Reading Help THE TRAGEDY OF JULIUS CAESAR
The secrets of my heart. `
` All my engagements I will construe to thee, `
` All the charactery of my sad brows. `
` Leave me with haste. [Exit Portia.] Lucius, who's that `
` knocks? `
` `
` Re-enter Lucius with Ligarius. `
` `
` LUCIUS. Here is a sick man that would speak with you. `
` BRUTUS. Caius Ligarius, that Metellus 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 hand `
` Any exploit worthy the name of honor. `
` 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 honorable loins! `
` Thou, like an exorcist, hast conjured up `
` My 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-fired I follow you, `
` To do I know not what; but it sufficeth `
` That Brutus leads me on. `
` BRUTUS. Follow me then. Exeunt. `
` `
` `
` `
` `
` SCENE II. `
` Caesar's house. Thunder and lightning. `
` `
` Enter Caesar, in his nightgown. `
` `
` CAESAR. Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace tonight. `
` Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out, `
` "Help, ho! They murther Caesar!" Who's within? `
` `
` Enter a Servant. `
` `
` SERVANT. My lord? `
` CAESAR. Go bid the priests do present sacrifice, `
` And bring me their opinions of success. `
` SERVANT. I will, my lord. Exit. `
` `
` Enter Calpurnia. `
` `
` CALPURNIA. What mean you, Caesar? Think you to walk forth? `
` You shall not stir out of your house today. `
` CAESAR. Caesar shall forth: the things that threaten'd me `
` Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they shall see `
` The face of Caesar, they are vanished. `
` CALPURNIA. Caesar, I I stood on ceremonies, `
` Yet now they fright me. There is one within, `
` Besides the things that we have heard and seen, `
` Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch. `
` A lioness hath whelped in the streets; `
` And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead; `
` Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds, `
` In ranks and squadrons and right form of war, `
` Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol; `
` The noise of battle hurtled in the air, `
` Horses did neigh and dying men did groan, `
` And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets. `
` O Caesar! These things are beyond all use, `
` And I do fear them. `
` CAESAR. What can be avoided `
` Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods? `
` Yet Caesar shall go forth, for these predictions `
` Are to the world in general as to Caesar. `
` CALPURNIA. When beggars die, there are no comets seen; `
` The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes. `
` CAESAR. Cowards die many times before their deaths; `
` The valiant never taste of death but once. `
` Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, `
` It seems to me most strange that men should fear `
` Seeing that death, a necessary end, `
` Will come when it will come. `
` `
` Re-enter Servant. `
` `
` What say the augurers? `
` SERVANT. They would not have you to stir forth today. `
` Plucking the entrails of an offering forth, `
` They could not find a heart within the beast. `
` CAESAR. The gods do this in shame of cowardice. `
` Caesar should be a beast without a heart `
` If he should stay at home today for fear. `
` No, Caesar shall not. Danger knows full well `
` That Caesar is more dangerous than he. `
` We are two lions litter'd in one day, `
` And I the elder and more terrible. `
` And Caesar shall go forth. `
` CALPURNIA. Alas, my lord, `
` Your wisdom is consumed in confidence. `
` Do not go forth today. Call it my fear `
` That keeps you in the house and not your own. `
` We'll send Mark Antony to the Senate House, `
` And he shall say you are not well today. `
` Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this. `
` CAESAR. Mark Antony shall say I am not well, `
` And, for thy humor, I will stay at home. `
` `
` Enter Decius. `
` `
` Here's Decius Brutus, he shall tell them so. `
` DECIUS. Caesar, all hail! Good morrow, worthy Caesar! `
` I come to fetch you to the Senate House. `
` CAESAR. And you are come in very happy time `
` To bear my greeting to the senators `
` And tell them that I will not come today. `
` Cannot, is false, and that I dare not, falser: `
` I will not come today. Tell them so, Decius. `
` CALPURNIA. Say he is sick. `
` CAESAR. Shall Caesar send a lie? `
` Have I in conquest stretch'd mine arm so far `
` To be afeard to tell greybeards the truth? `
` Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come. `
` DECIUS. Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause, `
` Lest I be laugh'd at when I tell them so. `
` CAESAR. The cause is in my will: I will not come, `
` That is enough to satisfy the Senate. `
` But, for your private satisfaction, `
` Because I love you, I will let you know. `
` Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at home; `
` She dreamt tonight she saw my statue, `
` Which, like a fountain with an hundred spouts, `
` Did run pure blood, and many lusty Romans `
` Came smiling and did bathe their hands in it. `
` And these does she apply for warnings and portents `
