Reading Help THE TRAGEDY OF JULIUS CAESAR
CASCA. Ay, he spoke Greek. `
` CASSIUS. To what effect? `
` CASCA. Nay, an I tell you that, I'll ne'er look you i' the face `
` again; but those that understood him smiled at one another `
` and `
` shook their heads; but for mine own part, it was Greek to me. `
` I `
` could tell you more news too: Marullus and Flavius, for `
` pulling `
` scarfs off Caesar's images, are put to silence. Fare you `
` well. `
` There was more foolery yet, if could remember it. `
` CASSIUS. Will you sup with me tonight, Casca? `
` CASCA. No, I am promised forth. `
` CASSIUS. Will you dine with me tomorrow? `
` CASCA. Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold, and your dinner `
` worth `
` the eating. `
` CASSIUS. Good, I will expect you. `
` CASCA. Do so, farewell, both. Exit. `
` BRUTUS. What a blunt fellow is this grown to be! `
` He was quick mettle when he went to school. `
` CASSIUS. So is he now in execution `
` Of any bold or noble enterprise, `
` However he puts on this tardy form. `
` This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit, `
` Which gives men stomach to digest his words `
` With better appetite. `
` BRUTUS. And so it is. For this time I will leave you. `
` Tomorrow, if you please to speak with me, `
` I will come home to you, or, if you will, `
` Come home to me and I will wait for you. `
` CASSIUS. I will do so. Till then, think of the world. `
` Exit Brutus. `
` Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see `
` Thy honorable mettle may be wrought `
` From that it is disposed; therefore it is meet `
` That noble minds keep ever with their likes; `
` For who so firm that cannot be seduced? `
` Caesar doth bear me hard, but he loves Brutus. `
` If I were Brutus now and he were Cassius, `
` He should not humor me. I will this night, `
` In several hands, in at his windows throw, `
` As if they came from several citizens, `
` Writings, all tending to the great opinion `
` That Rome holds of his name, wherein obscurely `
` Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at. `
` And after this let Caesar seat him sure; `
` For we will shake him, or worse days endure. Exit. `
` `
` `
` `
` `
` SCENE III. `
` A street. Thunder and lightning. `
` `
` Enter, from opposite sides, Casca, with his sword drawn, and `
` Cicero. `
` `
` CICERO. Good even, Casca. Brought you Caesar home? `
` Why are you breathless, and why stare you so? `
` CASCA. Are not you moved, when all the sway of earth `
` Shakes like a thing unfirm? O Cicero, `
` I have seen tempests when the scolding winds `
` Have rived the knotty oaks, and I have seen `
` The ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam `
` To be exalted with the threatening clouds, `
` But never till tonight, never till now, `
` Did I go through a tempest dropping fire. `
` Either there is a civil strife in heaven, `
` Or else the world too saucy with the gods `
` Incenses them to send destruction. `
` CICERO. Why, saw you anything more wonderful? `
` CASCA. A common slave- you know him well by sight- `
` Held up his left hand, which did flame and burn `
` Like twenty torches join'd, and yet his hand `
` Not sensible of fire remain'd unscorch'd. `
` Besides- I ha' not since put up my sword- `
` Against the Capitol I met a lion, `
` Who glaz'd upon me and went surly by `
` Without annoying me. And there were drawn `
` Upon a heap a hundred ghastly women `
` Transformed with their fear, who swore they saw `
` Men all in fire walk up and down the streets. `
` And yesterday the bird of night did sit `
` Even at noonday upon the marketplace, `
` Howling and shrieking. When these prodigies `
` Do so conjointly meet, let not men say `
` "These are their reasons; they are natural": `
` For I believe they are portentous things `
` Unto the climate that they point upon. `
` CICERO. Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time. `
` But men may construe things after their fashion, `
` Clean from the purpose of the things themselves. `
` Comes Caesar to the Capitol tomorrow? `
` CASCA. He doth, for he did bid Antonio `
` Send word to you he would be there tomorrow. `
` CICERO. Good then, Casca. This disturbed sky `
` Is not to walk in. `
` CASCA. Farewell, Cicero. Exit Cicero. `
` `
` Enter Cassius. `
` `
` CASSIUS. Who's there? `
` CASCA. A Roman. `
` CASSIUS. Casca, by your voice. `
