Enter Flavius, Marullus, and certain Commoners,
including a Carpenter and a Cobbler, over the stage.

FLAVIUS
Hence! Home, you idle creatures, get you home!
Is this a holiday? What, know you not,
Being mechanical, you ought not walk
Upon a laboring day without the sign
Of your profession?—Speak, what trade art thou?
CARPENTER 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?
COBBLER 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.
COBBLER A trade, sir, that I hope I may use with a safe
conscience, which is indeed, sir, a mender of bad
soles.
FLAVIUS
What trade, thou knave? Thou naughty knave, what
trade?

---

COBBLER Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me.
Yet if you be out, sir, I can mend you.
MARULLUS
What mean’st thou by that? Mend me, thou saucy
fellow?
COBBLER Why, sir, cobble you.
FLAVIUS Thou art a cobbler, art thou?
COBBLER Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the
awl. I meddle with no tradesman’s matters nor
women’s matters, but withal 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?
COBBLER 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?
You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless
things!
O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,
Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft
Have you climbed 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.
All the Commoners exit.
See whe’er their basest mettle 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 decked 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 plucked 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.
They exit in different directions.

Enter Caesar, Antony for the course, Calphurnia, Portia,
Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Cassius, Casca, a Soothsayer;
after them Marullus and Flavius and Commoners.

CAESAR
Calphurnia.
CASCA Peace, ho! Caesar speaks.
CAESAR Calphurnia.
CALPHURNIA 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 Calphurnia, for our elders say
The barren, touchèd in this holy chase,
Shake off their sterile curse.
ANTONY I shall remember.
When Caesar says “Do this,” it is performed.
CAESAR
Set on and leave no ceremony out. Sennet .
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 turned 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.
The Soothsayer comes forward.
Look upon Caesar.
CAESAR
What sayst thou to me now? Speak once again.
SOOTHSAYER Beware the ides of March.
CAESAR
He is a dreamer. Let us leave him. Pass.
Sennet. All but Brutus and Cassius exit.
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 veiled my look,
I turn the trouble of my countenance
Merely upon myself. Vexèd 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 wished 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 laughter, 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 honor in one eye and death i’ th’ other
And I will look on both indifferently;
For let the gods so speed me as I love
The name of honor more than I fear death.
CASSIUS
I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
As well as I do know your outward favor.
Well, honor 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 “Dar’st thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood
And swim to yonder point?” Upon the word,
Accoutered as I was, I plungèd in
And bade him follow; so indeed he did.
The torrent roared, 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.
He had a fever when he was in Spain,
And when the fit was on him, I did mark
How he did shake. ’Tis true, this god did shake.
His coward lips did from their color fly,
And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world
Did lose his luster. I did hear him groan.
Ay, and that tongue of his that bade the Romans
Mark him and write his speeches in their books,
“Alas,” it cried “Give me some drink, Titinius”
As a sick girl. You 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 honors that are heaped 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 dishonorable 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 talked of Rome,
That her wide walks encompassed 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 brooked
Th’ 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.

Enter Caesar and his train.

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 today.
BRUTUS
I will do so. But look you, Cassius,
The angry spot doth glow on Caesar’s brow,
And all the rest look like a chidden train.
Calphurnia’s cheek is pale, and Cicero
Looks with such ferret and such fiery eyes
As we have seen him in the Capitol,
Being crossed in conference by some senators.
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 a-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 mocked himself and scorned his spirit
That could be moved to smile at anything.
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 feared
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. Caesar and his train exit
but Casca remains behind.
CASCA You pulled me by the cloak. Would you speak
with me?
BRUTUS
Ay, Casca. Tell us what hath chanced today
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 neighbors 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 chopped hands and
threw up their sweaty nightcaps and uttered such a
deal of stinking breath because Caesar refused the
crown that it had almost choked Caesar, for he
swooned 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 swoon?
CASCA He fell down in the marketplace and foamed at
mouth and was speechless.
BRUTUS
’Tis very like; he hath the falling 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
theater, 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 anything 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 anything?
CASCA Ay, he spoke Greek.
CASSIUS To what effect?
CASCA Nay, an I tell you that, I’ll ne’er look you i’ th’
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 scarves
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 tonight, Casca?
CASCA No, I am promised forth.
CASSIUS Will you dine with me tomorrow?
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. He exits.

