With untired spirits, and formal constancy:
And so, good-morrow to you every one.

[Exeunt all but BRUTUS, muffling their faces
in their gowns again.

Enter PORTIA, as they are taking leave of BRUTUS. Por. Brutus, my lord!

Bru. Portia, what mean you? Wherefore rise you now?

It is not for your health, thus to commit

Your weak condition to the raw cold morning.

Por. Nor for yours neither. You've ungently,
Brutus,

Stole from my bed: And yesternight, at supper,
You suddenly arose, and walk'd about,
Musing, and sighing, with your arms across :
And, when I ask'd you what the matter was,
You stared upon me with ungentle looks,
And, with an angry wafture of your hand,
Gave sign for me to leave you: So I did;
Fearing to strengthen that impatience

Which seem'd too much enkindled. Dear my lord,
Make me acquainted with your cause of grief.

Bru. I am not well in health, and that is all.
Por. Brutus is wise, and, were he not in health,
He would embrace the means to come by it.
Bru. Why, so I do:-Good Portia, go to bed.
Por. Is Brutus sick?

And will he steal out of his wholesome bed,
And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air
To add unto his sickness? No, my Brutus;
You have some sick offence within your mind,
Which, by the right and virtue of my place,
I ought to know of: And, upon my knees,
I charm you, by my once commended beauty,
By all your vows of love, and that great vow
Which did incorporate and make us one,
That you unfold to me, yourself, your half,

Why you are heavy; and what men to-night
Have had resort to you: for here have been
Some six or seven, who did hide their faces
Even from darkness.

Bru. [Raising her.] Kneel not, gentle Portia.
Por. I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus.
Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus,
Is it excepted, I should know no secrets
That appertain to you? Am I yourself,
But, as it were, in sort, or limitation ;
To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed,
And talk to you sometimes? Dwell I but in the sub-
urbs

Of your good pleasure? If it be no more,
Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife.

Bru. You are my true and honourable wife:
As dear to me, as are the ruddy drops

That visit my sad heart.

Por. If this were true, then should I know this secret.

I grant, I am a woman; but, withall,

A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife:
I grant I am a woman; but, withall,
I a woman well reputed; Cato's daughter.
Think you, I am no stronger than my sex,
Being so father'd and so husbanded?

Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose them:
I have made strong proof of my constancy,
Giving myself a voluntary wound

Here, in the thigh: Can I bear that with patience,
And not my husband's secrets?

Bru. O, ye gods,

Render me worthy of this noble wife!

Hark, hark! one knocks.

Enter LUCIUS.

[Knocking without.

Lucius, who is that knocks?

3

Luc. Here is a sick man, that would speak with

you.

Bru [Aside.] Caius Ligarius, that Trebonius spoke

Portia,

of.

go in a while:

All my engagements I will construe to thee,-
And by and by thy bosom shall partake

The secrets of my heart.-Leave me with haste.

I come to him.

[Exit PORTIA.

[Thunder and Lightning.-Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Rome.

An Apartment in CÆSAR's Palace.

Enter CESAR.

Cæs. Nor heaven, nor earth, have been at peace to-night;

Thrice hath Calphurnia in her sleep cried out, Help, ho! They murder Cæsar !-Who's within?

Fla. My lord?

Enter FLAVIUS.

Cas. Go bid the priests do present sacrifice, And bring me their opinions of success.

[Exit FLAVIUS.

Enter CALPHURNIA.

Cal. What mean you, Cæsar? Think you to walk

forth?

You shall not stir out of

your house to-day.

Cæs. Cæsar shall forth; The things that threaten'd

me,

Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they shall see
The face of Cæsar, they are vanish'd.

Cal. Cæsar, I never stood on ceremonies,
Yet now they fright me. There is one within,
Recounts most horrid visions seen to-night:
Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds,
Which drizzled blood upon the capitol;
The noise of battle hurtled in the air,

And ghosts did shriek, and gibber in the streets.
O, Cæsar! these things are beyond all use,
And I do fear them.

Cæs. What can be avoided,

Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?-
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear g
Seeing that death, a necessary end,

Will come, when it will come.

Enter FLAVIUS.

What say the augurers?

Fla. They would not have you to stir forth to-day: Plucking the entrails of an offering forth, They could not find a heart within the beast. Cæs. The gods do this in shame of cowardice. [Exit FLAVIUS. Cæsar should be a beast without a heart, If he should stay at home to-day for fear : No; Cæsar shall go forth.

Cal. Alas, my lord!

Your wisdom is consumed in confidence.
Do not go forth to-day: Call it my fear,

That keeps you in the house, and not your own:
We'll send Mark Antony to the senate-house;

And he shall say, you are not well to-day:
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.

Cas. Mark Antony shall say I am not well: And, for thy humour, I will stay at home.—

Enter DECIUS.

Here's Decius; he shall go and tell them so.
Dec. Cæsar, all hail! Good morrow, worthy Cæsar:
I come to fetch you to the senate-house.

Cæs. And you are come in very happy time,
To bear my greeting to the senators,

And tell them, that I will not come to-day:
Cannot, is false! and, that I dare not, falser;
I will not come to-day: Tell them so, Decius.
Cal. Say he is sick.

Cæs. Shall Cæsar send a lie?

Have I in conquest stretch'd mine arm so far,
To be afeard to tell grey-beards the truth?
Decius, go tell them, Cæsar will not come.

Dec. Most mighty Cæsar, let me know some cause, Lest I be laugh'd at, when I tell them so.

Cæs. The cause is in my will, I will not come : That is enough to satisfy the senate;

But, for your private satisfaction,

Because I love you, I will let you know.
Calphurnia here, my wife, stays me at home.
She dreamt to-night she saw my statue,
Which like a fountain, with a hundred spouts,
Did run pure blood; and many lusty Romans
Came smiling, and did bathe their hands in it.
These she applies for evils imminent;

And on her knee

Hath begg'd that I will stay at home to-day.
Dec. This dream is all amiss interpreted;
It was a vision fair and fortunate:

Your statue spouting blood in many pipes,
In which so many smiling Romans bathed,
Signifies, that from you great Rome shall suck