Shakes like a thing unfirm? O Cicero !
I have seen tempefts, when the fcolding winds
Have riv'd the knotty oaks, and I have seen
Th' ambitious ocean fwell, and rage, and foam,
To be exalted with the threatning clouds:
But never 'till to-night, never 'till now,
Did I go through a tempeft dropping fire.
Either there is a civil ftrife in heav'n,
Or elfe the world, too faucy with the Gods,
Incenses them to fend deftruction.
Cic. Why, faw you any thing more wonderful?
Cafe. A common flave, you know him well by fight,
Held up his left hand, which did flame and burn,
Like twenty torches join'd; and yet his hand,
Not fenfible of fire, remain'd unfcorch'd.
Befides, (I ha' not fince put up my fword)
Against the Capitol I met a lion,
Who glar'd upon me, and went furly by,
Without annoying me. And there were drawn
Upon a heap, a hundred ghaftly women
Transformed with their fear, who swore they faw
Men all in fire walk up and down the streets.
And yesterday, the bird of night did fit,
Even at noon-day, upon the market-place,
Houting and fhrieking. When these prodigies
Do fo conjointly meet, let not men say,
Thefe are their reasons, they are natural:
For I believe, they are portentous things
Unto the climate that they point upon.
Cic. Indeed, it is a ftrange-difpofed time:
But men may conftrue things after their fashion,
Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.
Comes Cæfar to the Capitol to-morrow?
Cafe. He doth: for he did bid Antonius
Send word to you, he would be there to-morrow.
Cic. Good-night then, Cafca; this disturbed sky
Is not to walk in.
SCENE VII. Enter Caffius. Caf. Who's there?
Cafe. A Roman,
Caf. Cafea, by your voice.
Cafe. Your ear is good. Caffius, what night is this? Caf. A very pleafing night to honeft men.
Cafe. Who ever knew the heavens menace fo? Caf. Those that have known the earth fo full of faults. For my part I have walk'd about the streets, Submitting me unto the perilous night: And thus unbraced, Cafca, as you fee,
Have bar'd my bofom to the thunder-ftone:
And when the cross blue lightning feem'd to open
The breaft of heaven, I did prefent my felf
Ev'n in the aim and very flash of it.
Cafe. But wherefore did you fo much tempt the heav'ns? It is the part of men to fear and tremble,
When the most mighty Gods, by tokens, fend
Such dreadful heralds to aftonish us.
Caf. You are dull, Cafca; and those sparks of life
That fhould be in a Roman, you do want,
Or else you use not; you look pale, and gaze,
And put on fear, and caft your felf in wonder,
To fee the ftrange impatience of the heav'ns
But if you would confider the true cause,
Why all thefe fires, why all these gliding ghosts,
Why birds and beafts from quality and kind,
Why old men, fools, and children calculate;
Why all these things change, from their ordinance,
Their natures and pre-formed faculties
To monftrous quality; why, you shall find,
That heaven hath infus'd them with these spirits,
To make them inftruments of fear and warning,
Unto fome monftrous ftate. Now could I, Cafea,
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 thy felf or me,
In perfonal action; yet prodigious grown,
And fearful, as thefe ftrange eruptions are.
Cafe. 'Tis Cæfar that you mean; is it not, Caffius 2
Caf. Let it be who it is for Romans now
Have thewes and limbs like to their ancestors;
But, woe the while! our fathers minds are dead,
And we are govern'd with our mothers fpirits :
Our yoke and fuff'rance fhew us womanish.
Cafc. Indeed, they fay, the Senators to-morrow
Mean to eftablish Cafar a as a King:
And he shall wear his crown by fea, and land,
In every place, fave here in Italy.
Caf. I know where I will wear this dagger then.
Caffius from bondage will deliver Caffius.
