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Julius Caesar, Act 2, Scene 1

Brutus commits to the assassination · William Shakespeare
Every note, for your class

SCENE I. Rome. Brutus’ orchard.

Enter Brutus.
BRUTUS
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.
LUCIUS
Call’d you, my lord?
BRUTUS
Get me a taper in my study, Lucius:When it is lighted, come and call me here.
LUCIUS
I will, my lord.
Exit.
BRUTUS
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 adder,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.Th’ abuse of greatness is, when it disjoinsRemorse from power; and, to speak truth of Caesar,I have not known when his affections sway’dMore than his reason. But ’tis a common proof,That lowliness is young ambition’s ladder,Whereto the climber-upward 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 degreesBy which he did ascend. So Caesar may;Then lest he may, prevent. And since the quarrelWill bear no colourTo appear plausible or admit of justification. 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 eggWhich hatch’d, would, as his kind grow mischievous;And kill him in the shell.
Enter Lucius.
LUCIUS
The taper burneth in your closet, sir.Searching the window for a flint, I foundThis paper, thus seal’d up, and I am sureIt did not lie there when I went to bed.
Gives him the letter.
BRUTUS
Get you to bed again; it is not day.Is not tomorrow, boy, the Idesthe fifteenth day of March, May, July, and October in the Roman calendar, and the thirteenth day of the other months. of March?
LUCIUS
I know not, sir.
BRUTUS
Look in the calendar, and bring me word.
LUCIUS
I will, sir.
Exit.
BRUTUS
The exhalationsa meteor or other fiery appearance believed to arise from vapours in the earth., whizzing in the airGive so much light that I may read by them.
Opens the letter and reads.
BRUTUS
Brutus, thou sleep’st: awake and see thyself.Shall Rome, &c. Speak, strike, redress!“Brutus, thou sleep’st: awake!”Such instigations have been often dropp’dWhere 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 RomeThe TarquinLucius Tarquinius Superbus, Rome’s last king, whose expulsion made him an emblem of tyrannical rule. drive, when he was call’d a king.“Speak, strike, redress!” Am I entreatedTo speak and strike? O Rome, I make thee promise,If the redress will follow, thou receivestThy full petition at the hand of Brutus.
Enter Lucius.
LUCIUS
Sir, March is wasted fifteen days.
Knock within.
BRUTUS
’Tis good. Go to the gate, somebody knocks.
Exit Lucius.
BRUTUS
Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar,I have not slept.Between the acting of a dreadful thingAnd the first motion, all the interim isLike a phantasmaA phantom, apparition, or image created by the mind., or a hideous dream:The genius and the mortal instrumentsA bodily faculty or part through which the mind or spirit acts.Are then in council; and the state of man,Like to a little kingdom, suffers thenThe nature of an insurrection.
Enter Lucius.
LUCIUS
Sir, ’tis your brother Cassius at the door,Who doth desire to see you.
BRUTUS
Is he alone?
LUCIUS
No, sir, there are moeMore in number. with him.
BRUTUS
Do you know them?
LUCIUS
No, sir, their hats are pluck’d about their ears,And half their faces buried in their cloaks,That by no means I may discover themBy any mark of favour.
BRUTUS
Let ’em enter.
Exit Lucius.
BRUTUS
They are the faction. O conspiracy,Sham’st thou to show thy dangerous brow by night,When evils are most free? O, then, by dayWhere wilt thou find a cavern dark enoughTo mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, conspiracy;Hide it in smiles and affability:For if thou path, thy native semblance on,Not ErebusErebus, the dark region of the ancient Greek and Roman underworld. itself were dim enoughTo hide thee from prevention.
Enter Cassius, Casca, Decius, Cinna, Metellus Cimber and Trebonius.
CASSIUS
I think we are too bold upon your rest:Good morrow, Brutus; do we trouble you?
BRUTUS
I have been up this hour, awake all night.Know I these men that come along with you?
CASSIUS
Yes, every man of them; and no man hereBut honours you; and everyone doth wishYou had but that opinion of yourselfWhich every noble Roman bears of you.This is Trebonius.
BRUTUS
He is welcome hither.
CASSIUS
This Decius BrutusDecius Brutus, one of Caesar’s conspirators, who persuades Caesar to go to the Capitol..
BRUTUS
He is welcome too.
CASSIUS
This, Casca; this, Cinnathe name of a conspirator against Caesar and of a poet killed by the mob after being mistaken for him.; and this, Metellus CimberA Roman senator and conspirator who petitions Caesar for his banished brother as part of the assassination plot..
BRUTUS
They are all welcome.What watchful cares do interpose themselvesBetwixt your eyes and night?