` CASCA. Your ear is good. Cassius, what night is this! `
` CASSIUS. A very pleasing night to honest men. `
` CASCA. Who ever knew the heavens menace so? `
` CASSIUS. Those that have known the earth so full of faults. `
` For my part, I have walk'd about the streets, `
` Submitting me unto the perilous night, `
` And thus unbraced, Casca, as you see, `
` Have bared my bosom to the thunderstone; `
` And when the cross blue lightning seem'd to open `
` The breast of heaven, I did present myself `
` Even in the aim and very flash of it. `
` CASCA. But wherefore did you so much tempt the heavens? `
` It is the part of men to fear and tremble `
` When the most mighty gods by tokens send `
` Such dreadful heralds to astonish us. `
` CASSIUS. You are dull, Casca, and those sparks of life `
` That should be in a Roman you do want, `
` Or else you use not. You look pale and gaze `
` And put on fear and cast yourself in wonder `
` To see the strange impatience of the heavens. `
` But if you would consider the true cause `
` Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts, `
` Why birds and beasts from quality and kind, `
` Why old men, fools, and children calculate, `
` Why all these things change from their ordinance, `
` Their natures, and preformed faculties `
` To monstrous quality, why, you shall find `
` That heaven hath infused them with these spirits `
` To make them instruments of fear and warning `
` Unto some monstrous state. `
` Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man `
` Most like this dreadful night, `
` That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars `
` As doth the lion in the Capitol, `
` A man no mightier than thyself or me `
` In personal action, yet prodigious grown `
` And fearful, as these strange eruptions are. `
` CASCA. 'Tis Caesar that you mean, is it not, Cassius? `
` CASSIUS. Let it be who it is, for Romans now `
` Have thews and limbs like to their ancestors. `
` But, woe the while! Our fathers' minds are dead, `
` And we are govern'd with our mothers' spirits; `
` Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish. `
` CASCA. Indeed they say the senators tomorrow `
` Mean to establish Caesar as a king, `
` And he shall wear his crown by sea and land `
` In every place save here in Italy. `
` CASSIUS. I know where I will wear this dagger then: `
` Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius. `
` Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong; `
` Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat. `
` Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, `
` Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron `
` Can be retentive to the strength of spirit; `
` But life, being weary of these worldly bars, `
` Never lacks power to dismiss itself. `
` If I know this, know all the world besides, `
` That part of tyranny that I do bear `
` I can shake off at pleasure. Thunder still. `
` CASCA. So can I. `
` So every bondman in his own hand bears `
` The power to cancel his captivity. `
` CASSIUS. And why should Caesar be a tyrant then? `
` Poor man! I know he would not be a wolf `
` But that he sees the Romans are but sheep. `
` He were no lion, were not Romans hinds. `
` Those that with haste will make a mighty fire `
` Begin it with weak straws. What trash is Rome, `
` What rubbish, and what offal, when it serves `
` For the base matter to illuminate `
` So vile a thing as Caesar? But, O grief, `
` Where hast thou led me? I perhaps speak this `
` Before a willing bondman; then I know `
` My answer must be made. But I am arm'd, `
` And dangers are to me indifferent. `
` CASCA. You speak to Casca, and to such a man `
` That is no fleering tell-tale. Hold, my hand. `
` Be factious for redress of all these griefs, `
` And I will set this foot of mine as far `
` As who goes farthest. `
` CASSIUS. There's a bargain made. `
` Now know you, Casca, I have moved already `
` Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans `
` To undergo with me an enterprise `
` Of honorable-dangerous consequence; `
` And I do know by this, they stay for me `
` In Pompey's Porch. For now, this fearful night, `
` There is no stir or walking in the streets, `
` And the complexion of the element `
` In favor's like the work we have in hand, `
` Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible. `
` `
` Enter Cinna. `
` `
