Be hung with Caesar's trophies. I'll aboutAnd drive away the vulgar from the streets;
So do you too, where you perceive them thick. These growing feathers pluck'd 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. Exeunt. SCENE II. A public place.
Flourish. Enter Caesar; Antony, for the course; Calpurnia, Portia,
Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Cassius, and Casca; a great crowd follows,
among them a Soothsayer. CAESAR. Calpurnia!
CASCA. Peace, ho! Caesar speaks.
Music ceases.
CAESAR. Calpurnia! CALPURNIA. Here, my lord.
CAESAR. Stand you directly in Antonio's way, When he doth run his course. Antonio! ANTONY. Caesar, my lord?
CAESAR. Forget not in your speed, Antonio, To touch Calpurnia, for our elders say
The barren, touched in this holy chase, Shake off their sterile curse.
ANTONY. I shall remember.
When Caesar says "Do this," it is perform'd.
CAESAR. Set on, and leave no ceremony out. Flourish. 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 turn'd to hear.
3
SOOTHSAYER. Beware the ides of March. CAESAR. What man is that?
BRUTUS. A soothsayer you beware the ides of March. CAESAR. Set him before me let me see his face.
CASSIUS. Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar. CAESAR. What say'st thou to me now? Speak once again. SOOTHSAYER. Beware the ides of March.
CAESAR. He is a dreamer; let us leave him. Pass.
Sennet. Exeunt all but Brutus and Cassius. 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 veil'd 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
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 wish'd 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 laugher, or did use
4
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' 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. 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, "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. The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it With lusty sinews, throwing it aside
And