---

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.
Tomorrow, 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.
Brutus exits.
Well, Brutus, thou art noble. Yet I see
Thy honorable mettle 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 humor 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 glancèd at
And after this, let Caesar seat him sure,
For we will shake him, or worse days endure.
He exits.

Thunder and lightning. Enter Casca 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
Th’ ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam
To be exalted with the threat’ning clouds;
But never till tonight, 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 anything 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 joined; and yet his hand,
Not sensible of fire, remained unscorched.
Besides (I ha’ not since put up my sword),
Against the Capitol I met a lion,
Who glazed upon me and went surly by
Without annoying me. And there were drawn
Upon a heap a hundred ghastly women,
Transformèd with their fear, who swore they saw
Men all in fire walk up and down the streets.
And yesterday the bird of night did sit
Even at noonday upon the marketplace,
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-disposèd time.
But men may construe things after their fashion,
Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.
Comes Caesar to the Capitol tomorrow?
CASCA
He doth, for he did bid Antonius
Send word to you he would be there tomorrow.
CICERO
Good night then, Casca. This disturbèd sky
Is not to walk in.
CASCA Farewell, Cicero Cicero exits.

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 walked about the streets,
Submitting me unto the perilous night,
And thus unbracèd, Casca, as you see,
Have bared my bosom to the thunder-stone;
And when the cross blue lightning seemed 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, fools, and children calculate,
Why all these things change from their ordinance,
Their natures, and preformèd 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 governed 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, you gods, you make the weak most strong;
Therein, you 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.
Those that with haste will make a mighty fire
Begin it with weak straws. What trash is Rome,
What rubbish, and what offal when it serves
For the base matter to illuminate
So vile a thing as Caesar! 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 armed,
And dangers are to me indifferent.

---

CASCA
You speak to Casca, and to such a man
That is no fleering telltale. Hold. My hand.
They shake hands.
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 honorable-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 favor ’s like the work we have in hand,
Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible.

Enter Cinna.

CASCA
Stand close awhile, for here comes one in haste.
CASSIUS
’Tis Cinna; I do know him by his gait.
He is a friend.—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 stayed 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 stayed for? Tell me.
CINNA
Yes, you are. O Cassius, if you could
But win the noble Brutus to our party—

---

CASSIUS , handing him papers
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 Theater.
Cinna exits.
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 offense 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.
They exit.

Enter Brutus in his orchard.

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 Called 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. He exits.
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 crowned:
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.
Th’ abuse of greatness is when it disjoins

---

Remorse from power. And, to speak truth of Caesar,
I have not known when his affections swayed
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. And since the quarrel
Will bear no color for the thing he is,
Fashion it thus: that what he is, augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities.
And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg,
Which, hatched, would, as his kind, grow
mischievous,
And kill him in the shell.

Enter Lucius.

LUCIUS
The taper burneth in your closet, sir.
Searching the window for a flint, I found
This paper, thus sealed 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 tomorrow, boy, the ides of March?
LUCIUS I know not, sir.
BRUTUS
Look in the calendar, and bring me word.
LUCIUS I will, sir. He exits.
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 dropped
Where I have took them up.
“Shall Rome, etc.” 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 called 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.

Enter Lucius.

LUCIUS Sir, March is wasted fifteen days.
Knock within.
BRUTUS
’Tis good. Go to the gate; somebody knocks.
Lucius exits.
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.

