BRUTUS | |
Cassius, | |
| | Be not deceived: if I have veil'd my look, | 45 |
| | 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; | 50 |
| | 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. | 55 |
CASSIUS | |
Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear: | |
| | And since you know you cannot see yourself | 75 |
| | 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 laugher, or did use | 80 |
| | 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 | 85 |
| | To all the rout, then hold me dangerous. | |
| | [Flourish, and shout] |
CASSIUS | |
I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, | |
| | As well as I do know your outward favour. | 100 |
| | Well, honour 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. | 105 |
| | 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, | 110 |
| | Caesar 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 | |
| | And bade him follow; so indeed he did. | 115 |
| | The torrent roar'd, 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!' | 120 |
| | 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 | 125 |
| | 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; | 130 |
| | His coward lips did from their colour 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, | 135 |
| | 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. | 140 |
| | [Shout. Flourish] |
CASSIUS | |
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world | |
| | Like a Colossus, and we petty men | 145 |
| | Walk under his huge legs and peep about | |
| | To find ourselves dishonourable 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. | 150 |
| | 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, | 155 |
| | 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! | 160 |
| | 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 talk'd of Rome, | |
| | That her wide walls encompass'd but one man? | |
| | Now is it Rome indeed and room enough, | 165 |
| | 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 brook'd | |
| | The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome | |
| | As easily as a king. | 170 |
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, | 175 |
| | 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: | 180 |
| | 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. | |
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; | 210 |
| | 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 mock'd himself and scorn'd his spirit | 215 |
| | That could be moved to smile at any thing. | |
| | 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 fear'd | 220 |
| | 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. Exeunt CAESAR and all his Train, but 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 | 245 |
| | 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 | 250 |
| | 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 | |
| | chapped hands and threw up their sweaty night-caps | |
| | and uttered such a deal of stinking breath because | 255 |
| | Caesar refused the crown that it had almost choked | |
| | Caesar; for he swounded 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. | |
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 | 275 |
| | 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 any thing amiss, he desired | |
| | their worships to think it was his infirmity. Three | 280 |
| | 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. | |
CASSIUS | |
I will do so: till then, think of the world. | |
| | [Exit BRUTUS] |
| | Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see, | |
| | Thy honourable metal may be wrought | |
| | From that it is disposed: therefore it is meet | 320 |
| | 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 humour me. I will this night, | 325 |
| | 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 glanced at: | 330 |
| | And after this let Caesar seat him sure; | |
| | For we will shake him, or worse days endure. | |
| | [Exit] |
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