CASSIUS
Shall I entreat a word?
They whisper.
DECIUS
Here lies the east: doth not the day break here?
CASCA
No.
CINNA
O, pardon, sir, it doth; and yon grey linesThat fret the clouds are messengers of day.
CASCA
You shall confess that you are both deceiv’d.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 NorthHe first presents his fire; and the high EastStands, as the Capitol, directly here.
BRUTUS
Give me your hands all over, one by one.
CASSIUS
And let us swear our resolution.
BRUTUS
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 enoughTo kindle cowards, and to steel with valourThe melting spirits of women; then, countrymen,What need we any spur but our own causeTo prick us to redress? what other bondThan secret Romans, that have spoke the word,And will not palter? and what other oathThan honesty to honesty engag’d,That this shall be, or we will fall for it?Swear priests and cowards, and men cautelouscrafty, deceitful, or treacherously wary.,Old feeble carrions, and such suffering soulsThat welcome wrongs; unto bad causes swearSuch creatures as men doubt; but do not stainThe even virtue of our enterprise,Nor th’ insuppressive mettle of our spirits,To think that or our cause or our performanceDid need an oath; when every drop of bloodThat every Roman bears, and nobly bears,Is guilty of a several bastardy,If he do break the smallest particleOf any promise that hath pass’d from him.
CASSIUS
But what of CiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero, a celebrated Roman statesman and orator who opposes Caesar’s growing power.? Shall we sound him?I think he will stand very strong with us.
CASCA
Let us not leave him out.
CINNA
No, by no means.
METELLUS
O, let us have him, for his silver hairsWill purchase us a good opinion,And buy men’s voices to commend our deeds.It shall be said, his judgement rul’d our hands;Our youths and wildness shall no whit appear,But all be buried in his gravity.
BRUTUS
O, name him not; let us not break with him;For he will never follow anythingThat other men begin.
CASSIUS
Then leave him out.
CASCA
Indeed, he is not fit.
DECIUS
Shall no man else be touch’d but only Caesar?
CASSIUS
Decius, well urg’d. I think it is not meet,Mark Antony, so well belov’d of Caesar,Should outlive Caesar: we shall find of himA shrewd contriver; and you know, his means,If he improve them, may well stretch so farAs to annoy us all; which to prevent,Let Antony and Caesar fall together.
BRUTUS
Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius,To cut the head off, and then hack the limbs,Like wrath in death, and envy afterwards;For Antony is but a limb of Caesar.Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar,And in the spirit of men there is no blood.O, that we then could come by Caesar’s spirit,And not dismember Caesar! But, alas,Caesar must bleed for it! And, gentle friends,Let’s kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;Let’s carve him as a dish fit for the gods,Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds.And let our hearts, as subtle masters do,Stir up their servants to an act of rage,And after seem to chide ’em. This shall markOur purpose necessary, and not envious;Which so appearing to the common eyes,We shall be call’d purgers, not murderers.And for Mark Antony, think not of him;For he can do no more than Caesar’s armWhen Caesar’s head is off.
CASSIUS
Yet I fear him;For in the ingrafted love he bears to Caesar—
BRUTUS
Alas, good Cassius, do not think of him:If he love Caesar, all that he can doIs to himself; take thought and die for Caesar.And that were much he should; for he is givenTo sports, to wildness, and much company.
TREBONIUS
There is no fear in him; let him not die;For he will live, and laugh at this hereafter.
Clock strikes.
BRUTUS
Peace! count the clock.
CASSIUS
The clock hath stricken three.
TREBONIUS
’Tis time to part.
CASSIUS
But it is doubtful yetWhether Caesar will come forth today or no;For he is superstitious grown of late,Quite from the main opinion he held onceOf fantasy, of dreams, and ceremonies.It may be these apparent prodigies,The unaccustom’d terror of this night,And the persuasion of his augurersA religious official who interprets omens to foretell events.,May hold him from the Capitol today.
DECIUS
Never fear that: if he be so resolved,I can o’ersway him, for he loves to hearThat 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.Let me work;For I can give his humour the true bent,And I will bring him to the Capitol.
CASSIUS
Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him.
BRUTUS
By the eighth hour: is that the uttermost?
CINNA
Be that the uttermost; and fail not then.
METELLUS
Caius Ligariusa Roman senator whom Brutus recruits to the conspiracy against Caesar. doth bear Caesar hard,Who rated him for speaking well of Pompey;I wonder none of you have thought of him.
BRUTUS
Now, good Metellus, go along by him:He loves me well, and I have given him reason;Send him but hither, and I’ll fashion him.
CASSIUS
The morning comes upon’s. We’ll leave you, Brutus.And, friends, disperse yourselves; but all rememberWhat you have said, and show yourselves true Romans.
