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 To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, conspiracy; Hide it in smiles, and affability: For if thou path, thy native semblance on,* To hide thee from prevention. Enter CASSIUS, CASCA, DECIUS, CINNA, METELLUS CIMBER, and TREBONIUS. 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, Which every noble Roman bears of you. This is Trebonius. Bru. Cas. This Decius Brutus. Cas. This Casca: this, Cinna; He is welcome hither. He is welcome too. They are all welcome. [They whisper. Bru. Betwixt, your eyes and night? Cas. Shall I entreat a word? Dec. Here lies the east: Doth not the day break here? Casca. No. Cin. O, pardon, sir, it doth; and yon grey lines, That fret the clouds, are messengers of day. ♦ Walk in thy true form. 5 Hell. Casca. You shall confess, that you are both de ceiv'd. Here, as I point my sword, the sun arises; Bru. Give me your hands all over, one by one. 6 Bru. No, not an oath: If not the face 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 That this shall be, or we will fall for it? Nor the insuppressive mettle of our spirits, To think, that, or our cause, or our performance, If he do break the smallest particle 6 Perhaps Shakspeare wrote faith. VOL. VIII. 8 Cautious. 7 Prevaricate. Of any promise that hath pass'd from him. Casca. Let us not leave him out. Cin. And buy men's voices to commend our deeds: Bru. O, name him not; let us not break with him ; 9 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? :- - I think it is not meet, Cas. Decius, well urg'd: Mark Antony, so well belov'd of Cæsar, Should outlive Cæsar: We shall find of him Let Antony, and Cæsar, fall together. Bru. Our course will seem too bloody, Caius To cut the head off, and then hack the limbs ; Let us be sacrificers, but no butchers, Caius. 9 Let us not break the matter to him. Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully; And after seem to chide them. This shall make Cas. Is to himself; take thought, and die for Cæsar: Treb. There is no fear in him, let him not die; For he will live, and laugh at this hereafter. Bru. Peace, count the clock. [Clock strikes. The clock hath stricken three. Treb. '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 resolv'd I can o'ersway him: for he loves to hear, That unicorns may be betray'd with trees, And bears with glasses, elephants with holes, Lions with toils, and men with flatterers, But, when I tell him, he hates flatterers, He says, he does; being then most flattered. 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? Cin. Be that the uttermost, and fail not then. Met. 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 Metellus, 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 Romans. Bru. Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily; Let not our looks put on our purposes; But bear it as our Roman actors do, With untir'd spirits, and formal constancy : And so, good morrow to you every one. Boy! Lucius! [Exeunt all but BRUTUS, - Fast asleep? It is no matter; Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber : Thou hast no figures 3, nor no fantasies, Por. Enter PORTIA. Brutus, my lord! Bru. Portia, what mean you? Wherefore rise you now? 2 By his house. 3 Shapes created by imagination. |