SCENE II.

BRUTUS' Garden.

Enter BRUTUS.

Bru. What, Lucius, ho!

I cannot, by the progress of the stars,
Give guess how near to day-Lucius, I say!
I would it were my fault to sleep so soundly.
When, Lucius, when? awake, I say what, Lucius!

Enter LUCIUS.

Luc. Call'd you, my lord?

Bru. Get me a taper in my study, Lucius. When it is lighted come and call me here.

Luc. I will, my lord.

[Exit.

Bru. It must be by his death; and, for my part,

I know no personal cause to spurn at him:

But for the general. He would be crown'd

How that might change his nature? there's the question

It is the bright day that brings forth the alder;
And that craves wary walking-Crown him-that-
And then I grant we put a sting in him,

That at his will he may do danger with.
The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins
Remorse from power and, to speak truth of Cæsar,
I have not known when his affections sway'd,
More than his reason. But 'tis a common proof,
That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber upwards turns his face;
But when he once attains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,

Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees,
By which he had ascended. So Cæsar may:
Then, lest he may, prevent. And since the quarrel
Will bear no colour, for the thing he is,
Fashion it thus; that what he is, augmented,
Would run to these, and these extremities:
And, therefore, think him as a serpent's egg,
Which, hatch'd, would, as his kind, grow mischiey-

ous,

And kill him in the shell.

Enter LUCIUS.

Luc. The taper burneth in your closet, sir. Searching the window for a flint, I found This paper, thus seal'd up; and, I am sure, It did not lie there when I went to bed.

[Gives him a Letter.

Bru. Get you to bed again, it is not day: Is not to-morrow, boy, the ides of March?

Luc. I know not, sir.

Bru. Look in the calendar, and bring me word. Luc. I will, sir.

Bru. The exhalations whizzing in the air,

[Exit

[Lightning.

Give so much light, that I may read by them.
[Opens the Letter, and reads.

Brutus, thou sleep'st, awake, and see thyself:
Shall Rome speak, strike, redress.
Brutus, thou sleep'st; awake.

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

Shall Rone- -thus must I piece it out:

Shall Rone stand under one man's awe? what! Rome!
My ancestors did from the streets of Rome.
The Tarquin drive, when he was call'd a king.
Speak, strike, redress-Am Ientreated then
To speak and strike? O Rome! I make thce promise,

If the redress will follow, thou receiv'st
Thy full petition, at the hand of Brutus !

Enter LUCIUS.

Luc. Sir, March is wasted fourteen days.

[Knocks within. Bru. 'Tis good. Go to the gate; somebody knocks.

[Exit LUCIUS. Since Cassius first did whet me against Cæsar,

I have 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; their faces are buried in their robes,

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 put thy native semblance on,

Not Erebus itself were dim enough

To hide thee from prevention.

Enter CASSIUS,CASCA, DECIUS, CINNA, METELLus, 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?
[Aside,
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.

Bru. He is welcome hither.

Cas. This is Decius Brutus.
Bru. He is welcome too.
Cas. This Casca; this Cinna;
And this, Metellus Cimber,

Bru. They are all welcome.

What watchful cares do interpose themselves,

Betwixt your eyes and night?

Cas. Shall I entreat a word?

[They whisper.

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.

Casca. You shall confess, that you are both de-
ceived;

Here, as I point my sword, 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.

Bru. Give me your hands all over, one by one.

Cas. And let us swear our resolution.

Bru. No, not an oath-if that 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
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? What other bond,
Than secret Romans, that have spoke the word,
And will not palter? and what other oath,
Than honesty to honesty engaged,

That this shall be, or we will tall by it?

Swear priests and cowards, and such suffering souls,
That welcome wrongs; unto bad causes swear
Such creatures as men doubt; but do not stain
The even virtue of our enterprize,

Nor th' insuppressive metal of our spirits,

To think, that, or our cause, or our performance,

Did need an oath.

When ev'ry drop of blood,

That ev'ry Roman bears, and nobly bears,

Is guilty of a several bastardy,

If he doth break the smallest particle,

Of any promise that hath pass'd his lips.

Cas. But what of Cicero ? shall we sound him?

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

Cin. No, by no means,

Met. 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.