Act 1 — I. 3 Scene III.[189][190] The same. A street

Cicero. Good even, Casca: brought[192] you Cæsar home? Why are you breathless? and why stare you so?

Casca. Are you not mov'd, when all the sway of earth[193] Shakes like a thing unfirm? O Cicero, 5I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds Have riv'd the knotty oaks, and I have seen Th' ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam, To be exalted with the threatening clouds; But never till to-night, never till now, 10Did I go through a tempest dropping fire.[194] Either there is a civil strife in heaven, Or else the world, too saucy with the gods, Incenses them to send destruction.[195][196]

Cicero. Why, saw you any thing more wonderful?[197]

15Casca. A common slave—you know[198] him well by sight— Held up his left hand, which did flame and burn Like twenty torches join'd, and yet his hand, Not sensible of fire, remain'd unscorch'd. Besides—I ha' not since put up my sword— 20Against the Capitol I met a lion, Who[199] glaz'd[200][201] upon me and went surly[202] by Without annoying me: and there were drawn Upon a heap[203] a hundred ghastly women, Transformed with their fear, who swore they saw 25Men all in fire walk up and down the streets. And yesterday the bird of night[204] did sit Even at noon-day upon the market-place, Hooting[205] and shrieking. When these prodigies Do so conjointly meet, let not men say, 30'These[206] are their reasons; they are natural;' For, I believe, they are portentous things Unto the climate[207] that they point upon.

Cicero. Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time: But men may construe things after their fashion, 35Clean[208] from the purpose of the things themselves. Comes Cæsar to[209] the Capitol to-morrow?

Casca. He doth; for he did bid Antonius Send word to you he would be there to-morrow.

Cicero. Good night then, Casca: this disturbed sky 40Is not to walk in.

Casca. Farewell, Cicero. [Exit Cicero][210]

Cassius. Who's there?

Casca. A Roman.

Cassius. Casca, by your voice.

Casca. Your ear is good. Cassius, what[211] night is this! [212] [213]

Cassius. A very pleasing night to honest men.

Casca. Who ever knew the heavens menace so?

45Cassius. Those that have known the earth so full of faults. For my part, I have walk'd about the streets, Submitting me unto the perilous night, And thus unbraced,[214] Casca, as you see, Have bar'd my bosom to the thunder-stone:[215] 50And when the cross[216] blue[217] lightning seem'd to open The breast of heaven, I did present myself Even in the aim and very flash of it.

Casca. But wherefore did you so much tempt the heavens? It is the part of men to fear and tremble 55When the most mighty gods by tokens send Such dreadful heralds to astonish us.

Cassius.[218] You are dull, Casca; and those sparks of life That should be in a Roman you do want, Or else you use not. You look pale and gaze 60And put on fear and cast yourself in[219] wonder, To see the strange impatience of the heavens: But if you would consider the true cause Why[220] all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts, Why birds and beasts from quality and kind,[221] 65Why old men, fools, and[222][223] children calculate; Why all these things change from their ordinance, Their natures and preformed[224] faculties, To monstrous quality, why, you shall find That heaven hath infus'd them with these spirits, 70To make them instruments of fear and warning Unto some monstrous state.[225] Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man Most like this dreadful night, That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars[226] 75As doth the lion in the Capitol,[227] A man no mightier than thyself or me In personal action, yet prodigious[228] grown, And fearful, as these strange eruptions are.

Casca.[229] 'Tis Cæsar that you mean, is it not, Cassius?

80Cassius. Let it be who it is;[230] for Romans now Have thews[231][232] and limbs like to their ancestors; But, woe the while! our fathers' minds are dead, And we are govern'd with[233] our mothers' spirits; Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish.

85Casca. Indeed, they say the senators to-morrow Mean to establish Cæsar as a king; And he shall wear his crown by sea and land, In every place save here in Italy.

Cassius. I know where I will wear this dagger then; 90Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius. Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong; Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat: Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, 95Can be retentive to the strength of spirit;[234] But life, being weary of these worldly bars, Never lacks power to dismiss itself. If I know this, know all the world besides, That part of tyranny that I do bear I can shake off at pleasure. [Thunder still]

Casca. 100So can I: So every bondman[235] in his own hand bears The power to cancel his captivity.

Cassius. And why should Cæsar be a tyrant then? Poor man! I know he would not be a wolf, 105But that he sees the Romans are but sheep: He were no lion, were not Romans hinds. Those that with haste will make a mighty fire Begin it with weak straws:[236] what trash is Rome, What rubbish and what offal, when it serves 110For the base matter to illuminate So vile a thing as Cæsar! But, O grief, Where hast thou led me? I perhaps speak this Before a willing bondman; then I know My answer must be made. But I am arm'd, 115And dangers are to me indifferent.[237]

Casca. You speak to Casca, and to such a man That is no fleering[238] tell-tale. Hold,[239] my hand: Be factious[240] for redress of all these griefs,[241] And I will set this foot of mine as far As who goes farthest.

Cassius. 120There's a bargain made. Now know you, Casca, I have mov'd already Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans To undergo[242] with me an enterprise Of honourable-dangerous consequence; 125And I do know, by this[243] they stay for me In Pompey's porch:[244] for now, this fearful night, There is no stir or walking in the streets, And the complexion of the element[245] In favour's[246] like[247] the work we have in hand, 130Most bloody, fiery,[248] and most terrible.

Casca. Stand close[249] awhile, for here comes one in haste.

Cassius. 'Tis Cinna; I do know him by his gait;[250] He is a friend. Cinna, where haste you so?

Cinna. To find out you. Who's that? Metellus Cimber?

135Cassius. No, it is Casca; one incorporate[251] To our attempts. Am I not stay'd for, Cinna?

Cinna.[252] I'm 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. Yes, you are. 140O, Cassius,[253] if you could But win the noble Brutus[254] to our party—

Cassius. Be you content. Good Cinna, take this paper, And look you lay it in the prætor's chair,[255] Where Brutus may but find it;[256] and throw this 145In 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[257] Decius Brutus[258] and Trebonius there?

Cinna. All but Metellus Cimber; and he's gone 150To seek you at your house. Well, I will hie, And so bestow these papers as you bade[259] 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 155Is 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,[260] like richest alchemy,[261] 160Will change to virtue and to worthiness.

Cassius. Him and his worth and our great need of him, You have right well conceited.[262] Let us go, For it is after midnight, and ere day We will awake him and be sure of him. [Exeunt]