR
- Mark Antony shall say I am not well,
- And, for thy humour, I will stay at home.
- Enter DECIUS BRUTUS
- Here's Decius Brutus, he shall tell them so.
- DECIUS BRUTUS
- Caesar, all hail! good morrow, worthy Caesar:
- I come to fetch you to the senate-house.
- CAESAR
- 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.
- CALPURNIA
- Say he is sick.
- CAESAR
- Shall Caesar send a lie?
- Have I in conquest stretch'd mine arm so far,
- To be afraid to tell graybeards the truth?
- Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come.
- DECIUS BRUTUS
- Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause,
- Lest I be laugh'd at when I tell them so.
- CAESAR
- 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:
- Calpurnia 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.
- DECIUS BRUTUS
- 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 bathed,
- Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck
- Reviving blood, and that great men shall press
- For tinctures, stains, relics and cognizance.
- This by Calpurnia's dream is signified.
- CAESAR
- And this way have you well expounded it.
- DECIUS BRUTUS
- 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 Caesar.
- 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 Caesar's wife shall meet with better dreams.'
- If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper
- 'Lo, Caesar is afraid'?
- Pardon me, Caesar; for my dear dear love
- To our proceeding bids me tell you this;
- And reason to my love is liable.

- 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.
- PUBLIUS
- Good morrow, Caesar.
- CAESAR
- Welcome, Publius.
- What, Brutus, are you stirr'd so early too?
- Good morrow, Casca. Caius Ligarius,
- Caesar was ne'er so much your enemy
- As that same ague which hath made you lean.
- What is 't o'clock?
- BRUTUS
- Caesar, 'tis strucken eight.
- CAESAR
- I thank you for your pains and courtesy.
- Enter ANTONY
- See! Antony, that revels long o' nights,
- Is notwithstanding up. Good morrow, Antony.
- ANTONY
- So to most noble Caesar.
- CAESAR
- Bid them prepare within:
- I am to blame to be thus waited for.
- Now, Cinna: now, Metellus: what, Trebonius!
- I have an hour's talk in store for you;
- Remember that you call on me to-day:
- Be near me, that I may remember you.
- TREBONIUS
- Caesar, I will:
- Aside
- and so near will I be,
- That your best friends shall wish I had been further.

- BRUTUS
- Aside That every like is not the same, O Caesar,
- The heart of Brutus yearns to think upon!
Exeunt
SCENE III. A street near the Capitol.
Enter ARTEMIDORUS, reading a paper
- ARTEMIDORUS
- '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 Caesar. If thou beest not immortal,
- look about you: security gives way to conspiracy.
- The mighty gods defend thee! Thy lover,
- 'ARTEMIDORUS.'
- Here will I stand till Caesar 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 Caesar, thou mayst live;
- If not, the Fates with traitors do contrive.
Exit
SCENE IV. Another part of the same street, before the house of BRUTUS.
Enter PORTIA and LUCIUS
- PORTIA
- I prithee, boy, run to the senate-house;
- Stay not to answer me, but get thee gone:
- Why dost thou stay?
- LUCIUS
- To know my errand, madam.
- PORTIA
- I would have had thee there, and here again,
- Ere I can tell thee what thou shouldst do there.
- O constancy, be strong upon my side,
- Set a huge mountain 'tween my heart and tongue!
- I have a man's mind, but a woman's might.
- How hard it is for women to keep counsel!
- Art thou here yet?
- LUCIUS
- Madam, what should I do?
- Run to the Capitol, and nothing else?
- And so return to you, and nothing else?
- PORTIA
- Yes, bring me word, boy, if thy lord look well,
- For he went sickly forth: and take good note
- What Caesar doth, what suitors press to him.
- Hark, boy! what noise is that?
- LUCIUS
- I hear none, madam.
- PORTIA
- Prithee, listen well;
- I heard a bustling rumour, like a fray,
- And the wind brings it from the Capitol.
- LUCIUS
- Sooth, madam, I hear nothing.
Enter the Soothsayer
- PORTIA
- Come hither, fellow: which way hast thou been?
- Soothsayer
- At mine own house, good lady.
- PORTIA
- What is't o'clock?
- Soothsayer
- About the ninth hour, lady.
- PORTIA
- Is Caesar yet gone to the Capitol?
- Soothsayer
- Madam, not yet: I go to take my stand,
- To see him pass on to the Capitol.
- PORTIA
- Thou hast some suit to Caesar, hast thou not?
- Soothsayer
- That I have, lady: if it will please Caesar
- To be so good to Caesar as to hear me,
- I shall beseech him to befriend himself.
- PORTIA
- Why, know'st thou any harm's intended towards him?
- Soothsayer
- None that I know will be, much that I fear may chance.
- Good morrow to you. Here the street is narrow:
- The throng that follows Caesar at the heels,
- Of senators, of praetors, common suitors,
- Will crowd a feeble man almost to death:
- I'll get me to a place more void, and there
- Speak to great Caesar as he comes along.
Exit
- PORTIA
- I must go in. Ay me, how weak a thing
- The heart of woman is! O Brutus,
- The heavens speed thee in thine enterprise!
- Sure, the boy heard me: Brutus hath a suit
- That Caesar will not grant. O, I grow faint.
- Run, Lucius, and commend me to my lord;
- Say I am merry: come to me again,
- And bring me word what he doth say to thee.
Exeunt severally
ACT III
SCENE I. Rome. Before the Capitol; the Senate sitting above.
A crowd of people; among them ARTEMIDORUS and the
Soothsayer. Flourish. Enter CAESAR, BRUTUS,
CASSIUS, CASCA, DECIUS BRUTUS, METELLUS CIMBER,
TREBONIUS, CINNA, ANTONY, LEPIDUS, POPILIUS,
PUBLIUS, and others
- CAESAR
- To the Soothsayer The ides of March are come.
- Soothsayer
- Ay, Caesar; but not gone.
- ARTEMIDORUS
- Hail, Caesar! read this schedule.
- DECIUS BRUTUS
- Trebonius doth desire you to o'erread,
- At your best leisure, this his humble suit.
- ARTEMIDORUS
- O Caesar, read mine first; for mine's a suit
- That touches Caesar nearer: read it, great Caesar.
- CAESAR
- What touches us ourself shall be last served.
- ARTEMIDORUS
- Delay not, Caesar; read it instantly.
- CAESAR
- What, is the fellow mad?
- PUBLIUS
- Sirrah, give place.
- CASSIUS
- What, urge you your petitions in the street?
- Come to the Capitol.
CAESAR goes up to the Senate-House, the rest
following
- POPILIUS
- I wish your enterprise to-day may thrive.
- CASSIUS
- What enterprise, Popilius?
- POPILIUS
- Fare you well.
Advances to CAESAR
- BRUTUS
- What said Popilius Lena?
- CASSIUS
- He wish'd to-day our enterprise might thrive.
- I fear our purpose is discovered.
- BRUTUS
- Look, how he makes to Caesar; mark him.
- CASSIUS
- Casca, be sudden, for we fear prevention.
- Brutus, what shall be done? If this be known,
- Cassius or Caesar never shall turn back,
- For I will slay myself.
- BRUTUS
- Cassius, be constant:
- Popilius Lena speaks not of our purposes;
- For, look, he smiles, and Caesar doth not change.
- CASSIUS
- Trebonius knows his time; for, look you, Brutus.
- He draws Mark Antony out of the way.
Exeunt ANTONY and TREBONIUS
- DECIUS BRUTUS
- Where is Metellus Cimber? Let him go,
- And presently prefer his suit to Caesar.
- BRUTUS
- He is address'd: press near and second him.
- CINNA
- Casca, you are the first that rears your hand.
- CAESAR
- Are we all ready? What is now amiss
- That Caesar and his senate must redress?
- METELLUS CIMBER
- Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Caesar,
- Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat
- An humble heart —
Kneeling
- CAESAR
- I must prevent thee, Cimber.
- These couchings and these lowly courtesies
- Might fire the blood of ordinary men,
- And turn pre-ordinance and first decree
- Into the law of children. Be not fond,
- To think that Caesar bears such rebel blood
- That will be thaw'd from the true quality
- With that which melteth fools; I mean, sweet words,
- Low-crooked court'sies and base spaniel-fawning.
- Thy brother by decree is banished:
- If thou dost bend and pray and fawn for him,
- I spurn thee like a cur out of my way.
- Know, Caesar doth not wrong, nor without cause
- Will he be satisfied.
- METELLUS CIMBER
- Is there no voice more worthy than my own
- To sound more sweetly in great Caesar's ear
- For the repealing of my banish'd brother?
- BRUTUS
- I kiss thy hand, but not in flattery, Caesar;
- Desiring thee that Publius Cimber may
- Have an immediate freedom of repeal.
- CAESAR
- What, Brutus!
- CASSIUS
- Pardon, Caesar; Caesar, pardon:
- As low as to thy foot doth Cassius fall,
- To beg enfranchisement for Publius Cimber.
- CASSIUS
- I could be well moved, if I were as you:
- If I could pray to move, prayers would move me:
- But I am constant as the northern star,
- Of whose true-fix'd and resting quality
- There is no fellow in the firmament.
- The skies are painted with unnumber'd sparks,
- They are all fire and every one doth shine,
- But there's but one in all doth hold his place:
- So in the world; 'tis furnish'd well with men,
- And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive;
- Yet in the number I do know but one
- That unassailable holds on his rank,
- Unshaked of motion: and that I am he,
- Let me a little show it, even in this;
- That I was constant Cimber should be banish'd,
- And constant do remain to keep him so.
- CINNA
- O Caesar —
- CAESAR
- Hence! wilt thou lift up Olympus?
- DECIUS BRUTUS
- Great Caesar —
- CAESAR
- Doth not Brutus bootless kneel?
- CASCA
- Speak, hands for me!
CASCA first, then the other Conspirators and
BRUTUS stab CAESAR
- CAESAR
- Et tu, Brute! Then fall, Caesar.
Dies
- CINNA
- Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead!
- Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets.
- CASSIUS
- Some to the common pulpits, and cry out
- 'Liberty, freedom, and enfranchisement!'
- BRUTUS
- People and senators, be not affrighted;
- Fly not; stand stiff: ambition's debt is paid.
- CASCA
- Go to the pulpit, Brutus.
- DECIUS BRUTUS
- And Cassius too.
- BRUTUS
- Where's Publius?
- CINNA
- Here, quite confounded with this mutiny.
- METELLUS CIMBER
- Stand fast together, lest some friend of Caesar's
- Should chance —
- BRUTUS
- Talk not of standing. Publius, good cheer;
- There is no harm intended to your person,
- Nor to no Roman else: so tell them, Publius.
- CASSIUS
- And leave us, Publius; lest that the people,
- Rushing on us, should do your age some mischief.
- BRUTUS
- Do so: and let no man abide this deed,
- But we the doers.
Re-enter TREBONIUS
- CASSIUS
- Where is Antony?
- TREBONIUS
- Fled to his house amazed:
- Men, wives and children stare, cry out and run
- As it were doomsday.
- BRUTUS
- Fates, we will know your pleasures:
- That we shall die, we know; 'tis but the time
- And drawing days out, that men stand upon.