` And evils imminent, and on her knee `
` Hath begg'd that I will stay at home today. `
` DECIUS. This dream is all amiss interpreted; `
` It was a vision fair and fortunate. `
` Your statue spouting blood in many pipes, `
` In which so many smiling Romans bathed, `
` Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck `
` Reviving blood, and that great men shall press `
` For tinctures, stains, relics, and cognizance. `
` This by Calpurnia's dream is signified. `
` CAESAR. And this way have you well expounded it. `
` DECIUS. I have, when you have heard what I can say. `
` And know it now, the Senate have concluded `
` To give this day a crown to mighty Caesar. `
` If you shall send them word you will not come, `
` Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock `
` Apt to be render'd, for someone to say `
` "Break up the Senate till another time, `
` When Caesar's wife shall meet with better dreams." `
` If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper `
` "Lo, Caesar is afraid"? `
` Pardon me, Caesar, for my dear dear love `
` To your proceeding bids me tell you this, `
` And reason to my love is liable. `
` CAESAR. How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia! `
` I am ashamed I did yield to them. `
` Give me my robe, for I will go. `
` `
` Enter Publius, Brutus, Ligarius, Metellus, Casca, `
` Trebonius, and Cinna. `
` `
` And look where Publius is come to fetch me. `
` PUBLIUS. Good morrow,Caesar. `
` CAESAR. Welcome, Publius. `
` What, Brutus, are you stirr'd so early too? `
` Good morrow, Casca. Caius Ligarius, `
` Caesar was ne'er so much your enemy `
` As that same ague which hath made you lean. `
` What is't o'clock? `
` BRUTUS. Caesar, 'tis strucken eight. `
` CAESAR. I thank you for your pains and courtesy. `
` `
` Enter Antony. `
` `
` See, Antony, that revels long o' nights, `
` Is notwithstanding up. Good morrow, Antony. `
` ANTONY. So to most noble Caesar. `
` CAESAR. Bid them prepare within. `
` I am to blame to be thus waited for. `
` Now, Cinna; now, Metellus; what, Trebonius, `
` I have an hour's talk in store for you; `
` Remember that you call on me today; `
` Be near me, that I may remember you. `
` TREBONIUS. Caesar, I will. [Aside.] And so near will I be `
` That your best friends shall wish I had been further. `
` CAESAR. Good friends, go in and taste some wine with me, `
` And we like friends will straightway go together. `
` BRUTUS. [Aside.] That every like is not the same, O Caesar, `
` The heart of Brutus yearns to think upon! Exeunt. `
` `
` `
`
` All my engagements I will construe to thee, `
` All the charactery of my sad brows. `
` Leave me with haste. [Exit Portia.] Lucius, who's that `
` knocks? `
` `
` Re-enter Lucius with Ligarius. `
` `
` LUCIUS. Here is a sick man that would speak with you. `
` BRUTUS. Caius Ligarius, that Metellus 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 hand `
` Any exploit worthy the name of honor. `
` 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 honorable loins! `
` Thou, like an exorcist, hast conjured up `
` My 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-fired I follow you, `
` To do I know not what; but it sufficeth `
` That Brutus leads me on. `
` BRUTUS. Follow me then. Exeunt. `
` `
` `
` `
` `
` SCENE II. `
` Caesar's house. Thunder and lightning. `
` `
` Enter Caesar, in his nightgown. `
` `
` CAESAR. Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace tonight. `
` Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out, `
` "Help, ho! They murther Caesar!" Who's within? `
` `
` Enter a Servant. `
` `
` SERVANT. My lord? `
` CAESAR. Go bid the priests do present sacrifice, `
` And bring me their opinions of success. `
` SERVANT. I will, my lord. Exit. `
` `
` Enter Calpurnia. `
` `
` CALPURNIA. What mean you, Caesar? Think you to walk forth? `
` You shall not stir out of your house today. `
` CAESAR. Caesar shall forth: the things that threaten'd me `
` Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they shall see `
` The face of Caesar, they are vanished. `
` CALPURNIA. Caesar, I I stood on ceremonies, `
` Yet now they fright me. There is one within, `
` Besides the things that we have heard and seen, `
` Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch. `
` A lioness hath whelped in the streets; `
` And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead; `
` Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds, `
` In ranks and squadrons and right form of war, `
` Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol; `
` The noise of battle hurtled in the air, `
` Horses did neigh and dying men did groan, `
` And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets. `
` O Caesar! These things are beyond all use, `
` And I do fear them. `
` CAESAR. What can be avoided `
` Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods? `
` Yet Caesar shall go forth, for these predictions `
` Are to the world in general as to Caesar. `
` CALPURNIA. When beggars die, there are no comets seen; `
