then he offer'd it the third time; he put it the third time by; and ftill as he refus'd it, the rabblement hooted, and clapp'd their chopt hands, and threw up their fweaty night-caps, and uttered fuch a deal of ftinking breath, because Cafar refus'd the Crown, that it had almost choaked Cafar; for he fwooned, and fell down at it and for mine own part, I durft not laugh, for fear of opening my lips, and receiving the bad air. Caf. But, foft, I pray you; what, did Cafar fwoon? Cafca. He fell down in the market place, and foam'd at mouth, and was fpeechlefs.

Bru. 'Tis very like; he hath the falling-fickness.
Caf. No, Cafar hath it not; but you and I,
And honest Casca, we have the falling-fickness.

Cafea. I know not what you mean by that; but I am fure, Cafar fell down: If the tag-rag people did not clap him, and hifs him, according as he pleas'd, and difpleas'd them, as they used to do the Players in the Theatre, I am no true man.

Bru. What faid he, when he came unto himself?

Cafca. Marry, before he fell down, when he perceiv'd the common herd was glad he refus'd the Crown, he pluckt me ope his doublet, and offer'd 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 fo he fell. When he came to himself again, he faid, "If he had "done, or faid any thing amifs, he defir'd their Wor'fhips to think it was his infirmity.' Three or four wenches where I ftood, cry'd," alas, good foul!", and forgave him with all their hearts: but there's no heed to be taken of them; if Cæfar had stabb'd their mothers, they would have done no less.

Bru. And after that, he came, thus fad, away?
Cafca. Ay.

Caf. Did Cicero say any thing?

Cafea. Ay, he spoke Greek..

Caf. To what effect?

Cafea. Nay, an' I tell you what, I'll ne'er look you

i'th' face again. But thofe, that understood him, smil'd

at

at one another, and fhook their heads; but for mine own part, it was Greek to me. I could tell you more news too: Marullus and Flavius, for pulling fearfs off Cafar's Images, are put to filence. Fare you well. There was more foolery yet, if I could remember it. Caf. Will you fup with me to-night, Cafea? Cafca. No, I am promis'd forth.

Caf. Will you dine with me to-morrow?

Cafca. Ay, if F be alive, and your mind. hold, and your dinner be worth the eating.

Caf. Good, I will expect you.

Cafca. Do fo: farewel Both..

Bru. What a blunt fellow is this grown to be?

He was quick mettle, when he went to school.
Caf. So is he now, in execution

Of any bold or noble enterprize,

However he puts on this tardy form:
This rudeness is a fawce to his good wit,
Which gives men ftomach to digeft his words -
With better appetite.

[Exit.

Bru. And fo 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.

Caf. I will do fo; till then, think of the world.

[Exit Brutus.

Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet I fee,
Thy honourable Metal may be wrought
From what it is difpos'd; therefore 'tis meet,
That noble minds keep ever with their likes
For who fo firm, that cannot be feduc?d?
Cafar doth bear me hard; but he loves Brutus.
If I were Brutus now, and he were Caffius,
He should not humour me. -I will this night,
In feveral hands, in at his windows throw,
As if they came from feveral citizens,
Writings, all tending to the great opinion
That Roe holds of his name: Wherein obfcurely
Cafar's ambition fhall be glanced at.

And, after this, let Cæfar feat him fure;
For we will shake him, or worse days endure.

6

[Exit..

Thunder and lightning.

Enter Casca, bis fword drawn;

and Cicero, meeting him.

Cic. Good even, Cafea; brought you Cafar home? "Why are you breathlefs, and why ftare you fo?

Cafea. Are not you mov'd, when all the fway of earth 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 threat'ning 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?
Cafea. 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, (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 fwore, they faw.
Men, all in fire, walk up and down the streets.
And yesterday, the bird of night did fit,
Ev'n at noon-day, upon the market-place,
Hooting and shrieking. When thefe Prodigies
Do fo conjointly meet, let not men say,
"Thefe are their reafons, 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 purpofe of the things themselves.
Comes Crfar to the Capitol to-morrow?

Cafea..

Cafta. He doth: for he did bid Antonius

Send word to you, he would be there to-morrow.
Cic. Good night then, Cfca; this disturbed-sky
Is not to walk in..

Caf. Cafca, by your voice.

[Exit Cicero.

Cafca. Your ear is good. Caffius, what night is this Caf. A very pleafing night to honeft men.

Cafea. Who ever knew the heavens menace so? Caf. Thofe, that have known the earth fo full of faults. For my part, I have walk'd about the streets, Submitting me unto the perillous night; And thus unbraced, Cafca, as you fee, Have bar'd my bofom to the thunder-stone : And when the cross blue lightning feem'd to open The breaft of heaven; I did prefent myself

Ev'n in the aim and very flash of it.

Cafa. 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. Your are dull, Cafca; 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 caft yourself in wonder,
To fee the ftrange impatience of the heav'ns:
But if you would confider the true caufe,
Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghofts,
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 has infus'd them with these spirits,
To make them inftruments of fear and warning

Unto

Unto fome monstrous ftate.

Now could I, Calca, name to thee a man
Moft like this dreadful night;

That thunders, lightens, opens Graves, and roars-
As doth the lion in the Capitol ;

A man no mightier than thyfelf or me,
In perfonal action; yet prodigious grown,
And fearful, as these strange eruptions are.

Cafca. 'Tis Cafar that you mean; is it not, Caffius ?
Caf. Let it be who it is: for Romans now
Have thewes and limbs like to their ancestors; (6):
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.

Cafca. Indeed, they say, the Senators to-morrow:
Mean to establish Cæfar 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 moft ftrong;
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 itself.

If I know this; know all the world befides,

(6) Have thews and limbs. -] Mr. Pope has fubjoin'd, to both his editions, an explanation of Thews, as if it signified, manners of capacities. 'Tis certain, it fometimes has thefe fignifications; but he's mistaken ftrangely to imagine it has any fuch fenfe here: Nor, indeed, do I ever remember its being used by our author in thofe acceptations. With him, I think, it always fignifies, Mufcles, Sinews, bodily Strength. So, in the 2d Part of Henry IV.

Care I for the Limb, the Thewes, the Stature, Bulk, and big femblance of a Man?

And in Hamlet ;

For Nature crefcent does not grow alone

In Thewes and bulk..

That&