- BRUTUS
- Grant that, and then is death a benefit:
- So are we Caesar's friends, that have abridged
- His time of fearing death. Stoop, Romans, stoop,
- And let us bathe our hands in Caesar's blood
- Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords:
- Then walk we forth, even to the market-place,
- And, waving our red weapons o'er our heads,
- Let's all cry 'Peace, freedom and liberty!'
- CASSIUS
- Stoop, then, and wash. How many ages hence
- Shall this our lofty scene be acted over
- In states unborn and accents yet unknown!
- BRUTUS
- How many times shall Caesar bleed in sport,
- That now on Pompey's basis lies along
- No worthier than the dust!
- CASSIUS
- So oft as that shall be,
- So often shall the knot of us be call'd
- The men that gave their country liberty.
- DECIUS BRUTUS
- What, shall we forth?
- CASSIUS
- Ay, every man away:
- Brutus shall lead; and we will grace his heels
- With the most boldest and best hearts of Rome.
Enter a Servant
- BRUTUS
- Soft! who comes here? A friend of Antony's.
- Servant
- Thus, Brutus, did my master bid me kneel:
- Thus did Mark Antony bid me fall down;
- And, being prostrate, thus he bade me say:
- Brutus is noble, wise, valiant, and honest;
- Caesar was mighty, bold, royal, and loving:
- Say I love Brutus, and I honour him;
- Say I fear'd Caesar, honour'd him and loved him.
- If Brutus will vouchsafe that Antony
- May safely come to him, and be resolved
- How Caesar hath deserved to lie in death,
- Mark Antony shall not love Caesar dead
- So well as Brutus living; but will follow
- The fortunes and affairs of noble Brutus
- Thorough the hazards of this untrod state
- With all true faith. So says my master Antony.
- BRUTUS
- Thy master is a wise and valiant Roman;
- I never thought him worse.
- Tell him, so please him come unto this place,
- He shall be satisfied; and, by my honour,
- Depart untouch'd.
- Servant
- I'll fetch him presently.
Exit
- BRUTUS
- I know that we shall have him well to friend.
- CASSIUS
- I wish we may: but yet have I a mind
- That fears him much; and my misgiving still
- Falls shrewdly to the purpose.
- BRUTUS
- But here comes Antony.
- Re-enter ANTONY
- Welcome, Mark Antony.

- Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,
- Shrunk to this little measure? Fare thee well.
- I know not, gentlemen, what you intend,
- Who else must be let blood, who else is rank:
- If I myself, there is no hour so fit
- As Caesar's death hour, nor no instrument
- Of half that worth as those your swords, made rich
- With the most noble blood of all this world.
 Live a thousand years,
- I shall not find myself so apt to die:
- No place will please me so, no mean of death,
- As here by Caesar, and by you cut off,
- The choice and master spirits of this age.
- BRUTUS
- O Antony, beg not your death of us.
 For your part,
- To you our swords have leaden points, Mark Antony:
- Our arms, in strength of malice, and our hearts
- Of brothers' temper, do receive you in
- With all kind love, good thoughts, and reverence.
- CASSIUS
- Your voice shall be as strong as any man's
- In the disposing of new dignities.
- BRUTUS
- Only be patient till we have appeased
- The multitude, beside themselves with fear,
- And then we will deliver you the cause,
- Why I, that did love Caesar when I struck him,
- Have thus proceeded.
- ANTONY
- I doubt not of your wisdom.

- Gentlemen all — alas, what shall I say?
- My credit now stands on such slippery ground,
- That one of two bad ways you must conceit me,
- Either a coward or a flatterer.
- That I did love thee, Caesar, O, 'tis true:
- If then thy spirit look upon us now,
- Shall it not grieve thee dearer than thy death,
- To see thy thy Anthony making his peace,
- Shaking the bloody fingers of thy foes,
- Most noble! in the presence of thy corse?
- Had I as many eyes as thou hast wounds,
- Weeping as fast as they stream forth thy blood,
- It would become me better than to close
- In terms of friendship with thine enemies.
- Pardon me, Julius! Here wast thou bay'd, brave hart;
- Here didst thou fall; and here thy hunters stand,
- Sign'd in thy spoil, and crimson'd in thy lethe.
- O world, thou wast the forest to this hart;
- And this, indeed, O world, the heart of thee.
- How like a deer, strucken by many princes,
- Dost thou here lie!
- CASSIUS
- Mark Antony —
- ANTONY
- Pardon me, Caius Cassius:
- The enemies of Caesar shall say this;
- Then, in a friend, it is cold modesty.
- CASSIUS
- I blame you not for praising Caesar so;
- But what compact mean you to have with us?
- Will you be prick'd in number of our friends;
- Or shall we on, and not depend on you?
- ANTONY
- Therefore I took your hands, but was, indeed,
- Sway'd from the point, by looking down on Caesar.
- Friends am I with you all and love you all,
- Upon this hope, that you shall give me reasons
- Why and wherein Caesar was dangerous.

