In at his window; set this up with wax Cin. All but Metellus Cimber; and he's gone [Exit CINNA. Come, Casca, you and I will yet, ere day, 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, like richest alchemy, Will change to virtue, and to worthiness. Cas. Him and his worth, and our great need of him, You have right well conceited. Let us go, We will awake him, and be sure of him. [Exeunt. ACT II. SCENE I. The same. Brutus's Orchard.1 Enter BRUTUS. Bru. What, Lucius! ho! I cannot, by the progress of the stars, Give guess how near to day.-Lucius, I say!- What, Lucius! 1 Orchard and garden appear to have been synonymous with our ancestors. Enter LUCIUS Luc. Called 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 crowned ; How that might change his nature, there's the question. Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel 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, hatched, would, as his kind,3 grow mischievous. And kill him in the shell. Re-enter LUCIUS. Luc. The taper burneth in your closet, sir. 1 Bru. Get you to bed again; it is not day. Bru. Look in the calendar, and bring me word. Bru. The exhalations, whizzing in the air, [Exit [Opens the letter, and reads. Brutus, thou sleep'st; awake, and see thyself. Such instigations have been often dropped 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 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! Re-enter LuCIUS. Luc. Sir, March is wasted fourteen days.2 [Knock 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 1 The old copy erroneously reads, "the first of March." The correction was made by Theobald; as was the following. 2 Here again the old copy reads, fifteen. This was only the dawn of the fifteenth when the boy makes his report. Are then in council; and the state of man,1 Re-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 hats are plucked about their ears, And half their faces buried in their cloaks, That by no means I may discover them By any mark of favor.2 Bru. Let them enter. [Exit LUCIUS. 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, Not Erebus itself were dim enough 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 honors you; and every one doth wish, You had but that opinion of yourself, 1 The old copy reads: "Are then in council, and the state of a man," &c. 2 See Act i. Sc. 3. They are all welcome. [They whisper. What watchful cares do interpose themselves 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 gray lines, That fret the clouds, are messengers of day. Casca. You shall confess that you are both deceived. Some two months hence, up higher toward the north Bru. Give me your hands all over, one by one. Bru. No, not an oath. If not the face1 of men, 2 So let high-sighted tyranny range on, To kindle cowards, and to steel with valor 1 Johnson thus explains this passage:-"The face of men " is the "countenance, the regard, the esteem of the public;" in other terms, honor and reputation; or the face of men may mean "the dejected look of the people." Mason thought we should read, "the faith of men." 2 Steevens thinks there may be an allusion here to the custom of decimation, i. e. the selection by lot of every tenth soldier, in a general mutiny, for punishment. |