Give so much light, that I may read by them.

[Opens the Paper, and reads;

Brutus, thou sleep'st; awake, and see thyself.
Shall Rome, &c. Speak, strike, redress!
Brutus, thou sleep'st; awake,-

Such instigations have been often dropp'd
Where I have took them up.

Shall Rome, &c. 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 called a king.-
Speak, strike, redress!-Am I entreated then
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.

Enter LUCIUS.

Luc. Sir, March is wasted fourteen days.
Bru. Tis good.-

[Knocking without. [Exit LUCIUS.

Go to the gate; somebody knocks.
Since Cassius first

Did whet me against Cæsar, I've 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.

Enter LUCIUS.

Luc. Sir, 'tis your brother Cassius at the door,

Who doth desire to see you.

Bru. Is he alone?

Luc. No, sir, there are more with him,

Bru. Do you know them?

Luc. No, sir;

C

They have their faces buried in their cloaks,
That by no means I may discover them
By any mark of favour.

Bru. Let them enter.

They are the faction. O conspiracy!

[Exit LUCIUS.

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

To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, conspiracy;

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 CASSIUS, followed by TREBONIUS, DECIUS, CASCA, CINNA, and METELLUS, with their faces muffled in their

gowns,

Cas. I think, we are too bold upon your rest: Good morrow, Brutus: Do we trouble you?

Bru. I have been up this hour; awake, all night.—
Know I these men that come along with you?
Cas. Yes, every man of them; and no man here
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.

[They all uncover their faces.

Bru. He is welcome hither.

Cas. This, Decius.

Bru. He is welcome too.

Cas. This, Casca; this, Cinna;

And this, Metellus Cimber.

Bru. They're all welcome.

What watchful cares do interpose themselves
Betwixt your eyes and night?

Cas. Shall I entreat a word?

[BRUTUS and CASSIUS retire, and talk apart. Dec. Here lies the east: doth not the day break here?

Casca. No.

Tre. O pardon, sir, it doth; and yon grey lines, That fret the clouds, are messengers of day

Casca. You shall confess that you are both deceived.

Here, as I point my hand, the sun arises;

Which is a great way growing on the south,

Weighing the youthful season of the

year.

Some two months hence, up higher toward the north
He first presents his fire; and the high east
Stands, as the Capitol, directly here.

[BRUTUS and CASSIUS advance. Bru. Give me your hands all over, one by one. Cas. And let us swear our resolution.

Bru. No, not an oath; if not the faiths of men, The sufferance of our souls, the time's abuse,— If these be motives weak, break off betimes, And every man hence to his idle bed; So, let high-sighted tyranny range on, Till each man drop by lottery. But if these, As I am sure they do, bear fire enough To kindle cowards, and to steel with valour The melting spirits of women; then, countrymen, What need we any spur, but our own cause, To prick us to redress?

Unto bad causes swear

Such creatures as men doubt: but do not stain
The even virtue of our enterprize,

Nor the insuppressive mettle of our spirits,

To think, that, or our cause, or our performance,
Did need an oath; when every drop of blood,
That every Roman bears, and nobly bears,
Is guilty of a several bastardy,

If he do break the smallest particle

Of any promise that hath pass' from him.

Cas. But what of Cicerò? Shail we sound him?

I think, he will stand very strong with us.
Met. Let us not leave him out.

Cin. No, by no means.

Tre. O, let us have him; for his silver hairs Will purchase us a good opinion,

And buy men's voices to commend our deeds.

Bru. O, name him not; let us not break with him; For he will never follow any thing

That other men begin.

Cas. Then, leave him out.

Casca. Indeed, he is not fit.

Dec. Shall no man else be touch'd but only Cæsar ? Cas. Decius, well urged :-I think, it is not meet, Mark Antony, so well beloved of Cæsar,

Should outlive Cæsar: We shall find of him
A shrewd contriver; and, you know, his means,
If he improves them, may well stretch so far,
As to annoy us all; which to prevent,

Let Antony and Cæsar fall together.

Bru. Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius,

To cut the head off, and then hack the limbs ;
Like wrath in death, and envy afterwards:
Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.
We all stand up against the spirit of Cæsar;
And in the spirit of men there is no blood:
Oh, that we then could come by Cæsar's spirit,
And not dismember Cæsar! But, alas,
Cæsar must bleed for it! And, gentle friends,
Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;
Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods,
Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds :-
And for Mark Antony, think not of him;
For he can do no more than Cæsar's arm,
When Cæsar's head is off.

Cas. Yet I do fear him :

For, in the engrafted love he bears to Cæsar,-
Casca. There is no fear in him; let him not die;

For he will live, and laugh at this hereafter.

[Clock strikes.

Bru. Peace! count the clock.

Cas. The clock hath stricken three.
Tre. 'Tis time to part.

Cas. But it is doubtful yet,

Whe'r Cæsar will come forth to-day, or no;
For he is superstitious grown of late,
Quite from the main opinion he held once
Of fantasy, of dreams, and ceremonies;
It may be, these apparent prodigies,
The unaccustom'd terror of this night,
And the persuasion of his augurers,
May hold him from the Capitol to-day.
Dec. Never fear that: If he be so resolved,
I can o'ersway him; for he loves to hear
That unicorns may be betray'd with trees,
Lions with toils, and men with flatterers:
But, when I tell him, he hates flatterers,
He says, he does; being then most flatter'd.
Let me work;

For I can give his humour the true bent;
And I will bring him to the Capitol.

Cas, Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him.
Bru. By the eighth hour: Is that the uttermost?
Casca. Be that the uttermost, and fail not then.
Tre. Caius Ligarius doth bear Cæsar hard,
Who rated him for speaking well of Pompey:
I wonder, none of you have thought of him.

Bru. Now, good Trebonius, go along by him: He loves me well, and I have given him reasons; Send him but hither, and I'll fashion him.

Cas. The morning comes upon us: We'll leave you, Brutus:

And, friends, disperse yourselves: But, all, remember What you have said, and show yourselves true Ro

mans.

Bru. Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily: Let not our looks put out our purposes;

But bear it, as our Roman actors do,