Reading Help THE TRAGEDY OF JULIUS CAESAR
CASCA. Stand close awhile, for here comes one in haste. `
` CASSIUS. 'Tis Cinna, I do know him by his gait; `
` He is a friend. Cinna, where haste you so? `
` CINNA. To find out you. Who's that? Metellus Cimber? `
` CASSIUS. No, it is Casca, one incorporate `
` To our attempts. Am I not stay'd for, Cinna? `
` CINNA. I am glad on't. What a fearful night is this! `
` There's two or three of us have seen strange sights. `
` CASSIUS. Am I not stay'd for? Tell me. `
` CINNA. Yes, you are. `
` O Cassius, if you could `
` But win the noble Brutus to our party- `
` CASSIUS. Be you content. Good Cinna, take this paper, `
` And look you lay it in the praetor's chair, `
` Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this `
` In at his window; set this up with wax `
` Upon old Brutus' statue. All this done, `
` Repair to Pompey's Porch, where you shall find us. `
` Is Decius Brutus and Trebonius there? `
` CINNA. All but Metellus Cimber, and he's gone `
` To seek you at your house. Well, I will hie `
` And so bestow these papers as you bade me. `
` CASSIUS. That done, repair to Pompey's Theatre. `
` Exit Cinna. `
` Come, Casca, you and I will yet ere day `
` See Brutus at his house. Three parts of him `
` Is ours already, and the man entire `
` Upon the next encounter yields him ours. `
` CASCA. O, he sits high in all the people's hearts, `
` And that which would appear offense in us, `
` His countenance, like richest alchemy, `
` Will change to virtue and to worthiness. `
` CASSIUS. Him and his worth and our great need of him `
` You have right well conceited. Let us go, `
` For it is after midnight, and ere day `
` We will awake him and be sure of him. Exeunt. `
` `
` `
` `
` `
` <<THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM `
` SHAKESPEARE IS COPYRIGHT 1990-1993 BY WORLD LIBRARY, INC., AND IS `
` PROVIDED BY PROJECT GUTENBERG ETEXT OF CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY `
` WITH PERMISSION. ELECTRONIC AND MACHINE READABLE COPIES MAY BE `
` DISTRIBUTED SO LONG AS SUCH COPIES (1) ARE FOR YOUR OR OTHERS `
` PERSONAL USE ONLY, AND (2) ARE NOT DISTRIBUTED OR USED `
` COMMERCIALLY. PROHIBITED COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION INCLUDES BY ANY `
` SERVICE THAT CHARGES FOR DOWNLOAD TIME OR FOR MEMBERSHIP.>> `
` `
` `
` `
` ACT II. SCENE I. `
` `
` Enter Brutus in his orchard. `
` `
` 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. `
` The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins `
` Remorse from power, and, to speak truth of Caesar, `
` I have not known when his affections sway'd `
` More 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 degrees `
` By which he did ascend. So Caesar may; `
` Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel `
` Will bear no color 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 egg `
` Which hatch'd would as his kind grow mischievous, `
` And kill him in the shell. `
` `
` Re-enter Lucius. `
` `
` LUCIUS. The taper burneth in your closet, sir. `
` Searching the window for a flint I found `
` This paper thus seal'd up, and I am sure `
` It 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 ides of March? `
` LUCIUS. I know not, sir. `
` BRUTUS. Look in the calendar and bring me word. `
` LUCIUS. I will, sir. Exit. `
` BRUTUS. The exhalations whizzing in the air `
` Give so much light that I may read by them. `
` Opens the letter and reads. `
` "Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake and see thyself! `
` Shall Rome, etc. Speak, strike, redress!" `
` `
` "Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake!" `
` Such instigations have been often dropp'd `
` Where I have took them up. `
` "Shall Rome, etc." 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 call'd 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. `
` `
` LUCIUS. Sir, March is wasted fifteen days. `
` Knocking within. `
` BRUTUS. 'Tis good. Go to the gate, somebody knocks. `
` Exit Lucius. `
` Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar `
` I have not slept. `
` Between the acting of a dreadful thing `
` And the first motion, all the interim is `
` Like a phantasma or a hideous dream; `
` The genius and the mortal instruments `
` Are then in council, and the state of man, `
` Like to a little kingdom, suffers then `
` The nature of an insurrection. `
` `
` Re-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 more 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 them `
` By any mark of favor. `
` BRUTUS. Let 'em enter. Exit Lucius. `
` They are the faction. O Conspiracy, `
` Shamest 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 the conspirators, 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 here `
` But honors you, and every one doth wish `
` You had but that opinion of yourself `
` Which every noble Roman bears of you. `
` This is Trebonius. `
` BRUTUS. He is welcome hither. `
` CASSIUS. This, Decius Brutus. `
` BRUTUS. He is welcome too. `
` CASSIUS. This, Casca; this, Cinna; and this, Metellus Cimber. `
` BRUTUS. They are all welcome. `
` What watchful cares do interpose themselves `
` Betwixt 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 yongrey lines `
` That fret the clouds are messengers of day. `
` CASCA. You shall confess that you are both deceived. `
` 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 north `
` He first presents his fire, and the high east `
