And as a suitor will I give him this.

My heart laments that virtue cannot live
Out of the teeth of emulation.

If thou read this, O Cæsar! thou may'st live;

If not, the Fates with traitors do contrive.

[Exit.

SCENE IV. The Same. Another Part of the same Street, before the House of BRUTUS.

Enter PORTIA and LUCIUS.

Por. I pr'ythee, boy, run to the Senate-House : Stay not to answer me, but get thee gone.

Why dost thou stay?

Luc.

To know my errand, madam.

Por. I would have had thee there, and here

again,

Ere I can tell thee what thou should'st do there.

O constancy, be strong upon my side!

Set a huge mountain 'tween my heart and tongue!
I have a man's mind, but a woman's might.
How hard it is for women to keep counsel !

Art thou here yet?

Luc.

Madam, what should I do?

10

Run to the Capitol, and nothing else,

And so return to you, and nothing else?

Por. Yes, bring me word, boy, if thy lord look

well,

For he went sickly forth and take good note

What Cæsar doth, what suitors press to him.
Hark, boy! what noise is that?

Luc. I hear none, madam.

18 emulation, envy. (R) 15 contrive, plot. (R)

6 constancy. Cf. above II. i. 227 and 299. (R)

Por.

Pr'ythee, listen well:

I heard a bustling rumour, like a fray,
And the wind brings it from the Capitol.
Luc. Sooth, madam, I hear nothing.

Enter ARTEMIDORUS.

Por. Come hither, fellow. Which way hast thou been?

Art. At mine own house, good lady.

Por.

Art. About the ninth hour, lady.

What is 't o'clock ?

Por. Is Cæsar yet gone to the Capitol ?

Art. Madam, not yet: I go to take my stand,

To see him pass on to the Capitol.

Por. Thou hast some suit to Cæsar, hast thou not? Art. That I have, lady: if it will please Cæsar

To be so good to Cæsar as to hear me,

I shall beseech him to befriend himself.

Por. Why, know'st thou any harm's intended towards him?

Art. None that I know will be, much that I fear

may chance.

Good morrow to you. Here the street is narrow:
The throng that follows Cæsar at the heels,
Of Senators, of Prætors, common suitors,
Will crowd a feeble man almost to death:
I'll get me to a place more void, and there
Speak to great Cæsar as he comes along.

21 Artemidorus. The folio [and recent editors], the Soothsayer, but the following dialogue is manifestly between Portia and the speaker in the previous Scene, whom she meets on his way to a

[Exit.

Por. I must go in. - Ah me! how weak a thing The heart of woman is. O Brutus!

The Heavens speed thee in thine enterprise !

Sure, the boy heard me : -Brutus hath a suit,
That Cæsar will not grant.-O, I grow faint.—
Run, Lucius, and commend me to my lord;
Say I am merry: come to me again,

And bring me word what he doth say to thee.

ACT THREE.

[Exeunt.

SCENE I. - The Same. The Capitol; the Senate sitting. A crowd of People in the street leading to the Capitol; among them ARTEMIDORUS, and the Soothsayer. Flourish. Enter C.ESAR, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, CASCA, DECIUS, METELLUS, TREBONIUS, CINNA, ANTONY, LEPIDUS, POPILIUS, PUBLIUS, and Others.

CESAR.

Art.

The ides of March are come.

Sooth. Ay, Cæsar; but not gone.

Hail, Cæsar! Read this schedule.

Dec. Trebonius doth desire you to o'er-read,

At your best leisure, this his humble suit.

Art. O, Cæsar, read mine first; for mine's a

suit

That touches Cæsar nearer.

Read it, great Cæsar.

Cæs. What touches us ourself shall be last serv'd.

Art. Delay not, Cæsar; read it instantly.

Cæs. What! is the fellow mad?

Pub.

40

Sirrah, give place. 10

Cas. What! urge you your petitions in the street? Come to the Capitol.

touches, concerns. serv'd, attended to. (R)

CESAR enters the Capitol, the rest following. All the

Senators rise.

Popilius. I wish your enterprise to-day may thrive.
Cas. What enterprise, Popilius?

Pop.

Fare you well. [Advances to C.ESAR.

Bru. What said Popilius Lena?

Cas. He wish'd to-day our enterprise might thrive. I fear, our purpose is discovered.

Bru. Look, how he makes to Cæsar: mark him.
Cas. Casca, be sudden, for we fear prevention.
Brutus, what shall be done? If this be known,
Cassius or Cæsar never shall turn back,
For I will slay myself.

Bru.

Cassius, be constant:

Popilius Lena speaks not of our purposes;

For, look, he smiles, and Cæsar doth not change.
Cas. Trebonius knows his time; for, look you, Brutus,
He draws Mark Antony out of the way.

[Exeunt ANTONY and TREBONIUS. CESAR and
the Senators take their seats.

Dec. Where is Metellus Cimber? Let him go,

And presently prefer his suit to Cæsar.

Bru. He is address'd: press near, and second him.
Cin. Casca, you are the first that rears your hand. 30

13 [CÆSAR enters the Capitol.] Although there was no change of scenery in Shakespeare's day, the audience was at this point manifestly to suppose a change of scene. (w)

18 makes to, advances towards. (R)

21 or Cæsar, the folio reading, White followed Malone, on Cæsar.

But the line means: Cassius or Cæsari. e. one or the other never shall return from the Capitol. 22 constant. Cf. II. i. 227, 299, and iv. 6. (R)

24 doth not change, i. e. his countenance. (R)

28

presently, immediately often. (R)

29 address'd, prepared. (w)

as

Cas. Are we all ready?

What is now amiss

Cœs.

That Cæsar and his Senate must redress?

Met. Most high, most mighty, and most puissant

Cæsar,

Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat

An humble heart:

Cœs.

[Kneeling.

I must prevent thee, Cimber.
These couchings, and these lowly courtesies,
Might fire the blood of ordinary men,
And turn pre-ordinance and first decree
Into the law of children. Be not fond,
To think that Cæsar bears such rebel blood,
That will be thaw'd from the true quality

With that which melteth fools; I mean, sweet words,
Low-crooked curtsies, and base spaniel fawning.
Thy brother by decree is banished:

If thou dost bend, and pray, and fawn for him,
I spurn thee like a cur out of my way.

Know, Cæsar doth not wrong; nor without cause
Will he be satisfied.

31 CAS. Are we all ready? In the folio this question is made a part of Cæsar's speech [and recent editors acquiesce; but it is more appropriate as the reply of Casca to Cinna's monition (1. 30)].

38 pre-ordinance, that already ordered or decreed. Its meaning is very much the same as first decree, normal deference to authority. (R)

39 law of children, i. e. capriciousness and variability. (R) law. The folio, lane, an obvious misprint. Johnson's correction. (w)

40

39-40 Be not fond, To think, i. e. Be not so foolish as to think. (R)

40-1 such... That, such . . . as. Cf. I. ii. 33-4, and often. (R)

40 rebel, inconstant and variable. (R)

47-8 Cæsar doth not wrong, &c. On the authority of a passage in Ben Jonson's Explorata (ed. 1640, fol. p. 98), it has been supposed that we have not this line as Shakespeare [first] wrote it. Jonson says that Shakespeare "many times fell into those things that could not escape laughter," and adds, by way of exemplification,