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 more with him.
BRUTUS Do you know
them?
LUCIUS
No, sir. Their hats are plucked about their ears,
And half their faces buried in their cloaks,
That by no means I may discover them
By any mark of favor.
BRUTUS Let ’em enter. Lucius exits.
They are the faction. O conspiracy,
Sham’st thou to show thy dang’rous 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, Cinna,
Metellus, 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 honors 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
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 , coming forward with Cassius
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 valor
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 th’ 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 passed 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
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 anything
That other men begin.
CASSIUS Then leave him out.
CASCA Indeed, he is not fit.
DECIUS
Shall no man else be touched, 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’s be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.
We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar,
And in the spirit of men there is no blood.
O, that we then could come by Caesar’s spirit
And not dismember Caesar! But, alas,
Caesar must bleed for it. And, gentle friends,
Let’s kill him boldly, but not wrathfully.
Let’s carve him as a dish fit for the gods,
Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds.
And let our hearts, as subtle masters do,
Stir up their servants to an act of rage
And after seem to chide ’em. This shall make
Our purpose necessary and not envious;
Which so appearing to the common eyes,
We shall be called 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 engrafted 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 today 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 unaccustomed terror of this night,
And the persuasion of his augurers
May hold him from the Capitol today.
DECIUS
Never fear that. If he be so resolved,
I can o’ersway him, for he loves to hear
That unicorns may be betrayed 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 flatterèd.
Let me work,
For I can give his humor 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
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.
All but Brutus exit.
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 walked about,
Musing and sighing, with your arms across,
And when I asked you what the matter was,
You stared upon me with ungentle looks.
I urged you further; then you scratched your head
And too impatiently stamped with your foot.
Yet I insisted; yet you answered 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 seemed too much enkindled, and withal
Hoping it was but an effect of humor,
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 prevailed 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.
PORTIA
Is Brutus sick? And is it physical
To walk unbracèd and suck up the humors
Of the dank morning? What, is Brutus sick,
And will he steal out of his wholesome bed
To dare the vile contagion of the night
And tempt the rheumy and unpurgèd air
To add unto his sickness? No, my Brutus,
You have some sick offense within your mind,
Which by the right and virtue of my place
I ought to know of. She kneels. 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, your self, your half,
Why you are heavy, and what men tonight
Have had resort to you; for here have been
Some six or seven who did hide their faces
Even from darkness.
BRUTUS Kneel not, gentle Portia.
He lifts her up.
PORTIA
I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus.
Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus,
Is it excepted I should know no secrets
That appertain to you? Am I your self
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 honorable 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 fathered 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 you gods,
Render me worthy of this noble wife! Knock.
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. Portia exits.
Lucius, who ’s that knocks?

Enter Lucius and Ligarius.

LUCIUS
Here is a sick man that would speak with you.
BRUTUS
Caius Ligarius, that Metellus spoke of.—
Boy, stand aside. Lucius exits.
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 honor.
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.
He takes off his kerchief.
Soul of Rome,
Brave son derived from honorable loins,
Thou like an exorcist hast conjured up
My mortifièd 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. Thunder.
BRUTUS Follow me then.
They exit.

Thunder and lightning. Enter Julius Caesar in his
nightgown.

CAESAR
Nor heaven nor Earth have been at peace tonight.
Thrice hath Calphurnia 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. He exits.

Enter Calphurnia.

CALPHURNIA
What mean you, Caesar? Think you to walk forth?
You shall not stir out of your house today.
CAESAR
Caesar shall forth. The things that threatened me
Ne’er looked but on my back. When they shall see
The face of Caesar, they are vanishèd.
CALPHURNIA
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 whelpèd in the streets,
And graves have yawned 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.
CALPHURNIA
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.

Enter a Servant.

What say the augurers?
SERVANT
They would not have you to stir forth today.
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 today for fear.
No, Caesar shall not. Danger knows full well
That Caesar is more dangerous than he.
We are two lions littered in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible.
And Caesar shall go forth.
CALPHURNIA Alas, my lord,
Your wisdom is consumed in confidence.

---

Do not go forth today. 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 today.
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this. She kneels.
CAESAR
Mark Antony shall say I am not well,
And for thy humor I will stay at home.
He lifts her up.

Enter Decius.

Here’s Decius Brutus; he shall tell them so.
DECIUS
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 today.
Cannot is false, and that I dare not, falser.
I will not come today. Tell them so, Decius.
CALPHURNIA
Say he is sick.
CAESAR Shall Caesar send a lie?
Have I in conquest stretched mine arm so far,
To be afeard to tell graybeards the truth?
Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come.
DECIUS
Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause,
Lest I be laughed 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.
Calphurnia here, my wife, stays me at home.