` The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes. `
` CAESAR. Cowards die many times before their deaths; `
` The valiant never taste of death but once. `
` Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, `
` It seems to me most strange that men should fear `
` Seeing that death, a necessary end, `
` Will come when it will come. `
` `
` Re-enter Servant. `
` `
` What say the augurers? `
` SERVANT. They would not have you to stir forth today. `
` Plucking the entrails of an offering forth, `
` They could not find a heart within the beast. `
` CAESAR. The gods do this in shame of cowardice. `
` Caesar should be a beast without a heart `
` If he should stay at home today for fear. `
` No, Caesar shall not. Danger knows full well `
` That Caesar is more dangerous than he. `
` We are two lions litter'd in one day, `
` And I the elder and more terrible. `
` And Caesar shall go forth. `
` CALPURNIA. Alas, my lord, `
` Your wisdom is consumed in confidence. `
` Do not go forth today. Call it my fear `
` That keeps you in the house and not your own. `
` We'll send Mark Antony to the Senate House, `
` And he shall say you are not well today. `
` Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this. `
` CAESAR. Mark Antony shall say I am not well, `
` And, for thy humor, I will stay at home. `
` `
` Enter Decius. `
` `
` Here's Decius Brutus, he shall tell them so. `
` DECIUS. Caesar, all hail! Good morrow, worthy Caesar! `
` I come to fetch you to the Senate House. `
` CAESAR. And you are come in very happy time `
` To bear my greeting to the senators `
` And tell them that I will not come today. `
` Cannot, is false, and that I dare not, falser: `
` I will not come today. Tell them so, Decius. `
` CALPURNIA. Say he is sick. `
` CAESAR. Shall Caesar send a lie? `
` Have I in conquest stretch'd mine arm so far `
` To be afeard to tell greybeards the truth? `
` Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come. `
` DECIUS. Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause, `
` Lest I be laugh'd at when I tell them so. `
` CAESAR. The cause is in my will: I will not come, `
` That is enough to satisfy the Senate. `
` But, for your private satisfaction, `
` Because I love you, I will let you know. `
` Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at home; `
` She dreamt tonight she saw my statue, `
` Which, like a fountain with an hundred spouts, `
` Did run pure blood, and many lusty Romans `
` Came smiling and did bathe their hands in it. `
` And these does she apply for warnings and portents `
` And evils imminent, and on her knee `
` Hath begg'd that I will stay at home today. `
` DECIUS. This dream is all amiss interpreted; `
` It was a vision fair and fortunate. `
` Your statue spouting blood in many pipes, `
` In which so many smiling Romans bathed, `
` Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck `
` Reviving blood, and that great men shall press `
` For tinctures, stains, relics, and cognizance. `
` This by Calpurnia's dream is signified. `
` CAESAR. And this way have you well expounded it. `
` DECIUS. I have, when you have heard what I can say. `
` And know it now, the Senate have concluded `
` To give this day a crown to mighty Caesar. `
` If you shall send them word you will not come, `
` Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock `
` Apt to be render'd, for someone to say `
` "Break up the Senate till another time, `
` When Caesar's wife shall meet with better dreams." `
` If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper `
` "Lo, Caesar is afraid"? `
` Pardon me, Caesar, for my dear dear love `
` To your proceeding bids me tell you this, `
` And reason to my love is liable. `
` CAESAR. How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia! `
` I am ashamed I did yield to them. `
` Give me my robe, for I will go. `
` `
` Enter Publius, Brutus, Ligarius, Metellus, Casca, `
` Trebonius, and Cinna. `
` `
` And look where Publius is come to fetch me. `
` PUBLIUS. Good morrow,Caesar. `
` CAESAR. Welcome, Publius. `
` What, Brutus, are you stirr'd so early too? `
` Good morrow, Casca. Caius Ligarius, `
` Caesar was ne'er so much your enemy `
` As that same ague which hath made you lean. `
` What is't o'clock? `
` BRUTUS. Caesar, 'tis strucken eight. `
` CAESAR. I thank you for your pains and courtesy. `
` `
` Enter Antony. `
` `
` See, Antony, that revels long o' nights, `
` Is notwithstanding up. Good morrow, Antony. `
` ANTONY. So to most noble Caesar. `
` CAESAR. Bid them prepare within. `
` I am to blame to be thus waited for. `
` Now, Cinna; now, Metellus; what, Trebonius, `
` I have an hour's talk in store for you; `
` Remember that you call on me today; `
` Be near me, that I may remember you. `
` TREBONIUS. Caesar, I will. [Aside.] And so near will I be `
` That your best friends shall wish I had been further. `
` CAESAR. Good friends, go in and taste some wine with me, `
` And we like friends will straightway go together. `
` BRUTUS. [Aside.] That every like is not the same, O Caesar, `
` The heart of Brutus yearns to think upon! Exeunt. `
` `
` `
`