Cas. Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music,
Cry, "Cæsar!" Speak: Cæsar is turn'd to hear.
Beware the ides of March.

Sooth,
Cœs.

What man is that? Brutus. A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of

March.

Cas. Set him before me; let me see his face.
Cassius. Fellow, come from the throng: look upon

Cæsar.

Cæs. What say'st thou to me now? Speak once again.

Sooth. Beware the ides of March.

Cæs. He is a dreamer; let us leave him :— pass.
[Sennet. Exeunt all but BRU. and CAS.
Cas. Will you go see the order of the course?
Bru. Not I.

Cas. I pray you, do.

Bru. I am not gamesome: I do lack some part Of that quick spirit that is in Antony.

Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires;

I'll leave you.

Cas. Brutus, I do observe you now of late:
I have not from your eyes that gentleness
And shew of love as I was wont to have :

You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand
Over your friend that loves

Bru.

you.

Cassius,

Be not deceiv'd: if I have veil'd my look,

20

30

quick spirit, liveliness. (R) 33-4 that... as, such... as. A common Elizabethan idiom. Cf. 1. 173, these... as. (R)

37 veil'd my look, kept my thoughts to myself. (R)

I turn the trouble of my countenance
Merely upon myself. Vexed I am
Of late with passions of some difference,
Conceptions only proper to myself,

Which give some soil, perhaps, to my behaviours;
But let not therefore my good friends be griev'd,
(Among which number, Cassius, be you one,)
Nor construe any farther my neglect,

Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,

Forgets the shews of love to other men.

Cas. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your

passion;

By means whereof this breast of mine hath buried
Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.
Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?

Bru. No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself,

But by reflection, by some other things.

Cas. Tis just;

And it is very much lamented, Brutus,

That you have no such mirrors, as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye,

That you might see your shadow. I have heard,
Where many of the best respect in Rome,
Except immortal Cæsar, speaking of Brutus,
And groaning underneath this age's yoke,
Have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes.

40

50

60

The folio reading. White's text read thing.

58 shadow, reflection. (R) 60 Except immortal Cæsar. The irony is self-evident. (R)

62 had his eyes, could see things as they saw them and would act upon it. (R)

Bru. Into what dangers would you lead me, Cas

sius,

That you would have me seek into myself

For that which is not in me?

Cas. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepar'd to hear :
And, since you know you cannot see yourself
So well as by reflection, I, your glass,
Will modestly discover to yourself

That of yourself which you yet know not of.
And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus:
Were I a common laugher, or did use
To stale with ordinary oaths my love
To every new protester; if you know

That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard,
And after scandal them; or if you know
That I profess myself in banqueting

To all the rout, then hold me dangerous.

[Flourish and shout. Bru. What means this shouting? I do fear, the

people

Choose Cæsar for their king.

Cas.
Ay, do you fear it?
Then, must I think you would not have it so.

Bru. I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well.
But wherefore do you hold me here so long?
What is it that you would impart to me?
If it be aught toward the general good,
Set honour in one eye, and death i' th' other,
And I will look on both indifferently;

6 modestly, without exaggeration. (R)

72 laugher. The folio, laughter. Rowe's correction.

73 stale, i. e. make common oaths a lure, as the sportsman

70

80

uses his stale, or decoy. (w) [Better "make vulgar."]

76 scandal, defame. (R) 77 profess myself, seek to ingratiate myself with.

For, let the gods so speed me as I love

The name of honour more than I fear death.

Cas. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
As well as I do know your outward favour.
Well, honour is the subject of my story.

I cannot tell what

you and other men Think of this life; but for my single self

I had as lief not be, as live to be

In awe of such a thing as I myself.

I was born free as Cæsar, so were you;
We both have fed as well, and we can both
Endure the winter's cold as well as he·
For once, upon a raw and gusty day,

The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
Cæsar said to me, "Dar'st thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,

And swim to yonder point?"— Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in,

And bade him follow: so, indeed, he did.
The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews, throwing it aside,

And stemming it, with hearts of controversy;
But ere we could arrive the point propos'd,
Cæsar cried, "Help me, Cassius, or I sink!"
I, as Æneas, our great ancestor,

Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder

The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber
Did I the tired Cæsar. And this man

Is now become a god; and Cassius is

A wretched creature, and must bend his body,

91 outward favour, looks. (R) 96 such a thing as I myself, i. e.

Cæsar, a mere man. (R)

If Cæsar carelessly but nod on him.

He had a fever when he was in Spain,

And, when the fit was on him, I did mark,

How he did shake: 't is true, this god did shake:
His coward lips did from their colour fly;
And that same eye, whose bend doth awe the world,
Did lose his lustre. I did hear him groan;

Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans
Mark him, and write his speeches in their books,
Alas! it cried, "Give me some drink, Titinius,"
As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me,
A man of such a feeble temper should
So get the start of the majestic world,
And bear the palm alone.

Bru.

[Shout. Flourish. Another general shout!

I do believe that these applauses are

For some new honours that are heap'd on Cæsar.

Cas.

Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world

Like a Colossus; and we petty men

Walk under his huge legs, and peep about

To find ourselves dishonourable graves.

120

130

Men at some time are masters of their fates:

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,

But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

Brutus, and Cæsar: what should be in that "Cæsar"?
Why should that name be sounded more than yours?
Write them together, yours is as fair a name;

128 bend, gaze. (R)

124 his, its. The latter pronoun is rarely used in Shakespeare, and is not found at all in the King James's Version of the Bible (1611). (R)

120 books, writing tablets-as frequently. (R)

140

180 get the start of, outstrip. (R) 135 a Colossus. The famous Colossus of Rhodes was said so to bestride the entrance of the harbour that ships could sail beneath its huge legs. (R)