Cœs.

What man is that?

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Bru. A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.
Cæs. Set him before me; let me see his face.
Cas. Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Cæsar.
Caes. What say'st thou to me now? speak once again.
Sooth.

Beware the ides of March.

Cæs. He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass.

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[Sennet. Exeunt all but Brutus and Cassius. Cas. Will you go see the order of the course? Bru. Not I.

Cas. I pray you, do.

Bru. 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.

Cas. 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.

Be not deceived: if I have veiled my look,
I turn the trouble of my countenance

Merely upon myself. Vexed I am

Of late with passions of some difference,

Conceptions only proper to myself,

Which give some soil perhaps to my behaviors;

But let not therefore my good friends be grieved -
Among which number, Cassius, be you one
Nor construe any further my neglect,

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Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,
Forgets the shows of love to other men.

Cas. 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?

Bru. No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself,

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But by reflection, by some other things.

Cas. T is just:

And it is very much lamented, Brutus,

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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,

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Except immortal Cæsar, speaking of Brutus
And groaning underneath this age's yoke,
Have wished that noble Brutus had his eyes.

Bru. Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius, That you would have me seek into myself

For that which is not in me?

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Cas. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear: And since you know you cannot see yourself So well as by reflection, I, your glass,

That of yourself which you yet know not of.

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Will modestly discover to yourself

And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus :
Were I a common laugher, or did use
To stale with ordinary oaths my love

To every new protester; if you know
That I do fawn on men and hug them hard,
And after scandal them; or if you know
That I profess myself in banqueting
To all the rout, then hold me dangerous.

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[Flourish and shout.

Bru. What means this shouting? I do fear, the people Choose Cæsar for their king.

Cas.
Then must I think you would not have it so.

Ay, do you fear it?

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Bru. 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 ought toward the general good,

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Set honor in one eye and death i' the other,
And I will look on both indifferently:
For let the gods so speed me as I love

The name of honor more than I fear death.

Cas. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,

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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

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In awe of such a thing as I myself.

I was born free as Cæsar; 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,

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The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
Cæsar said to me, "Darest thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,

And swim to yonder point?" Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in

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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,
Cæsar cried, "Help me, Cassius, or I sink!"
I, as Æneas, our great ancestor,

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Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder

The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber
Did I the tired Cæsar: and this man

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Is now become a god, and Cassius is

A wretched creature and must bend his body,
If Cæsar carelessly but nod on him.

He had a fever when he was in Spain,

And when the fit was on him, I did mark

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How he did shake: 't is 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 lustre: 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. Ye gods! it doth amaze me
A man of such a feeble temper should
So get the start of the majestic world
And bear the palm alone.

Bru. Another general shout!

I do believe that these applauses are

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[Shout. Flourish.

For some new honors that are heaped on Cæsar.

Cas. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world 135

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.

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Brutus and Cæsar: what should be in that "Cæsar"?
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 Cæsar.
Now, in the names of all the gods at once,

Upon what meat doth this our Cæsar feed,

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That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed! 150
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 walls encompassed but one man?
Now is it Rome indeed and room enough,
When there is in it but one only man.

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O, you and I have heard our fathers say,

There was a Brutus once that would have brooked
The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome
As easily as a king.

Bru. 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

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