` Stands 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, `
`
` CASSIUS. 'Tis Cinna, I do know him by his gait; `
` He is a friend. Cinna, where haste you so? `
` CINNA. To find out you. Who's that? Metellus Cimber? `
` CASSIUS. No, it is Casca, one incorporate `
` To our attempts. Am I not stay'd for, Cinna? `
` CINNA. I am glad on't. What a fearful night is this! `
` There's two or three of us have seen strange sights. `
` CASSIUS. Am I not stay'd for? Tell me. `
` CINNA. Yes, you are. `
` O Cassius, if you could `
` But win the noble Brutus to our party- `
` CASSIUS. Be you content. Good Cinna, take this paper, `
` And look you lay it in the praetor's chair, `
` Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this `
` In at his window; set this up with wax `
` Upon old Brutus' statue. All this done, `
` Repair to Pompey's Porch, where you shall find us. `
` Is Decius Brutus and Trebonius there? `
` CINNA. All but Metellus Cimber, and he's gone `
` To seek you at your house. Well, I will hie `
` And so bestow these papers as you bade me. `
` CASSIUS. That done, repair to Pompey's Theatre. `
` Exit Cinna. `
` Come, Casca, you and I will yet ere day `
` See Brutus at his house. Three parts of him `
` Is ours already, and the man entire `
` Upon the next encounter yields him ours. `
` CASCA. O, he sits high in all the people's hearts, `
` And that which would appear offense in us, `
` His countenance, like richest alchemy, `
` Will change to virtue and to worthiness. `
` CASSIUS. Him and his worth and our great need of him `
` You have right well conceited. Let us go, `
` For it is after midnight, and ere day `
` We will awake him and be sure of him. Exeunt. `
` `
` `
` `
` `
` <<THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM `
` SHAKESPEARE IS COPYRIGHT 1990-1993 BY WORLD LIBRARY, INC., AND IS `
` PROVIDED BY PROJECT GUTENBERG ETEXT OF CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY `
` WITH PERMISSION. ELECTRONIC AND MACHINE READABLE COPIES MAY BE `
` DISTRIBUTED SO LONG AS SUCH COPIES (1) ARE FOR YOUR OR OTHERS `
` PERSONAL USE ONLY, AND (2) ARE NOT DISTRIBUTED OR USED `
` COMMERCIALLY. PROHIBITED COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION INCLUDES BY ANY `
` SERVICE THAT CHARGES FOR DOWNLOAD TIME OR FOR MEMBERSHIP.>> `
` `
` `
` `
` ACT II. SCENE I. `
` `
` Enter Brutus in his orchard. `
` `
` 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. `
` The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins `
` Remorse from power, and, to speak truth of Caesar, `
` I have not known when his affections sway'd `
` More 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 degrees `
` By which he did ascend. So Caesar may; `
` Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel `
` Will bear no color 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 egg `
` Which hatch'd would as his kind grow mischievous, `
` And kill him in the shell. `
` `
` Re-enter Lucius. `
` `
` LUCIUS. The taper burneth in your closet, sir. `
` Searching the window for a flint I found `
` This paper thus seal'd up, and I am sure `
` It 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 ides of March? `
` LUCIUS. I know not, sir. `
` BRUTUS. Look in the calendar and bring me word. `
` LUCIUS. I will, sir. Exit. `
` BRUTUS. The exhalations whizzing in the air `
` Give so much light that I may read by them. `
` Opens the letter and reads. `
` "Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake and see thyself! `
` Shall Rome, etc. Speak, strike, redress!" `
` `
` "Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake!" `
` Such instigations have been often dropp'd `
` Where I have took them up. `
` "Shall Rome, etc." 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 call'd 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. `
` `
` LUCIUS. Sir, March is wasted fifteen days. `
` Knocking within. `
` BRUTUS. 'Tis good. Go to the gate, somebody knocks. `
` Exit Lucius. `
` Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar `
` I have not slept. `
` Between the acting of a dreadful thing `
` And the first motion, all the interim is `
` Like a phantasma or a hideous dream; `
` The genius and the mortal instruments `
` Are then in council, and the state of man, `
` Like to a little kingdom, suffers then `
` The nature of an insurrection. `
` `
` Re-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 more 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 them `
` By any mark of favor. `
` BRUTUS. Let 'em enter. Exit Lucius. `
` They are the faction. O Conspiracy, `
` Shamest 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 the conspirators, 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 here `
` But honors you, and every one doth wish `
` You had but that opinion of yourself `
` Which every noble Roman bears of you. `
` This is Trebonius. `
` BRUTUS. He is welcome hither. `
` CASSIUS. This, Decius Brutus. `
` BRUTUS. He is welcome too. `
` CASSIUS. This, Casca; this, Cinna; and this, Metellus Cimber. `
` BRUTUS. They are all welcome. `
` What watchful cares do interpose themselves `
` Betwixt 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 yongrey lines `
` That fret the clouds are messengers of day. `
` CASCA. You shall confess that you are both deceived. `
` 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 north `
` He first presents his fire, and the high east `
` Stands 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, `
`