` CASCA. Stand close awhile, for here comes one in haste. `
`
` CASSIUS. To what effect? `
` CASCA. Nay, an I tell you that, I'll ne'er look you i' the face `
` again; but those that understood him smiled at one another `
` and `
` shook their heads; but for mine own part, it was Greek to me. `
` I `
` could tell you more news too: Marullus and Flavius, for `
` pulling `
` scarfs off Caesar's images, are put to silence. Fare you `
` well. `
` There was more foolery yet, if could remember it. `
` CASSIUS. Will you sup with me tonight, Casca? `
` CASCA. No, I am promised forth. `
` CASSIUS. Will you dine with me tomorrow? `
` CASCA. Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold, and your dinner `
` worth `
` the eating. `
` CASSIUS. Good, I will expect you. `
` CASCA. Do so, farewell, both. Exit. `
` BRUTUS. What a blunt fellow is this grown to be! `
` He was quick mettle when he went to school. `
` CASSIUS. So is he now in execution `
` Of any bold or noble enterprise, `
` However he puts on this tardy form. `
` This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit, `
` Which gives men stomach to digest his words `
` With better appetite. `
` BRUTUS. And so it is. For this time I will leave you. `
` Tomorrow, if you please to speak with me, `
` I will come home to you, or, if you will, `
` Come home to me and I will wait for you. `
` CASSIUS. I will do so. Till then, think of the world. `
` Exit Brutus. `
` Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see `
` Thy honorable mettle may be wrought `
` From that it is disposed; therefore it is meet `
` That noble minds keep ever with their likes; `
` For who so firm that cannot be seduced? `
` Caesar doth bear me hard, but he loves Brutus. `
` If I were Brutus now and he were Cassius, `
` He should not humor me. I will this night, `
` In several hands, in at his windows throw, `
` As if they came from several citizens, `
` Writings, all tending to the great opinion `
` That Rome holds of his name, wherein obscurely `
` Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at. `
` And after this let Caesar seat him sure; `
` For we will shake him, or worse days endure. Exit. `
` `
` `
` `
` `
` SCENE III. `
` A street. Thunder and lightning. `
` `
` Enter, from opposite sides, Casca, with his sword drawn, and `
` Cicero. `
` `
` CICERO. Good even, Casca. Brought you Caesar home? `
` Why are you breathless, and why stare you so? `
` CASCA. Are not you moved, when all the sway of earth `
` Shakes like a thing unfirm? O Cicero, `
` I have seen tempests when the scolding winds `
` Have rived the knotty oaks, and I have seen `
` The ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam `
` To be exalted with the threatening clouds, `
` But never till tonight, never till now, `
` Did I go through a tempest dropping fire. `
` Either there is a civil strife in heaven, `
` Or else the world too saucy with the gods `
` Incenses them to send destruction. `
` CICERO. Why, saw you anything more wonderful? `
` CASCA. A common slave- you know him well by sight- `
` Held up his left hand, which did flame and burn `
` Like twenty torches join'd, and yet his hand `
` Not sensible of fire remain'd unscorch'd. `
` Besides- I ha' not since put up my sword- `
` Against the Capitol I met a lion, `
` Who glaz'd upon me and went surly by `
` Without annoying me. And there were drawn `
` Upon a heap a hundred ghastly women `
` Transformed with their fear, who swore they saw `
` Men all in fire walk up and down the streets. `
` And yesterday the bird of night did sit `
` Even at noonday upon the marketplace, `
` Howling and shrieking. When these prodigies `
` Do so conjointly meet, let not men say `
` "These are their reasons; they are natural": `
` For I believe they are portentous things `
` Unto the climate that they point upon. `
` CICERO. Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time. `
` But men may construe things after their fashion, `
` Clean from the purpose of the things themselves. `
` Comes Caesar to the Capitol tomorrow? `
` CASCA. He doth, for he did bid Antonio `
` Send word to you he would be there tomorrow. `
` CICERO. Good then, Casca. This disturbed sky `
` Is not to walk in. `
` CASCA. Farewell, Cicero. Exit Cicero. `
` `
` Enter Cassius. `
` `
` CASSIUS. Who's there? `
` CASCA. A Roman. `
` CASSIUS. Casca, by your voice. `
` CASCA. Your ear is good. Cassius, what night is this! `