- ANTONY
- That's all I seek:
- And am moreover suitor that I may
- Produce his body to the market-place;
- And in the pulpit, as becomes a friend,
- Speak in the order of his funeral.
- BRUTUS
- You shall, Mark Antony.
- CASSIUS
- Brutus, a word with you.
- Aside to BRUTUS
- You know not what you do: do not consent
- That Antony speak in his funeral:
- Know you how much the people may be moved
- By that which he will utter?
- BRUTUS
- By your pardon;
- I will myself into the pulpit first,
- And show the reason of our Caesar's death:
- What Antony shall speak, I will protest
- He speaks by leave and by permission,
- And that we are contented Caesar shall
- Have all true rites and lawful ceremonies.
- It shall advantage more than do us wrong.
- CASSIUS
- I know not what may fall; I like it not.
- BRUTUS
- Mark Antony, here, take you Caesar's body.
- You shall not in your funeral speech blame us,
- But speak all good you can devise of Caesar,
- And say you do't by our permission;
- Else shall you not have any hand at all
- About his funeral: and you shall speak
- In the same pulpit whereto I am going,
- After my speech is ended.
- ANTONY
- Be it so.
- I do desire no more.
- BRUTUS
- Prepare the body then, and follow us.
Exeunt all but ANTONY
- ANTONY
- O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
- That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
- Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
- That ever lived in the tide of times.
- Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!
- Over thy wounds now do I prophesy —
- Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips,
- To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue —
- A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;
- Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
- Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;
- Blood and destruction shall be so in use
- And dreadful objects so familiar
- That mothers shall but smile when they behold
- Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war;
- All pity choked with custom of fell deeds:
- And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
- With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
- Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
- Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war;
- That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
- With carrion men, groaning for burial.
- Enter a Servant
- You serve Octavius Caesar, do you not?
- Servant
- I do, Mark Antony.
- ANTONY
- Caesar did write for him to come to Rome.
- Servant
- He did receive his letters, and is coming;
- And bid me say to you by word of mouth —
- O Caesar! —
Seeing the body
- ANTONY
- Thy heart is big, get thee apart and weep.
- Passion, I see, is catching; for mine eyes,
- Seeing those beads of sorrow stand in thine,
- Began to water. Is thy master coming?
- Servant
- He lies to-night within seven leagues of Rome.
- ANTONY
- Post back with speed, and tell him what hath chanced:
- Here is a mourning Rome, a dangerous Rome,
- No Rome of safety for Octavius yet;
- Hie hence, and tell him so. Yet, stay awhile;
- Thou shalt not back till I have borne this corse
- Into the market-place: there shall I try
- In my oration, how the people take
- The cruel issue of these bloody men;
- According to the which, thou shalt discourse
- To young Octavius of the state of things.
- Lend me your hand.
Exeunt with CAESAR's body
SCENE II. The Forum.
Enter BRUTUS and CASSIUS, and a throng of Citizens
- Citizens
- We will be satisfied; let us be satisfied.
- BRUTUS
- Then follow me, and give me audience, friends.
- Cassius, go you into the other street,
- And part the numbers.
- Those that will hear me speak, let 'em stay here;
- Those that will follow Cassius, go with him;
- And public reasons shall be rendered
- Of Caesar's death.
- First Citizen
- I will hear Brutus speak.
- Second Citizen
- I will hear Cassius; and compare their reasons,
- When severally we hear them rendered.
Exit CASSIUS, with some of the Citizens. BRUTUS
goes into the pulpit
- Third Citizen
- The noble Brutus is ascended: silence!
- BRUTUS
- Be patient till the last.
- Romans, countrymen, and lovers! hear me for my
- cause, and be silent, that you may hear: believe me
- for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour, that
- you may believe: censure me in your wisdom, and
- awake your senses, that you may the better judge.
- If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of
- Caesar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Caesar
- was no less than his. If then that friend demand
- why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer:
- — Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved
- Rome more.  As Caesar loved me, I weep for him;
- as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was
- valiant, I honour him: but, as he was ambitious, I
- slew him. There is tears for his love; joy for his
- fortune; honour for his valour; and death for his
- ambition. Who is here so base that would be a
- bondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended.
- Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If
- any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so
- vile that will not love his country? If any, speak;
- for him have I offended. I pause for a reply.
- All
- None, Brutus, none.
- BRUTUS
- Then none have I offended. I have done no more to
- Caesar than you shall do to Brutus. The question of
- his death is enrolled in the Capitol; his glory not
- extenuated, wherein he was worthy, nor his offences
- enforced, for which he suffered death.
- Enter ANTONY and others, with CAESAR's body
- Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony: who,
- though he had no hand in his death, shall receive
- the benefit of his dying, a place in the
- commonwealth; as which of you shall not? With this
- I depart — that, as I slew my best lover for the
- good of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself,
- when it shall please my country to need my death.
- All
- Live, Brutus! live, live!
- First Citizen
- Bring him with triumph home unto his house.
- Second Citizen
- Give him a statue with his ancestors.
- Third Citizen
- Let him be Caesar.
- Fourth Citizen
- Caesar's better parts
- Shall be crown'd in Brutus.
- First Citizen
- We'll bring him to his house
- With shouts and clamours.
- BRUTUS
- My countrymen —
- Second Citizen
- Peace, silence! Brutus speaks.
- First Citizen
- Peace, ho!
- BRUTUS
- Good countrymen, let me depart alone,
- And, for my sake, stay here with Antony:
- Do grace to Caesar's corpse, and grace his speech
- Tending to Caesar's glories; which Mark Antony,
- By our permission, is allow'd to make.
- I do entreat you, not a man depart,
- Save I alone, till Antony have spoke.
Exit
- First Citizen
- Stay, ho! and let us hear Mark Antony.
- Third Citizen
- Let him go up into the public chair;
- We'll hear him. Noble Antony, go up.
- ANTONY
- For Brutus' sake, I am beholding to you.
Goes into the pulpit
- Fourth Citizen
- What does he say of Brutus?
- Third Citizen
- He says, for Brutus' sake,
- He finds himself beholding to us all.
- Fourth Citizen
- 'Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here.
- First Citizen
- This Caesar was a tyrant.
- Third Citizen
- Nay, that's certain:
- We are blest that Rome is rid of him.
- Second Citizen
- Peace! let us hear what Antony can say.
- ANTONY
- You gentle Romans —
- Citizens
- Peace, ho! let us hear him.
- ANTONY
- Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
- I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
- The evil that men do lives after them;
- The good is oft interred with their bones;
- So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
- Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
- If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
- And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
- Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest —
- For Brutus is an honourable man;
- So are they all, all honourable men —
- Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
- He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
- But Brutus says he was ambitious;
- And Brutus is an honourable man.
- He hath brought many captives home to Rome
- Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
- Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
- When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
- Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
- Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
- And Brutus is an honourable man.
- You all did see that on the Lupercal
- I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
- Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
- Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
- And, sure, he is an honourable man.
- I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
- But here I am to speak what I do know.
- You all did love him once, not without cause:
- What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
- O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
- And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
- My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
- And I must pause till it come back to me.
- First Citizen
- Methinks there is much reason in his sayings.
- Second Citizen
- If thou consider rightly of the matter,
- Caesar has had great wrong.
- Third Citizen
- Has he, masters?
- I fear there will a worse come in his place.
- Fourth Citizen
- Mark'd ye his words? He would not take the crown;
- Therefore 'tis certain he was not ambitious.
- First Citizen
- If it be found so, some will dear abide it.

- Third Citizen
- There's not a nobler man in Rome than Antony.
- Fourth Citizen
- Now mark him, he begins again to speak.
- ANTONY
- But yesterday the word of Caesar might
- Have stood against the world; now lies he there.

- O masters, if I were disposed to stir
- Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,
- I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong,
- Who, you all know, are honourable men:
- I will not do them wrong; I rather choose
- To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you,
- Than I will wrong such honourable men.
- But here's a parchment with the seal of Caesar;
- I found it in his closet, 'tis his will:
- Let but the commons hear this testament —
- Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read —
- And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds
- And dip their napkins in his sacred blood,
- Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,
- And, dying, mention it within their wills,
- Bequeathing it as a rich legacy
- Unto their issue.
- Fourth Citizen
- We'll hear the will: read it, Mark Antony.
- All
- The will, the will! we will hear Caesar's will.
- ANTONY
- Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it;
- It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you.

- Fourth Citizen
- Read the will; we'll hear it, Antony;
- You shall read us the will, Caesar's will.
- ANTONY
- Will you be patient? will you stay awhile?
- I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it:
- I fear I wrong the honourable men
- Whose daggers have stabb'd Caesar; I do fear it.
- Fourth Citizen
- They were traitors: honourable men!
- All
- The will! the testament!
- Second Citizen
- They were villains, murderers: the will! read the will.
- ANTONY
- You will compel me, then, to read the will?
- Then make a ring about the corpse of Caesar,
- And let me show you him that made the will.
- Shall I descend? and will you give me leave?
- Several Citizens
- Come down.
- Second Citizen
- Descend.
- Third Citizen
- You shall have leave.
ANTONY comes down
- Fourth Citizen
- A ring; stand round.
- First Citizen
- Stand from the hearse, stand from the body.
- Second Citizen
- Room for Antony, most noble Antony.
- ANTONY
- Nay, press not so upon me; stand far off.
- Several Citizens
- Stand back; room; bear back.
- ANTONY
- If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.
- You all do know this mantle: I remember
- The first time ever Caesar put it on;
- 'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent,
- That day he overcame the Nervii:
- Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through:
- See what a rent the envious Casca made:
- Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd;
- And as he pluck'd his cursed steel away,
- Mark how the blood of Caesar follow'd it,
- As rushing out of doors, to be resolved
- If Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no;
- For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel:
- Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him!
- This was the most unkindest cut of all;
- For when the noble Caesar saw him stab,
- Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms,
- Quite vanquish'd him: then burst his mighty heart;
- And, in his mantle muffling up his face,
- Even at the base of Pompey's statua,
- Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell.
- O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!