BRUTUS
Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily;Let not our looks put on our purposes,But bear it as our Roman actors do,With untired spirits and formal constancyproperly ordered firmness and self-command..And so, good morrow to you everyone.
Exeunt all but Brutus.
BRUTUS
Boy! Lucius! Fast asleep? It is no matter;Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber:Thou hast no figures nor no fantasies,Which busy care draws in the brains of men;Therefore thou sleep’st so sound.
Enter Portia.
PORTIA
Brutus, my lord.
BRUTUS
Portia, what mean you? Wherefore rise you now?It is not for your health thus to commitYour weak condition to the raw cold morning.
PORTIA
Nor for yours neither. Y’ have 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 star’d upon me with ungentle looks.I urg’d you further; then you scratch’d your head,And too impatiently stamp’d with your foot;Yet I insisted, yet you answer’d not,But with an angry waftureA waving motion or beckoning gesture. of your handGave sign for me to leave you. So I did,Fearing to strengthen that impatienceWhich seem’d too much enkindled; and withalHoping it was but an effect of humour,Which sometime hath his hour with every man.It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor sleep;And could it work so much upon your shapeAs it hath much prevail’d on your condition,I should not know you, Brutus. Dear my lord,Make me acquainted with your cause of grief.
BRUTUS
I am not well in health, and that is all.
PORTIA
Brutus is wise, and, were he not in health,He would embrace the means to come by it.
BRUTUS
Why, so I do. Good Portia, go to bed.
PORTIA
Is Brutus sick, and is it physicalTo walk unbraced and suck up the humoursOf the dank morning? What, is Brutus sick,And will he steal out of his wholesome bedTo dare the vile contagion of the night,And tempt the rheumydamp and productive of rheum or unhealthy bodily moisture. and unpurged airTo 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 vowWhich did incorporate and make us one,That you unfold to me, your self, your half,Why you are heavy, and what men tonightHave had resort to you; for here have beenSome six or seven, who did hide their facesEven from darkness.
BRUTUS
Kneel not, gentle Portia.
PORTIA
I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus.Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus,Is it excepted I should know no secretsThat appertain to you? Am I your selfBut, 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 suburbsOf your good pleasure? If it be no more,Portia is Brutus’ harlot, not his wife.
BRUTUS
You are my true and honourable wife,As dear to me as are the ruddy dropsThat visit my sad heart.
PORTIA
If this were true, then should I know this secret.I grant I am a woman; but withalA woman that Lord Brutus took to wife;I grant I am a woman; but withalA woman well reputed, Cato’sthe name of Portia’s father, the republican statesman Marcus Porcius Cato, and of his son, who fights at Philippi. 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 ’em.I have made strong proof of my constancy,Giving myself a voluntary woundHere, in the thigh: can I bear that with patienceAnd not my husband’s secrets?
BRUTUS
O ye gods,Render me worthy of this noble wife!
Knock.
BRUTUS
Hark, hark, one knocks. Portia, go in awhile;And by and by thy bosom shall partakeThe secrets of my heart.All my engagements I will construe to thee,All the characterywriting, written characters, or inscription. of my sad brows.Leave me with haste.
Exit Portia.
Enter Lucius with LigariusCaius Ligarius, a Roman senator recruited into the conspiracy against Caesar..
BRUTUS
Lucius, who’s that knocks?
LUCIUS
Here is a sick man that would speak with you.
BRUTUS
Caius Ligarius, that MetellusMetellus Cimber, one of the conspirators against Caesar. spake of.Boy, stand aside. Caius Ligarius, how?
LIGARIUS
Vouchsafe good-morrow from a feeble tongue.
BRUTUS
O, what a time have you chose out, brave Caius,To wear a kerchief! Would you were not sick!
LIGARIUS
I am not sick, if Brutus have in handAny exploit worthy the name of honour.
BRUTUS
Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius,Had you a healthful ear to hear of it.
LIGARIUS
By all the gods that Romans bow before,I here discard my sickness. Soul of Rome!Brave son, derived from honourable loins!Thou, like an exorcist, hast conjur’d upMy mortified spirit. Now bid me run,And I will strive with things impossible,Yea, get the better of them. What’s to do?
BRUTUS
A piece of work that will make sick men whole.
LIGARIUS
But are not some whole that we must make sick?
BRUTUS
That must we also. What it is, my Caius,I shall unfold to thee, as we are going,To whom it must be done.
LIGARIUS
Set on your foot,And with a heart new-fir’d I follow you,To do I know not what; but it sufficethThat Brutus leads me on.
Thunder.
BRUTUS
Follow me then.
Exeunt.