---

She dreamt tonight she saw my statue,
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 begged that I will stay at home today.
DECIUS
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 Calphurnia’s dream is signified.
CAESAR
And this way have you well expounded it.
DECIUS
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 rendered, for someone 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 your proceeding bids me tell you this,
And reason to my love is liable.
CAESAR
How foolish do your fears seem now, Calphurnia!
I am ashamèd I did yield to them.
Give me my robe, for I will go.

---

Enter Brutus, Ligarius, Metellus, Casca, Trebonius,
Cinna, and Publius.

And look where Publius is come to fetch me.
PUBLIUS
Good morrow, Caesar.
CAESAR Welcome, Publius.—
What, Brutus, are you stirred 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 a-nights
Is notwithstanding up.—Good morrow, Antony.
ANTONY So to most noble Caesar.
CAESAR , to Servant Bid them prepare within.—
I am to blame to be thus waited for. Servant exits.
Now, Cinna.—Now, Metellus.—What, Trebonius,
I have an hour’s talk in store for you.
Remember that you call on me today;
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.
CAESAR
Good friends, go in and taste some wine with me,
And we, like friends, will straightway go together.
BRUTUS , aside
That every like is not the same, O Caesar,
The heart of Brutus earns to think upon.
They exit.

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 mayest live;
If not, the Fates with traitors do contrive.
He exits.

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.
Aside . 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 rumor 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. He exits.
PORTIA
I must go in. Aside . 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. To Lucius. Brutus hath a
suit
That Caesar will not grant. Aside . 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.
They exit separately .

Flourish. Enter Caesar, Antony, Lepidus; Brutus, Cassius,
Casca, Decius, Metellus, Trebonius, Cinna; Publius,
Popilius , Artemidorus, the Soothsayer, and other
Senators and Petitioners.

CAESAR The ides of March are come.
SOOTHSAYER Ay, Caesar, but not gone.
ARTEMIDORUS Hail, Caesar. Read this schedule.
DECIUS
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 forward, the rest following.

---

POPILIUS , to Cassius
I wish your enterprise today may thrive.
CASSIUS What enterprise, Popilius?
POPILIUS Fare you well. He walks away.
BRUTUS What said Popilius Lena?
CASSIUS
He wished today our enterprise might thrive.
I fear our purpose is discoverèd.
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.
Trebonius and Antony exit.
DECIUS
Where is Metellus Cimber? Let him go
And presently prefer his suit to Caesar.
BRUTUS
He is addressed. 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 , kneeling
Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Caesar,
Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat
An humble heart.

---

CAESAR I must prevent thee, Cimber.
These couchings and these lowly courtesies
Might fire the blood of ordinary men
And turn preordinance and first decree
Into the law of children. Be not fond
To think that Caesar bears such rebel blood
That will be thawed from the true quality
With that which melteth fools—I mean sweet
words,
Low-crookèd curtsies, and base spaniel fawning.
Thy brother by decree is banishèd.
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
Is there no voice more worthy than my own
To sound more sweetly in great Caesar’s ear
For the repealing of my banished brother?
BRUTUS , kneeling
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 , kneeling
Pardon, Caesar; Caesar, pardon!
As low as to thy foot doth Cassius fall
To beg enfranchisement for Publius Cimber.
CAESAR
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 fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
The skies are painted with unnumbered 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 furnished 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 banished
And constant do remain to keep him so.
CINNA , kneeling
O Caesar—
CAESAR Hence. Wilt thou lift up Olympus?
DECIUS , kneeling
Great Caesar—
CAESAR Doth not Brutus bootless kneel?
CASCA Speak, hands, for me!
As Casca strikes, the others rise up and stab Caesar.
CAESAR Et tu, Brutè ?—Then fall, Caesar.
He 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 still. Ambition’s debt is paid.
CASCA
Go to the pulpit, Brutus.
DECIUS And Cassius too.
BRUTUS Where’s Publius?
CINNA
Here, quite confounded with this mutiny.