` CASSIUS. A very pleasing night to honest men. `
` CASCA. Who ever knew the heavens menace so? `
` CASSIUS. Those that have known the earth so full of faults. `
` For my part, I have walk'd about the streets, `
` Submitting me unto the perilous night, `
` And thus unbraced, Casca, as you see, `
` Have bared my bosom to the thunderstone; `
` And when the cross blue lightning seem'd to open `
` The breast of heaven, I did present myself `
` Even in the aim and very flash of it. `
` CASCA. But wherefore did you so much tempt the heavens? `
` It is the part of men to fear and tremble `
` When the most mighty gods by tokens send `
` Such dreadful heralds to astonish us. `
` CASSIUS. You are dull, Casca, and those sparks of life `
` That should be in a Roman you do want, `
` Or else you use not. You look pale and gaze `
` And put on fear and cast yourself in wonder `
` To see the strange impatience of the heavens. `
` But if you would consider the true cause `
` Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts, `
` Why birds and beasts from quality and kind, `
` Why old men, fools, and children calculate, `
` Why all these things change from their ordinance, `
` Their natures, and preformed faculties `
` To monstrous quality, why, you shall find `
` That heaven hath infused them with these spirits `
` To make them instruments of fear and warning `
` Unto some monstrous state. `
` Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man `
` Most like this dreadful night, `
` That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars `
` As doth the lion in the Capitol, `
` A man no mightier than thyself or me `
` In personal action, yet prodigious grown `
` And fearful, as these strange eruptions are. `
` CASCA. 'Tis Caesar that you mean, is it not, Cassius? `
` CASSIUS. Let it be who it is, for Romans now `
` Have thews and limbs like to their ancestors. `
` But, woe the while! Our fathers' minds are dead, `
` And we are govern'd with our mothers' spirits; `
` Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish. `
` CASCA. Indeed they say the senators tomorrow `
` Mean to establish Caesar as a king, `
` And he shall wear his crown by sea and land `
` In every place save here in Italy. `
` CASSIUS. I know where I will wear this dagger then: `
` Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius. `
` Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong; `
` Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat. `
` Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, `
` Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron `
` Can be retentive to the strength of spirit; `
` But life, being weary of these worldly bars, `
` Never lacks power to dismiss itself. `
` If I know this, know all the world besides, `
` That part of tyranny that I do bear `
` I can shake off at pleasure. Thunder still. `
` CASCA. So can I. `
` So every bondman in his own hand bears `
` The power to cancel his captivity. `
` CASSIUS. And why should Caesar be a tyrant then? `
` Poor man! I know he would not be a wolf `
` But that he sees the Romans are but sheep. `
` He were no lion, were not Romans hinds. `
` Those that with haste will make a mighty fire `
` Begin it with weak straws. What trash is Rome, `
` What rubbish, and what offal, when it serves `
` For the base matter to illuminate `
` So vile a thing as Caesar? But, O grief, `
` Where hast thou led me? I perhaps speak this `
` Before a willing bondman; then I know `
` My answer must be made. But I am arm'd, `
` And dangers are to me indifferent. `
` CASCA. You speak to Casca, and to such a man `
` That is no fleering tell-tale. Hold, my hand. `
` Be factious for redress of all these griefs, `
` And I will set this foot of mine as far `
` As who goes farthest. `
` CASSIUS. There's a bargain made. `
` Now know you, Casca, I have moved already `
` Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans `
` To undergo with me an enterprise `
` Of honorable-dangerous consequence; `
` And I do know by this, they stay for me `
` In Pompey's Porch. For now, this fearful night, `
` There is no stir or walking in the streets, `
` And the complexion of the element `
` In favor's like the work we have in hand, `
` Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible. `
` `
` Enter Cinna. `
` `
` CASCA. Stand close awhile, for here comes one in haste. `
`