- O, now you weep; and, I perceive, you feel
- The dint of pity: these are gracious drops.
- Kind souls, what, weep you when you but behold
- Our Caesar's vesture wounded? Look you here,
- Here is himself, marr'd, as you see, with traitors.
- First Citizen
- O piteous spectacle!
- Second Citizen
- O noble Caesar!
- Third Citizen
- O woful day!
- Fourth Citizen
- O traitors, villains!

- Second Citizen
- We will be revenged.
- All
- Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay!
- Let not a traitor live!
- ANTONY
- Stay, countrymen.
- First Citizen
- Peace there! hear the noble Antony.
- Second Citizen
- We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll die with him.
- ANTONY
- Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up
- To such a sudden flood of mutiny.
- They that have done this deed are honourable:
- What private griefs they have, alas, I know not,
- That made them do it: they are wise and honourable,
- And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you.
- I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts:
- I am no orator, as Brutus is;
- But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man,
- That love my friend; and that they know full well
- That gave me public leave to speak of him:
- For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
- Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,
- To stir men's blood: I only speak right on;
- I tell you that which you yourselves do know;
- Show you sweet Caesar's wounds, poor poor dumb mouths,
- And bid them speak for me: but were I Brutus,
- And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony
- Would ruffle up your spirits and put a tongue
- In every wound of Caesar that should move
- The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.
- All
- We'll mutiny.
- First Citizen
- We'll burn the house of Brutus.
- Third Citizen
- Away, then! come, seek the conspirators.
- ANTONY
- Yet hear me, countrymen; yet hear me speak.
- All
- Peace, ho! Hear Antony. Most noble Antony!
- ANTONY
- Why, friends, you go to do you know not what:
- Wherein hath Caesar thus deserved your loves?
- Alas, you know not: I must tell you then:
- You have forgot the will I told you of.
- All
- Most true. The will! Let's stay and hear the will.
- ANTONY
- Here is the will, and under Caesar's seal.
- To every Roman citizen he gives,
- To every several man, seventy-five drachmas.
- Second Citizen
- Most noble Caesar! We'll revenge his death.
- Third Citizen
- O royal Caesar!
- ANTONY
- Hear me with patience.
- All
- Peace, ho!
- ANTONY
- Moreover, he hath left you all his walks,
- His private arbours and new-planted orchards,
- On this side Tiber; he hath left them you,
- And to your heirs for ever, common pleasures,
- To walk abroad, and recreate yourselves.
- Here was a Caesar! when comes such another?
- First Citizen
- Never, never. Come, away, away!

- Take up the body.
- Second Citizen
- Go fetch fire.
- Third Citizen
- Pluck down benches.
- Fourth Citizen
- Pluck down forms, windows, any thing.
Exeunt Citizens with the body
- ANTONY
- Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot,
- Take thou what course thou wilt!
- Enter a Servant
- How now, fellow!
- Servant
- Sir, Octavius is already come to Rome.
- ANTONY
- Where is he?
- Servant
- He and Lepidus are at Caesar's house.
- ANTONY
- And thither will I straight to visit him:
- He comes upon a wish. Fortune is merry,
- And in this mood will give us any thing.
- Servant
- I heard him say, Brutus and Cassius
- Are rid like madmen through the gates of Rome.
- ANTONY
- Belike they had some notice of the people,
- How I had moved them. Bring me to Octavius.
Exeunt
SCENE III. A street.
Enter CINNA the poet
- CINNA THE POET
- I dreamt to-night that I did feast with Caesar,
- And things unlucky charge my fantasy:
- I have no will to wander forth of doors,
- Yet something leads me forth.
Enter Citizens
- First Citizen
- What is your name?
- Second Citizen
- Whither are you going?
- Third Citizen
- Where do you dwell?
- Fourth Citizen
- Are you a married man or a bachelor?
- Second Citizen
- Answer every man directly.
- First Citizen
- Ay, and briefly.
- Fourth Citizen
- Ay, and wisely.
- Third Citizen
- Ay, and truly, you were best.
- CINNA THE POET
- What is my name? Whither am I going? Where do I
- dwell? Am I a married man or a bachelor? Then, to
- answer every man directly and briefly, wisely and
- truly: wisely I say, I am a bachelor.
- Second Citizen
- That's as much as to say, they are fools that marry:
- you'll bear me a bang for that, I fear. Proceed; directly.
- CINNA THE POET
- Directly, I am going to Caesar's funeral.
- First Citizen
- As a friend or an enemy?
- CINNA THE POET
- As a friend.
- Second Citizen
- That matter is answered directly.
- Fourth Citizen
- For your dwelling — briefly.
- CINNA THE POET
- Briefly, I dwell by the Capitol.
- Third Citizen
- Your name, sir, truly.
- CINNA THE POET
- Truly, my name is Cinna.
- First Citizen
- Tear him to pieces; he's a conspirator.
- CINNA THE POET
- I am Cinna the poet, I am Cinna the poet.
- Fourth Citizen
- Tear him for his bad verses, tear him for his bad verses.
- CINNA THE POET
- I am not Cinna the conspirator.
- Fourth Citizen
- It is no matter, his name's Cinna; pluck but his
- name out of his heart, and turn him going.
- Third Citizen
- Tear him, tear him! Come, brands ho! fire-brands:
- to Brutus', to Cassius'; burn all: some to Decius'
- house, and some to Casca's; some to Ligarius': away, go!
Exeunt
ACT IV
SCENE I. A house in Rome.
ANTONY, OCTAVIUS, and LEPIDUS, seated at a table
- ANTONY
- These many, then, shall die; their names are prick'd.
- OCTAVIUS
- Your brother too must die; consent you, Lepidus?
- LEPIDUS
- I do consent —
- OCTAVIUS
- Prick him down, Antony.
- LEPIDUS
- Upon condition Publius shall not live,
- Who is your sister's son, Mark Antony.
- ANTONY
- He shall not live; look, with a spot I damn him.
- But, Lepidus, go you to Caesar's house;
- Fetch the will hither, and we shall determine
- How to cut off some charge in legacies.
- LEPIDUS
- What, shall I find you here?
- OCTAVIUS
- Or here, or at the Capitol.
Exit LEPIDUS
- ANTONY
- This is a slight unmeritable man,
- Meet to be sent on errands: is it fit,
- The three-fold world divided, he should stand
- One of the three to share it?
- OCTAVIUS
- So you thought him;
- And took his voice who should be prick'd to die,
- In our black sentence and proscription.
- ANTONY
- Octavius, I have seen more days than you:
- And though we lay these honours on this man,
- To ease ourselves of divers slanderous loads,
- He shall but bear them as the ass bears gold,
- To groan and sweat under the business,
- Either led or driven, as we point the way;
- And having brought our treasure where we will,
- Then take we down his load, and turn him off,
- Like to the empty ass, to shake his ears,
- And graze in commons.