---

METELLUS
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.
All but the Conspirators exit.

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.
CASCA
Why, he that cuts off twenty years of life
Cuts off so many years of fearing death.
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 marketplace,
And, waving our red weapons o’er our heads,
Let’s all cry “Peace, freedom, and liberty!”

---

CASSIUS
Stoop then, and wash.
They smear their hands and swords with Caesar’s blood.
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 called
The men that gave their country liberty.
DECIUS
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 , kneeling
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 honor him;
Say, I feared Caesar, honored 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 honor,
Depart untouched.
SERVANT I’ll fetch him presently.
Servant exits.
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.

Enter Antony.

BRUTUS
But here comes Antony.—Welcome, Mark Antony!
ANTONY
O mighty Caesar, dost thou lie so low?
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’s hour, nor no instrument
Of half that worth as those your swords made rich
With the most noble blood of all this world.
I do beseech you, if you bear me hard,
Now, whilst your purpled hands do reek and smoke,
Fulfill your pleasure. 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!
Though now we must appear bloody and cruel,
As by our hands and this our present act
You see we do, yet see you but our hands
And this the bleeding business they have done.
Our hearts you see not; they are pitiful;
And pity to the general wrong of Rome
(As fire drives out fire, so pity pity)
Hath done this deed on Caesar. 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.
Let each man render me his bloody hand.
First, Marcus Brutus, will I shake with you.—
Next, Caius Cassius, do I take your hand.—
Now, Decius Brutus, yours;—now yours,
Metellus;—
Yours, Cinna;—and, my valiant Casca, yours;—
Though last, not least in love, yours, good
Trebonius.—
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 Antony making his peace,
Shaking the bloody fingers of thy foes—
Most noble!—in the presence of thy corpse?
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 bayed, brave
hart,
Here didst thou fall, and here thy hunters stand
Signed in thy spoil and crimsoned 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 pricked in number of our friends,
Or shall we on and not depend on you?
ANTONY
Therefore I took your hands, but was indeed
Swayed 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.
BRUTUS
Or else were this a savage spectacle.

---

Our reasons are so full of good regard
That were you, Antony, the son of Caesar,
You should be satisfied.
ANTONY That’s all I seek;
And am, moreover, suitor that I may
Produce his body to the marketplace,
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 , aside to Cassius 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 , aside to Brutus
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.
All but Antony exit.
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 livèd 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 quartered 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 Octavius’ 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!
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 tonight 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 corpse
Into the marketplace. 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.
They exit with Caesar’s body.

Enter Brutus and Cassius with the Plebeians.

PLEBEIANS
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 renderèd
Of Caesar’s death.
FIRST PLEBEIAN I will hear Brutus speak.
SECOND PLEBEIAN
I will hear Cassius, and compare their reasons
When severally we hear them renderèd.
Cassius exits with some of the Plebeians.
Brutus goes into the pulpit.
THIRD PLEBEIAN
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 honor, and have respect to mine honor
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. Had you rather Caesar were living, and
die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all
freemen? As Caesar loved me, I weep for him. As he
was fortunate, I rejoice at it. As he was valiant, I
honor him. But, as he was ambitious, I slew him.
There is tears for his love, joy for his fortune, honor
for his valor, 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.
PLEBEIANS 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 offenses enforced for which he suffered death.

Enter Mark 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.
PLEBEIANS Live, Brutus, live, live!
FIRST PLEBEIAN
Bring him with triumph home unto his house.
SECOND PLEBEIAN
Give him a statue with his ancestors.
THIRD PLEBEIAN
Let him be Caesar.
FOURTH PLEBEIAN Caesar’s better parts
Shall be crowned in Brutus.
FIRST PLEBEIAN
We’ll bring him to his house with shouts and
clamors.
BRUTUS
My countrymen—
SECOND PLEBEIAN Peace, silence! Brutus speaks.
FIRST PLEBEIAN 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 allowed to make.

