First Cit. Peace, ho!

Bru. Good countrymen, let me depart alone,
And, for my sake, stay here with Antony:

Do grace to Cæsar's corpse, and grace his speech
Tending to Cæsar's glories; which Mark Antony,
By our permission, is allow'd to make.

I do entreat you, not a man depart,

Save I alone, till Antony have spoke.

[Exit.

First Cit. Stay, ho! and let us hear Mark Antony. Third Cit. Let him go up into the public chair; 61 We'll hear him. Noble Antony, go up.

Ant. For Brutus' sake, I am beholding to you.

[Goes into the pulpit.

Fourth Cit. What does he say of Brutus?

Third Cit.

He says for Brutus' sake,

He finds himself beholding to us all.

Fourth Cit. 'Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus

here.

First Cit. This Cæsar was a tyrant.

Third Cit.

Nay, that's certain:

We are blest that Rome is rid of him.

Sec. Cit. Peace! let us hear what Antony can say. 69 Ant. You gentle Romans,

Citizens.

Ant.

Peace, ho! let us hear him.

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me

your ears;

I come to bury Cæsar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;

So let it be with Cæsar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Cæsar was ambitious:

If it were so, it was a grievous fault,

And grievously hath Cæsar answer'd 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 Cæsar'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 Cæsar seem ambitious?

When that the poor have cried, Cæsar 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 judgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;

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My heart is in the coffin there with Cæsar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.

First Cit. Methinks there is much reason in his sayings.

Sec. Cit. If thou consider rightly of the matter, Cæsar has had great wrong.

Third Cit.

Has he, masters?

I fear there will a worse come in his place.

Fourth Cit. Mark'd ye his words? He would not

First Cit. If it be found so, some will dear abide it. Sec. Cit. Poor soul! his eyes are red as fire with

Third Cit. There's not a nobler man in Rome than

Antony.

Fourth Cit. Now mark him, he begins again to

speak.

Ant. But yesterday the word of Cæsar 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 Cæsar;

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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 Cæsar'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.

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Fourth Cit. We'll hear the will: read it, Mark Antony.

All. The will! the will! we will hear Cæsar's will. Ant. Have patience, gentle friends, I must not

read it;

It is not meet you know how Cæsar loved you.
You are not wood, you are not stones, but men;
And, being men, hearing the will of Cæsar,
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 Cit. Read the will; we'll hear it, Antony;
You shall read us the will, Cæsar's will.

Ant. 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 stabb'd Cæsar; I do fear it. Fourth Cit. They were traitors: honorable men! All. The will! the testament!

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Sec. Cit. They were villains, murderers: the will! read the will.

Ant. You will compel me, then, to read the will? Then make a ring about the corpse of Cæsar, And let me show you him that made the will. Shall I descend? and will you give me leave? All. Come down.

Sec. Cit. Descend.

[He comes down from the pulpit.

Third Cit. You shall have leave.

Fourth Cit. A ring; stand round.

First Cit. Stand from the hearse, stand from the

body.

Sec. Cit. Room for Antony, most noble Antony. · Ant. Nay, press not so upon me; stand far off. Several Cit. Stand back. Room! Bear back. Ant. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. You all do know this mantle: I remember

The first time ever Cæsar put it on;

'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent,
That day he overcame the Nervii:

Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through:
See what a rent the envious Casca made:
Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd;
And as he pluck'd his cursed steel away,
Mark how the blood of Cæsar follow'd it,
As rushing out of doors, to be resolved
If Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no;

For Brutus, as you know, was Cæsar's angel:
Judge, O you gods, how dearly Cæsar loved him!
This was the most unkindest cut of all;

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