- ANTONY
- So is my horse, Octavius; and for that
- I do appoint him store of provender:
- It is a creature that I teach to fight,
- To wind, to stop, to run directly on,
- His corporal motion govern'd by my spirit.
- And, in some taste, is Lepidus but so;
- He must be taught and train'd and bid go forth;
- A barren-spirited fellow; one that feeds
- On abjects, orts and imitations,
- Which, out of use and staled by other men,
- Begin his fashion: do not talk of him,
- But as a property. And now, Octavius,
- Listen great things: — Brutus and Cassius
- Are levying powers: we must straight make head:
- Therefore let our alliance be combined,
- Our best friends made, our means stretch'd
- And let us presently go sit in council,
- How covert matters may be best disclosed,
- And open perils surest answered.
- OCTAVIUS
- Let us do so: for we are at the stake,
- And bay'd about with many enemies;
- And some that smile have in their hearts, I fear,
- Millions of mischiefs.
Exeunt
SCENE II. Camp near Sardis. Before BRUTUS's tent.
Drum. Enter BRUTUS, LUCILIUS, LUCIUS, and
Soldiers; TITINIUS and PINDARUS meeting them
- BRUTUS
- Stand, ho!
- LUCILIUS
- Give the word, ho! and stand.
- BRUTUS
- What now, Lucilius! is Cassius near?
- LUCILIUS
- He is at hand; and Pindarus is come
- To do you salutation from his master.
- BRUTUS
- He greets me well. Your master, Pindarus,
- In his own change, or by ill officers,
- Hath given me some worthy cause to wish
- Things done, undone: but, if he be at hand,
- I shall be satisfied.
- PINDARUS
- I do not doubt
- But that my noble master will appear
- Such as he is, full of regard and honour.
- BRUTUS
- He is not doubted.
- LUCILIUS
- With courtesy and with respect enough;
- But not with such familiar instances,
- Nor with such free and friendly conference,
- As he hath used of old.
- BRUTUS
- Thou hast described
- A hot friend cooling: ever note, Lucilius,
- When love begins to sicken and decay,
- It useth an enforced ceremony.
- There are no tricks in plain and simple faith;
- But hollow men, like horses hot at hand,
- Make gallant show and promise of their mettle;
- But when they should endure the bloody spur,
- They fall their crests, and, like deceitful jades,
- Sink in the trial. Comes his army on?
- LUCILIUS
- They mean this night in Sardis to be quarter'd;
- The greater part, the horse in general,
- Are come with Cassius.
- BRUTUS
- Hark! he is arrived.
- Low march within
- March gently on to meet him.
Enter CASSIUS and his powers
- CASSIUS
- Stand, ho!
- BRUTUS
- Stand, ho! Speak the word along.
- First Soldier
- Stand!
- Second Soldier
- Stand!
- Third Soldier
- Stand!
- CASSIUS
- Most noble brother, you have done me wrong.
- BRUTUS
- Judge me, you gods! wrong I mine enemies?
- And, if not so, how should I wrong a brother?
- CASSIUS
- Brutus, this sober form of yours hides wrongs;
- And when you do them —
- BRUTUS
- Cassius, be content.
- Speak your griefs softly: I do know you well.
- Before the eyes of both our armies here,
- Which should perceive nothing but love from us,
- Let us not wrangle: bid them move away;
- Then in my tent, Cassius, enlarge your griefs,
- And I will give you audience.
- CASSIUS
- Pindarus,
- Bid our commanders lead their charges off
- A little from this ground.
- BRUTUS
- Lucilius, do you the like; and let no man
- Come to our tent till we have done our conference.
- Let Lucius and Titinius guard our door.
Exeunt
SCENE III. Brutus's tent.
Enter BRUTUS and CASSIUS
- CASSIUS
- That you have wrong'd me doth appear in this:
- You have condemn'd and noted Lucius Pella
- For taking bribes here of the Sardians;
- Wherein my letters, praying on his side,
- Because I knew the man, were slighted off.
- BRUTUS
- You wronged yourself to write in such a case.
- CASSIUS
- In such a time as this it is not meet
- That every nice offence should bear his comment.
- BRUTUS
- Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself
- Are much condemn'd to have an itching palm;
- To sell and mart your offices for gold
- To undeservers.
- CASSIUS
- I an itching palm!
- You know that you are Brutus that speak this,
- Or, by the gods, this speech were else your last.
- BRUTUS
- The name of Cassius honours this corruption,
- And chastisement doth therefore hide his head.
- CASSIUS
- Chastisement!
- BRUTUS
- Remember March, the ides of March remember:
- Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake?
- What villain touch'd his body, that did stab,
- And not for justice? What, shall one of us
- That struck the foremost man of all this world
- But for supporting robbers, shall we now
- Contaminate our fingers with base bribes,
- And sell the mighty space of our large honours
- For so much trash as may be grasped thus?
- I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon,
- Than such a Roman.
- CASSIUS
- Brutus, bay not me;
- I'll not endure it: you forget yourself,
- To hedge me in; I am a soldier, I,
- Older in practise, abler than yourself
- To make conditions.
- BRUTUS
- Go to; you are not, Cassius.
- CASSIUS
- I am.
- BRUTUS
- I say you are not.
- CASSIUS
- Urge me no more, I shall forget myself;
- Have mind upon your health, tempt me no further.
- BRUTUS
- Away, slight man!
- CASSIUS
- Is't possible?
- BRUTUS
- Hear me, for I will speak.
- Must I give way and room to your rash choler?
- Shall I be frighted when a madman stares?
- CASSIUS
- O ye gods, ye gods! must I endure all this?
 Must I budge?
- Must I observe you? must I stand and crouch
- Under your testy humour? By the gods
- You shall digest the venom of your spleen,
- Though it do split you; for, from this day forth,
- I'll use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter,
- When you are waspish.
- CASSIUS
- Is it come to this?
- BRUTUS
- You say you are a better soldier:
- Let it appear so; make your vaunting true,
- And it shall please me well: for mine own part,
- I shall be glad to learn of noble men.
- CASSIUS
- You wrong me every way; you wrong me, Brutus;
- I said, an elder soldier, not a better:
- Did I say 'better'?
- BRUTUS
- If you did, I care not.
- CASSIUS
- When Caesar lived, he durst not thus have moved me.
- BRUTUS
- Peace, peace! you durst not so have tempted him.
- CASSIUS
- I durst not!
- BRUTUS
- No.
- CASSIUS
- What, durst not tempt him!
- BRUTUS
- For your life you durst not!
- CASSIUS
- Do not presume too much upon my love;
- I may do that I shall be sorry for.
- BRUTUS
- You have done that you should be sorry for.
- There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats,
- For I am arm'd so strong in honesty
- That they pass by me as the idle wind,
- Which I respect not.
- Should I have answer'd Caius Cassius so?
- When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous,
- To lock such rascal counters from his friends,
- Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts;
- Dash him to pieces!
- CASSIUS
- I denied you not.
- BRUTUS
- You did.
- CASSIUS
- I did not: he was but a fool that brought
- My answer back. Brutus hath rived my heart:
- A friend should bear his friend's infirmities,
- But Brutus makes mine greater than they are.
- BRUTUS
- I do not, till you practise them on me.
- CASSIUS
- You love me not.
- BRUTUS
- I do not like your faults.
- CASSIUS
- A friendly eye could never see such faults.
- BRUTUS
- A flatterer's would not, though they do appear
- As huge as high Olympus.
- CASSIUS
- Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come,
- Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius,
- For Cassius is aweary of the world;
- Hated by one he loves; braved by his brother;
- Cheque'd like a bondman; all his faults observed,
- Set in a note-book, learn'd, and conn'd by rote,
- To cast into my teeth. O, I could weep
- My spirit from mine eyes! There is my dagger,
- And here my naked breast; within, a heart
- Dearer than Plutus' mine, richer than gold:
- If that thou be'st a Roman, take it forth;
- I, that denied thee gold, will give my heart:
- Strike, as thou didst at Caesar; for, I know,
- When thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him better
- Than ever thou lovedst Cassius.
- BRUTUS
- Sheathe your dagger:
- Be angry when you will, it shall have scope;
- Do what you will, dishonour shall be humour.
- O Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb
- That carries anger as the flint bears fire;
- Who, much enforced, shows a hasty spark,
- And straight is cold again.
- CASSIUS
- Hath Cassius lived
- To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus,
- When grief, and blood ill-temper'd, vexeth him?
- BRUTUS
- When I spoke that, I was ill-temper'd too.
- CASSIUS
- Do you confess so much? Give me your hand.
- BRUTUS
- And my heart too.
- CASSIUS
- O Brutus!
- BRUTUS
- What's the matter?
- CASSIUS
- Have not you love enough to bear with me,
- When that rash humour which my mother gave me
- Makes me forgetful?
- BRUTUS
- Yes, Cassius; and, from henceforth,
- When you are over-earnest with your Brutus,
- He'll think your mother chides, and leave you so.
- Poet
- Within Let me go in to see the generals;
- There is some grudge between 'em, 'tis not meet
- They be alone.
- LUCILIUS
- Within You shall not come to them.
- Poet
- Within Nothing but death shall stay me.
Enter Poet, followed by LUCILIUS, TITINIUS, and LUCIUS
- CASSIUS
- How now! what's the matter?
- Poet
- For shame, you generals! what do you mean?
- Love, and be friends, as two such men should be;
- For I have seen more years, I'm sure, than ye.
- CASSIUS
- Ha, ha! how vilely doth this cynic rhyme!
- BRUTUS
- Get you hence, sirrah; saucy fellow, hence!
- CASSIUS
- Bear with him, Brutus; 'tis his fashion.
- BRUTUS
- I'll know his humour, when he knows his time:
- What should the wars do with these jigging fools?
- Companion, hence!
- CASSIUS
- Away, away, be gone.
Exit Poet
- BRUTUS
- Lucilius and Titinius, bid the commanders
- Prepare to lodge their companies to-night.