---

I do entreat you, not a man depart,
Save I alone, till Antony have spoke.
He descends and exits.
FIRST PLEBEIAN
Stay, ho, and let us hear Mark Antony!
THIRD PLEBEIAN
Let him go up into the public chair.
PLEBEIANS
We’ll hear him.—Noble Antony, go up.
ANTONY
For Brutus’ sake, I am beholding to you.
He goes into the pulpit.
FOURTH PLEBEIAN What does he say of Brutus?
THIRD PLEBEIAN He says for Brutus’ sake
He finds himself beholding to us all.
FOURTH PLEBEIAN
’Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here.
FIRST PLEBEIAN
This Caesar was a tyrant.
THIRD PLEBEIAN Nay, that’s certain.
We are blest that Rome is rid of him.
SECOND PLEBEIAN
Peace, let us hear what Antony can say.
ANTONY
You gentle Romans—
PLEBEIANS 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 interrèd 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 answered it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest
(For Brutus is an honorable man;

---

So are they all, all honorable 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 honorable 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 honorable 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 honorable 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. He weeps.
FIRST PLEBEIAN
Methinks there is much reason in his sayings.
SECOND PLEBEIAN
If thou consider rightly of the matter,
Caesar has had great wrong.
THIRD PLEBEIAN Has he, masters?
I fear there will a worse come in his place.
FOURTH PLEBEIAN
Marked you his words? He would not take the
crown;
Therefore ’tis certain he was not ambitious.

---

FIRST PLEBEIAN
If it be found so, some will dear abide it.
SECOND PLEBEIAN
Poor soul, his eyes are red as fire with weeping.
THIRD PLEBEIAN
There’s not a nobler man in Rome than Antony.
FOURTH PLEBEIAN
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,
And none so poor to do him reverence.
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 honorable men.
I will not do them wrong. I rather choose
To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you,
Than I will wrong such honorable 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 PLEBEIAN
We’ll hear the will. Read it, Mark Antony.
PLEBEIANS
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.
You are not wood, you are not stones, but men.
And, being men, hearing the will of Caesar,
It will inflame you; it will make you mad.
’Tis good you know not that you are his heirs,
For if you should, O, what would come of it?
FOURTH PLEBEIAN
Read the will! We’ll hear it, Antony.
PLEBEIANS
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 honorable men
Whose daggers have stabbed Caesar. I do fear it.
FOURTH PLEBEIAN They were traitors. Honorable men?
PLEBEIANS The will! The testament!
SECOND PLEBEIAN 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?
PLEBEIANS Come down.
SECOND PLEBEIAN Descend.
THIRD PLEBEIAN You shall have leave.
Antony descends.
FOURTH PLEBEIAN A ring; stand round.
FIRST PLEBEIAN
Stand from the hearse. Stand from the body.
SECOND PLEBEIAN
Room for Antony, most noble Antony.
ANTONY
Nay, press not so upon me. Stand far off.

---

PLEBEIANS 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-belovèd Brutus stabbed,
And, as he plucked his cursèd steel away,
Mark how the blood of Caesar followed it,
As rushing out of doors to be resolved
If Brutus so unkindly knocked 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 vanquished him. Then burst his mighty heart,
And, in his mantle muffling up his face,
Even at the base of Pompey’s statue
(Which all the while ran blood) great Caesar fell.
O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!
Then I and you and all of us fell down,
Whilst bloody treason flourished over us.
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,
Antony lifts Caesar’s cloak.
Here is himself, marred as you see with traitors.
FIRST PLEBEIAN O piteous spectacle!
SECOND PLEBEIAN O noble Caesar!
THIRD PLEBEIAN O woeful day!

---

FOURTH PLEBEIAN O traitors, villains!
FIRST PLEBEIAN O most bloody sight!
SECOND PLEBEIAN We will be revenged.
PLEBEIANS Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill!
Slay! Let not a traitor live!
ANTONY Stay, countrymen.
FIRST PLEBEIAN Peace there! Hear the noble Antony.
SECOND PLEBEIAN 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 honorable.
What private griefs they have, alas, I know not,
That made them do it. They are wise and honorable
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.
PLEBEIANS
We’ll mutiny.
FIRST PLEBEIAN We’ll burn the house of Brutus.