Therein, ye Gods, you make the weak most strong;
Therein, ye Gods, you tyrants do defeat:
Nor ftony tower, nor walls of beaten brafs,
Nor airless dungeon, nor ftrong links of iron,
Can be retentive to the ftrength of spirit:
But life, being weary of thefe worldly bars,
Never lacks power to difmifs it felf.
If I know this; know all the world befides,
That part of tyranny that I do bear,
I can shake off at pleasure.
So every bondman in his own hand bears
The power to cancel his captivity.
Caf. And why fhould Cæfar be a tyrant then?
Poor man! I know he would not be a wolf,
But that he fees the Romans are but sheep;
He were no lion, were not Romans hinds.
Those that with hafte will make a mighty fire,
Begin it with weak ftraws. What trash is Rome,
What rubbish, and what offal, when it ferves
For the base matter to illuminate
So vile a thing as Cæfar? But, oh grief!
Where haft thou led me? I, perhaps, fpeak this
Before a willing bondman: then I know
My answer must be made. But I am arm'd,
And dangers are to me indifferent.
Cafe. You fpeak to Cafca, and to fuch a man,
That is no flearing tell-tale. Hold my hand :
Be factious for redrefs of all thefe griefs,
And I will fet this foot of mine as far,
As who goes fartheft.
Caf. There's a bargain made.
Now know you, Cafca, I have mov'd already
Some certain of the nobleft-minded Romans,
To under-go, with me, an enterprize,
Of honourable dang'rous confequence;
And I do know, by this they stay for me
In Pompey's porch. For now this fearful night,
There is no ftir, or walking in the streets;
And the complexion of the element
Is feav'rous, like the work we have in hand,
Moft bloody, fiery, and most terrible.
Cafe. Stand clofe a while, for here comes one in hafte. Caf. "Tis Cinna, I do know him by his gate; He is a friend. Cinna, where hafte you so?
Gin. To find out you: who's that? Metellus Cimber? Caf. No, it is Cafca, one incorporate
To our attempts. Am I not ftaid for, Cinna?
Cin. I'm glad on't. What a fearful night is this! There's two or three of us have seen strange fights. Caf. Am I not ftaid for? tell me..
O Caffius! could you win the noble Brutus
To our party
Caf. Be you content. Good Cinna, take this paper,
And look you lay it in the Prætor's chair,
Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this
In at his window; fet this up with wax
Upon old Brutus' ftatue: all this done,
Repair to Pompey's porch, where you shall find us.
Is Decimus Brutus, and Trebonius there?
Cin. All but Metellus Cimber, and he's gone
To feek you at your houfe. Well, I will hie,
And fo bestow these papers as you bad me.
Caf. That done, repair to Pompey's theatre. [Exit Cinna. Come, Cafea, you and I will, yet, ere day,
See Brutus at his houfe; three parts of him
Are ours already, and the man entire
Upon the next encounter yields him ours.
Cafe. O, he fits high in all the people's hearts:
And that which would appear offence in us,
His countenance, like richest alchymy,
Will change to virtue,' and to worthiness.
Caf. Him, and his worth, and our great need of him,
You have right well conceited; let us go,
For it is after mid-night, and ere day
We will awake him, and be fure of him.
ACT II. SCENE I.
A Garden belonging to Brutus.
Enter Brutus.
WHAT, Lucius! ho!
I cannot by the progress of the stars,
Lucius, I fay!
I would it were my fault to fleep fo foundly.
Give guefs how near to day
When, Lucius, when? awake, I fay! what, Lucius!
Enter Lucius.
Luc. Call'd you, my Lord?
Bru. Get me a taper in my ftudy, Lucius : When it is lighted, come and call me here.
Bru. It must be by his death: and for my part,
I know no perfonal 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
And then I grant we put a fting in him,
That at his will he may do danger with.
Th' abufe of greatness is, when it disjoins
Remorfe from power: and to speak truth of Cafar,
I have not known when his affections fway'd
More than his reafon. But 'tis a common proof,
That lowlinefs 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 bis back,
Looks in the clouds, fcorning the bafe degrees
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