Exeunt LUCILIUS and TITINIUS
- BRUTUS
- Lucius, a bowl of wine!
Exit LUCIUS
- CASSIUS
- I did not think you could have been so angry.
- BRUTUS
- O Cassius, I am sick of many griefs.
- CASSIUS
- Of your philosophy you make no use,
- If you give place to accidental evils.
- BRUTUS
- No man bears sorrow better. Portia is dead.
- CASSIUS
- Ha! Portia!
- BRUTUS
- She is dead.
- CASSIUS
- How 'scaped I killing when I cross'd you so?
- O insupportable and touching loss!
- Upon what sickness?
- BRUTUS
- Impatient of my absence,
- And grief that young Octavius with Mark Antony
- Have made themselves so strong: — for with her death
- That tidings came; — with this she fell distract,
- And, her attendants absent, swallow'd fire.
- CASSIUS
- And died so?
- BRUTUS
- Even so.
- CASSIUS
- O ye immortal gods!
Re-enter LUCIUS, with wine and taper
- BRUTUS
- Speak no more of her. Give me a bowl of wine.
- In this I bury all unkindness, Cassius.
- CASSIUS
- My heart is thirsty for that noble pledge.
- Fill, Lucius, till the wine o'erswell the cup;
- I cannot drink too much of Brutus' love.
- BRUTUS
- Come in, Titinius!
- Exit LUCIUS
- Re-enter TITINIUS, with MESSALA
- Welcome, good Messala.
- Now sit we close about this taper here,
- And call in question our necessities.
- CASSIUS
- Portia, art thou gone?
- BRUTUS
- No more, I pray you.
- Messala, I have here received letters,
- That young Octavius and Mark Antony
- Come down upon us with a mighty power,
- Bending their expedition toward Philippi.
- MESSALA
- Myself have letters of the selfsame tenor.
- BRUTUS
- With what addition?
- MESSALA
- That by proscription and bills of outlawry,
- Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus,
- Have put to death an hundred senators.
- BRUTUS
- Therein our letters do not well agree;
- Mine speak of seventy senators that died
- By their proscriptions, Cicero being one.
- CASSIUS
- Cicero one!
- MESSALA
- Cicero is dead,
- And by that order of proscription.
- Had you your letters from your wife, my lord?
- BRUTUS
- No, Messala.
- MESSALA
- Nor nothing in your letters writ of her?
- BRUTUS
- Nothing, Messala.
- MESSALA
- That, methinks, is strange.
- BRUTUS
- Why ask you? hear you aught of her in yours?
- MESSALA
- No, my lord.
- BRUTUS
- Now, as you are a Roman, tell me true.
- MESSALA
- Then like a Roman bear the truth I tell:
- For certain she is dead, and by strange manner.
- BRUTUS
- Why, farewell, Portia. We must die, Messala:
- With meditating that she must die once,
- I have the patience to endure it now.
- MESSALA
- Even so great men great losses should endure.
- CASSIUS
- I have as much of this in art as you,
- But yet my nature could not bear it so.
- BRUTUS
- Well, to our work alive. What do you think
- Of marching to Philippi presently?
- CASSIUS
- I do not think it good.
- BRUTUS
- Your reason?
- CASSIUS
- This it is:
- 'Tis better that the enemy seek us:
- So shall he waste his means, weary his soldiers,
- Doing himself offence; whilst we, lying still,
- Are full of rest, defense, and nimbleness.
- BRUTUS
- Good reasons must, of force, give place to better.
- The people 'twixt Philippi and this ground
- Do stand but in a forced affection;
- For they have grudged us contribution:
- The enemy, marching along by them,
- By them shall make a fuller number up,
- Come on refresh'd, new-added, and encouraged;
- From which advantage shall we cut him off,
- If at Philippi we do face him there,
- These people at our back.
- CASSIUS
- Hear me, good brother.
- BRUTUS
- Under your pardon. You must note beside,
- That we have tried the utmost of our friends,
- Our legions are brim-full, our cause is ripe:
- The enemy increaseth every day;
- We, at the height, are ready to decline.
- There is a tide in the affairs of men,
- Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
- Omitted, all the voyage of their life
- Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
- On such a full sea are we now afloat;
- And we must take the current when it serves,
- Or lose our ventures.
- CASSIUS
- Then, with your will, go on;
- We'll along ourselves, and meet them at Philippi.
- BRUTUS
- The deep of night is crept upon our talk,
- And nature must obey necessity;
- Which we will niggard with a little rest.
- There is no more to say?
- CASSIUS
- No more. Good night:
- Early to-morrow will we rise, and hence.
- BRUTUS
- Lucius!
- Enter LUCIUS
- My gown.
- Exit LUCIUS
- Farewell, good Messala:
- Good night, Titinius. Noble, noble Cassius,
- Good night, and good repose.
- CASSIUS
- O my dear brother!
- This was an ill beginning of the night:
- Never come such division 'tween our souls!
- Let it not, Brutus.
- BRUTUS
- Every thing is well.
- CASSIUS
- Good night, my lord.
- BRUTUS
- Good night, good brother.
- TITINIUS
- MESSALA
- Good night, Lord Brutus.
- BRUTUS
- Farewell, every one.
- Exeunt all but BRUTUS
- Re-enter LUCIUS, with the gown
- Give me the gown. Where is thy instrument?
- LUCIUS
- Here in the tent.
- BRUTUS
- What, thou speak'st drowsily?
- Poor knave, I blame thee not; thou art o'er-watch'd.
- Call Claudius and some other of my men:
- I'll have them sleep on cushions in my tent.
- LUCIUS
- Varro and Claudius!
Enter VARRO and CLAUDIUS
- VARRO
- Calls my lord?
- BRUTUS
- I pray you, sirs, lie in my tent and sleep;
- It may be I shall raise you by and by
- On business to my brother Cassius.
- VARRO
- So please you, we will stand and watch your pleasure.
- BRUTUS
- I will not have it so: lie down, good sirs;
- It may be I shall otherwise bethink me.
- Look, Lucius, here's the book I sought for so;
- I put it in the pocket of my gown.
VARRO and CLAUDIUS lie down
- LUCIUS
- I was sure your lordship did not give it me.
- BRUTUS
- Bear with me, good boy, I am much forgetful.

- LUCIUS
- Ay, my lord, an't please you.
- BRUTUS
- It does, my boy:
- I trouble thee too much, but thou art willing.
- LUCIUS
- It is my duty, sir.
- BRUTUS
- I should not urge thy duty past thy might;
- I know young bloods look for a time of rest.
- LUCIUS
- I have slept, my lord, already.
- BRUTUS
- It was well done; and thou shalt sleep again;
- I will not hold thee long: if I do live,
- I will be good to thee.
- Music, and a song
- This is a sleepy tune. O murderous slumber,
- Lay'st thou thy leaden mace upon my boy,
- That plays thee music? Gentle knave, good night;
- I will not do thee so much wrong to wake thee:
- If thou dost nod, thou break'st thy instrument;
- I'll take it from thee; and, good boy, good night.
- Let me see, let me see; is not the leaf turn'd down
- Where I left reading? Here it is, I think.
- Enter the Ghost of CAESAR
- How ill this taper burns! Ha! who comes here?
- I think it is the weakness of mine eyes
- That shapes this monstrous apparition.
- It comes upon me. Art thou any thing?
- Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil,
- That makest my blood cold and my hair to stare?
- Speak to me what thou art.
- GHOST
- Thy evil spirit, Brutus.
- BRUTUS
- Why comest thou?
- GHOST
- To tell thee thou shalt see me at Philippi.
- BRUTUS
- Well; then I shall see thee again?
- GHOST
- Ay, at Philippi.
- BRUTUS
- Why, I will see thee at Philippi, then.
- Exit Ghost
- Now I have taken heart thou vanishest:
- Ill spirit, I would hold more talk with thee.
- Boy, Lucius! Varro! Claudius! Sirs, awake! Claudius!
- LUCIUS
- The strings, my lord, are false.
- BRUTUS
- He thinks he still is at his instrument.
- Lucius, awake!
- LUCIUS
- My lord?
- BRUTUS
- Didst thou dream, Lucius, that thou so criedst out?
- LUCIUS
- My lord, I do not know that I did cry.
- BRUTUS
- Yes, that thou didst: didst thou see any thing?
- LUCIUS
- Nothing, my lord.
- BRUTUS
- Sleep again, Lucius. Sirrah Claudius!
- To VARRO
- Fellow thou, awake!
- VARRO
- My lord?
- CLAUDIUS
- My lord?
- BRUTUS
- Why did you so cry out, sirs, in your sleep?
- VARRO
- CLAUDIUS
- Did we, my lord?
- BRUTUS
- Ay: saw you any thing?
- VARRO
- No, my lord, I saw nothing.
- CLAUDIUS
- Nor I, my lord.
- BRUTUS
- Go and commend me to my brother Cassius;
- Bid him set on his powers betimes before,
- And we will follow.
- VARRO
- CLAUDIUS
- It shall be done, my lord.
Exeunt
ACT V
SCENE I. The plains of Philippi.
Enter OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, and their army
- OCTAVIUS
- Now, Antony, our hopes are answered:
- You said the enemy would not come down,
- But keep the hills and upper regions;
- It proves not so: their battles are at hand;
- They mean to warn us at Philippi here,
- Answering before we do demand of them.
- ANTONY
- Tut, I am in their bosoms, and I know
- Wherefore they do it: they could be content
- To visit other places; and come down
- With fearful bravery, thinking by this face
- To fasten in our thoughts that they have courage;
- But 'tis not so.
Enter a Messenger
- Messenger
- Prepare you, generals:
- The enemy comes on in gallant show;
- Their bloody sign of battle is hung out,
- And something to be done immediately.
- ANTONY
- Octavius, lead your battle softly on,
- Upon the left hand of the even field.
- OCTAVIUS
- Upon the right hand I; keep thou the left.
- ANTONY
- Why do you cross me in this exigent?
- OCTAVIUS
- I do not cross you; but I will do so.
March
Drum. Enter BRUTUS, CASSIUS, and their Army;
LUCILIUS, TITINIUS, MESSALA, and others
- BRUTUS
- They stand, and would have parley.
- CASSIUS
- Stand fast, Titinius: we must out and talk.
- OCTAVIUS
- Mark Antony, shall we give sign of battle?
- ANTONY
- No, Caesar, we will answer on their charge.
- Make forth; the generals would have some words.
- OCTAVIUS
- Stir not until the signal.
- BRUTUS
- Words before blows: is it so, countrymen?
- OCTAVIUS
- Not that we love words better, as you do.
- BRUTUS
- Good words are better than bad strokes, Octavius.
- ANTONY
- In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good words:
- Witness the hole you made in Caesar's heart,
- Crying 'Long live! hail, Caesar!'
- CASSIUS
- Antony,
- The posture of your blows are yet unknown;
- But for your words, they rob the Hybla bees,
- And leave them honeyless.
- ANTONY
- Not stingless too.
- BRUTUS
- O, yes, and soundless too;
- For you have stol'n their buzzing, Antony,
- And very wisely threat before you sting.
 O you flatterers!
- CASSIUS
- Flatterers! Now, Brutus, thank yourself:
- This tongue had not offended so to-day,
- If Cassius might have ruled.
- OCTAVIUS
- Come, come, the cause: if arguing make us sweat,
- The proof of it will turn to redder drops. Look;
- I draw a sword against conspirators;
- When think you that the sword goes up again?
- Never, till Caesar's three and thirty wounds
- Be well avenged; or till another Caesar
- Have added slaughter to the sword of traitors.
- BRUTUS
- Caesar, thou canst not die by traitors' hands,
- Unless thou bring'st them with thee.
- OCTAVIUS
- So I hope;
- I was not born to die on Brutus' sword.
- BRUTUS
- O, if thou wert the noblest of thy strain,
- Young man, thou couldst not die more honourable.
- CASSIUS
- A peevish schoolboy, worthless of such honour,
- Join'd with a masker and a reveller!
- ANTONY
- Old Cassius still!
- OCTAVIUS
- Come, Antony, away!
- Defiance, traitors, hurl we in your teeth:
- If you dare fight to-day, come to the field;
- If not, when you have stomachs.
Exeunt OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, and their army
- CASSIUS
- Why, now, blow wind, swell billow and swim bark!
- The storm is up, and all is on the hazard.
- BRUTUS
- Ho, Lucilius! hark, a word with you.
- LUCILIUS
- Standing forth My lord?
BRUTUS and LUCILIUS converse apart
- CASSIUS
- Messala!
- MESSALA
- Standing forth What says my general?
- CASSIUS
- Messala,
- This is my birth-day; as this very day
- Was Cassius born. Give me thy hand, Messala:
- Be thou my witness that against my will,
- As Pompey was, am I compell'd to set
- Upon one battle all our liberties.