---

THIRD PLEBEIAN
Away then. Come, seek the conspirators.
ANTONY
Yet hear me, countrymen; yet hear me speak.
PLEBEIANS
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.
PLEBEIANS
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 PLEBEIAN
Most noble Caesar! We’ll revenge his death.
THIRD PLEBEIAN O royal Caesar!
ANTONY Hear me with patience.
PLEBEIANS Peace, ho!
ANTONY
Moreover, he hath left you all his walks,
His private arbors, and new-planted orchards,
On this side Tiber. He hath left them you,
And to your heirs forever—common pleasures
To walk abroad and recreate yourselves.
Here was a Caesar! When comes such another?
FIRST PLEBEIAN
Never, never!—Come, away, away!
We’ll burn his body in the holy place
And with the brands fire the traitors’ houses.
Take up the body.
SECOND PLEBEIAN Go fetch fire.
THIRD PLEBEIAN Pluck down benches.

---

FOURTH PLEBEIAN Pluck down forms, windows,
anything.
Plebeians exit with Caesar’s body.
ANTONY
Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot;
Take thou what course thou wilt.

Enter 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 anything.
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.
They exit.

Enter Cinna the poet and after him the Plebeians.

CINNA
I dreamt tonight that I did feast with Caesar,
And things unluckily charge my fantasy.
I have no will to wander forth of doors,
Yet something leads me forth.
FIRST PLEBEIAN What is your name?

---

SECOND PLEBEIAN Whither are you going?
THIRD PLEBEIAN Where do you dwell?
FOURTH PLEBEIAN Are you a married man or a
bachelor?
SECOND PLEBEIAN Answer every man directly.
FIRST PLEBEIAN Ay, and briefly.
FOURTH PLEBEIAN Ay, and wisely.
THIRD PLEBEIAN Ay, and truly, you were best.
CINNA 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 PLEBEIAN 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 Directly, I am going to Caesar’s funeral.
FIRST PLEBEIAN As a friend or an enemy?
CINNA As a friend.
SECOND PLEBEIAN That matter is answered directly.
FOURTH PLEBEIAN For your dwelling—briefly.
CINNA Briefly, I dwell by the Capitol.
THIRD PLEBEIAN Your name, sir, truly.
CINNA Truly, my name is Cinna.
FIRST PLEBEIAN Tear him to pieces! He’s a conspirator.
CINNA I am Cinna the poet, I am Cinna the poet!
FOURTH PLEBEIAN Tear him for his bad verses, tear him
for his bad verses!
CINNA I am not Cinna the conspirator.
FOURTH PLEBEIAN It is no matter. His name’s Cinna.
Pluck but his name out of his heart, and turn him
going.
THIRD PLEBEIAN Tear him, tear him! Come, brands, ho,
firebrands! To Brutus’, to Cassius’, burn all! Some
to Decius’ house, and some to Casca’s, some to
Ligarius’. Away, go!
All the Plebeians exit, carrying off Cinna.

Enter Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus.

ANTONY
These many, then, shall die; their names are
pricked.
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. Lepidus exits.
ANTONY
This is a slight, unmeritable man,
Meet to be sent on errands. Is it fit,
The threefold world divided, he should stand
One of the three to share it?

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OCTAVIUS So you thought him
And took his voice who should be pricked to die
In our black sentence and proscription.
ANTONY
Octavius, I have seen more days than you,
And, though we lay these honors on this man
To ease ourselves of diverse sland’rous 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.
OCTAVIUS You may do your will,
But he’s a tried and valiant soldier.
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 governed by my spirit;
And, in some taste, is Lepidus but so.
He must be taught and trained and bid go forth—
A barren-spirited fellow, one that feeds
On objects, arts, 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 stretched;
And let us presently go sit in council
How covert matters may be best disclosed
And open perils surest answerèd.

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OCTAVIUS
Let us do so, for we are at the stake
And bayed about with many enemies,
And some that smile have in their hearts, I fear,
Millions of mischiefs.
They exit.