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 stay'd for? tell me.

CINNA.

O Cassius, if you could

Yes, you are.

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But win the noble Brutus to our party—

CASSIUS. Be you content: good Cinna, take this paper,
And look you lay it in the prætor's chair,
Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this
In at his window; 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?

150

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 theatre.
[Exit CINNA.

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 offence in us,
His countenance, like richest alchemy,

Will change to virtue and to worthiness.

CASSIUS.

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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.

[Exeunt.

二

ACT SECOND.

SCENE I.-Rome. BRUTUS's orchard.

Enter BRUtus.

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. Call'd 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.

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 crown'd:

[Exit.

10

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.
The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins

Remorse from power: and, to speak truth of Cæsar,
I have not known when his affections sway'd 20
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 Cæsar may;

Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel
Will bear no colour 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

30

Which, hatch'd, would, as his kind, grow mischievous, And kill him in the shell.

Re-enter LUCIUS.

LUCIUS. The taper burneth in your closet, sir.
Searching the window for a flint I found
This paper thus seal'd up, and I am sure
It did not lie there when I went to bed.

[Gives him the letter.

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BRUTUS. Get you to bed again; it is not day.
Is not to-morrow, boy, the ides of March?
LUCIUS.

I know not, sir.

BRUTUS. Look in the calendar, and bring me word.
LUCIUS. I will, sir.

BRUTUS. The exhalations whizzing in the air

Give so much light that I may read by them.

[Exit.

[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 dropp'd

Where I have took them up.

50

"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 call'd a king.

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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 !

Re-enter LUCIUS.

LUCIUS. Sir, March is wasted fifteen days.

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[Knocking within. BRUTUS. 'Tis good. Go to the gate; somebody knocks.

[Exit LUCIUS. Since Cassius first did whet me against Cæsar,

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.

Re-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 moe with him.

BRUTUS.

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Do you know them?

LUCIUS. No, sir; their hats are pluck'd about their ears,

And half their faces buried in their cloaks,

That by no means I may discover them

By any mark of favour.

BRUTUS.

'Let 'em enter.

[Exit LUCIUS.

They are the faction. O conspiracy,

Sham'st thou to show thy dangerous brow by night,

When evils are most free? O, then, by day

Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough

80

To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, conspi

racy;

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 CIMBER, 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 90 But honours 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.

He is welcome too.

CASSIUS. This, Decius Brutus.

BRUTUS.

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.

DECIUS.

Shall I entreat a word?

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[BRUTUS and CASSIUS whisper. 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 deceiv'd.