- Coming from Sardis, on our former ensign
- Two mighty eagles fell, and there they perch'd,
- Gorging and feeding from our soldiers' hands;
- Who to Philippi here consorted us:
- This morning are they fled away and gone;
- And in their steads do ravens, crows and kites,
- Fly o'er our heads and downward look on us,
- As we were sickly prey: their shadows seem
- A canopy most fatal, under which
- Our army lies, ready to give up the ghost.
- MESSALA
- Believe not so.
- CASSIUS
- I but believe it partly;
- For I am fresh of spirit and resolved
- To meet all perils very constantly.
- BRUTUS
- Even so, Lucilius.
- CASSIUS
- Now, most noble Brutus,
- The gods to-day stand friendly, that we may,
- Lovers in peace, lead on our days to age!
- But since the affairs of men rest still incertain,
- Let's reason with the worst that may befall.
- If we do lose this battle, then is this
- The very last time we shall speak together:
- What are you then determined to do?
- BRUTUS
- Even by the rule of that philosophy
- By which I did blame Cato for the death
- Which he did give himself, I know not how,
- But I do find it cowardly and vile,
- For fear of what might fall, so to prevent
- The time of life: arming myself with patience
- To stay the providence of some high powers
- That govern us below.
- CASSIUS
- Then, if we lose this battle,
- You are contented to be led in triumph
- Thorough the streets of Rome?
- BRUTUS
- No, Cassius, no: think not, thou noble Roman,
- That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome;
- He bears too great a mind. But this same day
- Must end that work the ides of March begun;
- And whether we shall meet again I know not.
- Therefore our everlasting farewell take:
- For ever, and for ever, farewell, Cassius!
- If we do meet again, why, we shall smile;
- If not, why then, this parting was well made.
- CASSIUS
- For ever, and for ever, farewell, Brutus!
- If we do meet again, we'll smile indeed;
- If not, 'tis true this parting was well made.
- BRUTUS
- Why, then, lead on. O, that a man might know
- The end of this day's business ere it come!
- But it sufficeth that the day will end,
- And then the end is known. Come, ho! away!
Exeunt
SCENE II. The same. The field of battle.
Alarum. Enter BRUTUS and MESSALA
- BRUTUS
- Ride, ride, Messala, ride, and give these bills
- Unto the legions on the other side.
- Loud alarum
- Let them set on at once; for I perceive
- But cold demeanor in Octavius' wing,
- And sudden push gives them the overthrow.
- Ride, ride, Messala: let them all come down.
Exeunt
SCENE III. Another part of the field.
Alarums. Enter CASSIUS and TITINIUS
- CASSIUS
- O, look, Titinius, look, the villains fly!
- Myself have to mine own turn'd enemy:
- This ensign here of mine was turning back;
- I slew the coward, and did take it from him.
- TITINIUS
- O Cassius, Brutus gave the word too early;
- Who, having some advantage on Octavius,
- Took it too eagerly: his soldiers fell to spoil,
- Whilst we by Antony are all enclosed.
Enter PINDARUS
- PINDARUS
- Fly further off, my lord, fly further off;
- Mark Antony is in your tents, my lord
- Fly, therefore, noble Cassius, fly far off.
- CASSIUS
- This hill is far enough. Look, look, Titinius;
- Are those my tents where I perceive the fire?
- TITINIUS
- They are, my lord.
- CASSIUS
- Titinius, if thou lovest me,
- Mount thou my horse, and hide thy spurs in him,
- Till he have brought thee up to yonder troops,
- And here again; that I may rest assured
- Whether yond troops are friend or enemy.
- TITINIUS
- I will be here again, even with a thought.
Exit
- CASSIUS
- Go, Pindarus, get higher on that hill;
- My sight was ever thick; regard Titinius,
- And tell me what thou notest about the field.
- PINDARUS ascends the hill
- This day I breathed first: time is come round,
- And where I did begin, there shall I end;
- My life is run his compass. Sirrah, what news?
- PINDARUS
- Above O my lord!
- CASSIUS
- What news?
- PINDARUS
- Above Titinius is enclosed round about
- With horsemen, that make to him on the spur;
- Yet he spurs on. Now they are almost on him.
- Now, Titinius! Now some light. O, he lights too.
- He's ta'en.
- Shout
- And, hark! they shout for joy.
- CASSIUS
- Come down, behold no more.
- O, coward that I am, to live so long,
- To see my best friend ta'en before my face!
- PINDARUS descends
- Come hither, sirrah:
- In Parthia did I take thee prisoner;
- And then I swore thee, saving of thy life,
- That whatsoever I did bid thee do,
- Thou shouldst attempt it. Come now, keep thine oath;
- Now be a freeman: and with this good sword,
- That ran through Caesar's bowels, search this bosom.
- Stand not to answer: here, take thou the hilts;
- And, when my face is cover'd, as 'tis now,
- Guide thou the sword.
- PINDARUS stabs him
- Caesar, thou art revenged,
- Even with the sword that kill'd thee.
Dies
- PINDARUS
- So, I am free; yet would not so have been,
- Durst I have done my will. O Cassius,
- Far from this country Pindarus shall run,
- Where never Roman shall take note of him.
Exit
Re-enter TITINIUS with MESSALA
- MESSALA
- It is but change, Titinius; for Octavius
- Is overthrown by noble Brutus' power,
- As Cassius' legions are by Antony.
- TITINIUS
- These tidings will well comfort Cassius.
- MESSALA
- Where did you leave him?
- TITINIUS
- All disconsolate,
- With Pindarus his bondman, on this hill.
- MESSALA
- Is not that he that lies upon the ground?
- TITINIUS
- He lies not like the living. O my heart!
- MESSALA
- Is not that he?
- TITINIUS
- No, this was he, Messala,
- But Cassius is no more. O setting sun,
- As in thy red rays thou dost sink to-night,
- So in his red blood Cassius' day is set;
- The sun of Rome is set! Our day is gone;
- Clouds, dews, and dangers come; our deeds are done!
- Mistrust of my success hath done this deed.
- MESSALA
- Mistrust of good success hath done this deed.
- O hateful error, melancholy's child,
- Why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men
- The things that are not? O error, soon conceived,
- Thou never comest unto a happy birth,
- But kill'st the mother that engender'd thee!
- TITINIUS
- What, Pindarus! where art thou, Pindarus?
- MESSALA
- Seek him, Titinius, whilst I go to meet
- The noble Brutus, thrusting this report
- Into his ears; I may say, thrusting it;
- For piercing steel and darts envenomed
- Shall be as welcome to the ears of Brutus
- As tidings of this sight.
- TITINIUS
- Hie you, Messala,
- And I will seek for Pindarus the while.
- Exit MESSALA
- Why didst thou send me forth, brave Cassius?
- Did I not meet thy friends? and did not they
- Put on my brows this wreath of victory,
- And bid me give it thee? Didst thou not hear their shouts?
- Alas, thou hast misconstrued every thing!
- But, hold thee, take this garland on thy brow;
- Thy Brutus bid me give it thee, and I
- Will do his bidding. Brutus, come apace,
- And see how I regarded Caius Cassius.
- By your leave, gods: — this is a Roman's part
- Come, Cassius' sword, and find Titinius' heart.
Kills himself
Alarum. Re-enter MESSALA, with BRUTUS, CATO,
STRATO, VOLUMNIUS, and LUCILIUS
- BRUTUS
- Where, where, Messala, doth his body lie?
- MESSALA
- Lo, yonder, and Titinius mourning it.
- BRUTUS
- Titinius' face is upward.
- CATO
- He is slain.
- BRUTUS
- O Julius Caesar, thou art mighty yet!
- Thy spirit walks abroad and turns our swords
- In our own proper entrails.
Low alarums
- CATO
- Brave Titinius!
- Look, whether he have not crown'd dead Cassius!
- BRUTUS
- Are yet two Romans living such as these?
- The last of all the Romans, fare thee well!
- It is impossible that ever Rome
- Should breed thy fellow. Friends, I owe more tears
- To this dead man than you shall see me pay.
- I shall find time, Cassius, I shall find time.
- Come, therefore, and to Thasos send his body:
- His funerals shall not be in our camp,
- Lest it discomfort us. Lucilius, come;
- And come, young Cato; let us to the field.
- Labeo and Flavius, set our battles on:
- 'Tis three o'clock; and, Romans, yet ere night
- We shall try fortune in a second fight.
Exeunt
SCENE IV. Another part of the field.
Alarum. Enter fighting, Soldiers of both armies;
then BRUTUS, CATO, LUCILIUS, and others
- BRUTUS
- Yet, countrymen, O, yet hold up your heads!
- CATO
- What bastard doth not? Who will go with me?
- I will proclaim my name about the field:
- I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho!
- A foe to tyrants, and my country's friend;
- I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho!
- BRUTUS
- And I am Brutus, Marcus Brutus, I;
- Brutus, my country's friend; know me for Brutus!
Exit
- LUCILIUS
- O young and noble Cato, art thou down?
- Why, now thou diest as bravely as Titinius;
- And mayst be honour'd, being Cato's son.
- First Soldier
- Yield, or thou diest.

- First Soldier
- We must not. A noble prisoner!
- Second Soldier
- Room, ho! Tell Antony, Brutus is ta'en.
- First Soldier
- I'll tell the news. Here comes the general.
- Enter ANTONY
- Brutus is ta'en, Brutus is ta'en, my lord.
- ANTONY
- Where is he?
- LUCILIUS
- Safe, Antony; Brutus is safe enough:
- I dare assure thee that no enemy
- Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus:
- The gods defend him from so great a shame!
- When you do find him, or alive or dead,
- He will be found like Brutus, like himself.
- ANTONY
- This is not Brutus, friend; but, I assure you,
- A prize no less in worth: keep this man safe;
- Give him all kindness: I had rather have
- Such men my friends than enemies.
Exeunt
SCENE V. Another part of the field.
Enter BRUTUS, DARDANIUS, CLITUS, STRATO, and
VOLUMNIUS
- BRUTUS
- Come, poor remains of friends, rest on this rock.
- CLITUS
- Statilius show'd the torch-light, but, my lord,
- He came not back: he is or ta'en or slain.
- BRUTUS
- Sit thee down, Clitus: slaying is the word;
- It is a deed in fashion. Hark thee, Clitus.
Whispers
- CLITUS
- What, I, my lord? No, not for all the world.
- BRUTUS
- Peace then! no words.
- CLITUS
- I'll rather kill myself.
- BRUTUS
- Hark thee, Dardanius.
Whispers
- DARDANIUS
- Shall I do such a deed?
- CLITUS
- O Dardanius!
- DARDANIUS
- O Clitus!
- CLITUS
- What ill request did Brutus make to thee?
- DARDANIUS
- To kill him, Clitus. Look, he meditates.
- CLITUS
- Now is that noble vessel full of grief,
- That it runs over even at his eyes.
- BRUTUS
- Come hither, good Volumnius; list a word.
- VOLUMNIUS
- What says my lord?
- BRUTUS
- Why, this, Volumnius:
- The ghost of Caesar hath appear'd to me
- Two several times by night; at Sardis once,
- And, this last night, here in Philippi fields:
- I know my hour is come.
- VOLUMNIUS
- Not so, my lord.
- BRUTUS
- Nay, I am sure it is, Volumnius.
- Thou seest the world, Volumnius, how it goes;
- Our enemies have beat us to the pit:
- Low alarums
- It is more worthy to leap in ourselves,
- Than tarry till they push us. Good Volumnius,
- Thou know'st that we two went to school together:
- Even for that our love of old, I prithee,
- Hold thou my sword-hilts, whilst I run on it.
- VOLUMNIUS
- That's not an office for a friend, my lord.
Alarum still
- CLITUS
- Fly, fly, my lord; there is no tarrying here.
- BRUTUS
- Farewell to you; and you; and you, Volumnius.
- Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep;
- Farewell to thee too, Strato. Countrymen,
- My heart doth joy that yet in all my life
- I found no man but he was true to me.
- I shall have glory by this losing day
- More than Octavius and Mark Antony
- By this vile conquest shall attain unto.
- So fare you well at once; for Brutus' tongue
- Hath almost ended his life's history:
- Night hangs upon mine eyes; my bones would rest,
- That have but labour'd to attain this hour.
Alarum. Cry within, 'Fly, fly, fly!'
- CLITUS
- Fly, my lord, fly.
- BRUTUS
- Hence! I will follow.
- Exeunt CLITUS, DARDANIUS, and VOLUMNIUS
- I prithee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord:
- Thou art a fellow of a good respect;
- Thy life hath had some smatch of honour in it:
- Hold then my sword, and turn away thy face,
- While I do run upon it. Wilt thou, Strato?
- STRATO
- Give me your hand first. Fare you well, my lord.
- BRUTUS
- Farewell, good Strato.
- Runs on his sword
- Caesar, now be still:
- I kill'd not thee with half so good a will.
Dies
Alarum. Retreat. Enter OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, MESSALA,
LUCILIUS, and the army
- OCTAVIUS
- What man is that?
- MESSALA
- My master's man. Strato, where is thy master?
- STRATO
- Free from the bondage you are in, Messala:
- The conquerors can but make a fire of him;
- For Brutus only overcame himself,
- And no man else hath honour by his death.
- LUCILIUS
- So Brutus should be found. I thank thee, Brutus,
- That thou hast proved Lucilius' saying true.
- OCTAVIUS
- All that served Brutus, I will entertain them.
- Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me?
- STRATO
- Ay, if Messala will prefer me to you.
- OCTAVIUS
- Do so, good Messala.
- MESSALA
- How died my master, Strato?
- STRATO
- I held the sword, and he did run on it.
- MESSALA
- Octavius, then take him to follow thee,
- That did the latest service to my master.
- ANTONY
- This was the noblest Roman of them all:
- All the conspirators save only he
- Did that they did in envy of great Caesar;
- He only, in a general honest thought
- And common good to all, made one of them.
- His life was gentle, and the elements
- So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up
- And say to all the world 'This was a man!'
- OCTAVIUS
- According to his virtue let us use him,
- With all respect and rites of burial.
- Within my tent his bones to-night shall lie,
- Most like a soldier, order'd honourably.
- So call the field to rest; and let's away,
- To part the glories of this happy day.
Exeunt