Reading Help THE TRAGEDY OF JULIUS CAESAR
I do desire no more. `
` BRUTUS. Prepare the body then, and follow us. `
` Exeunt all but Antony. `
` ANTONY. O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, `
` That I am meek and gentle with these butchers! `
` Thou art the ruins of the noblest man `
` That ever lived in the tide of times. `
` Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood! `
` Over thy wounds now do I prophesy `
` (Which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips `
` To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue) `
` A curse shall light upon the limbs of men; `
` Domestic fury and fierce civil strife `
` Shall cumber all the parts of Italy; `
` Blood and destruction shall be so in use, `
` And dreadful objects so familiar, `
` That mothers shall but smile when they behold `
` Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war; `
` All pity choked with custom of fell deeds, `
` And Caesar's spirit ranging for revenge, `
` With Ate by his side come hot from hell, `
` Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice `
` Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war, `
` That this foul deed shall smell above the earth `
` With carrion men, groaning for burial. `
` `
` Enter a Servant. `
` `
` You serve Octavius Caesar, do you not? `
` SERVANT. I do, Mark Antony. `
` ANTONY. Caesar did write for him to come to Rome. `
` SERVANT. He did receive his letters, and is coming, `
` And bid me say to you by word of mouth- `
` O Caesar! Sees the body. `
` ANTONY. Thy heart is big; get thee apart and weep. `
` Passion, I see, is catching, for mine eyes, `
` Seeing those beads of sorrow stand in thine, `
` Began to water. Is thy master coming? `
` SERVANT. He lies tonight within seven leagues of Rome. `
` ANTONY. Post back with speed and tell him what hath chanced. `
` Here is a mourning Rome, a dangerous Rome, `
` No Rome of safety for Octavius yet; `
` Hie hence, and tell him so. Yet stay awhile, `
` Thou shalt not back till I have borne this corse `
` Into the marketplace. There shall I try, `
` In my oration, how the people take `
` The cruel issue of these bloody men, `
` According to the which thou shalt discourse `
` To young Octavius of the state of things. `
` Lend me your hand. Exeunt with Caesar's body. `
` `
` `
` `
` `
` SCENE II. `
` The Forum. `
` `
` Enter Brutus and Cassius, and a throng of Citizens. `
` `
` CITIZENS. We will be satisfied! Let us be satisfied! `
` BRUTUS. Then follow me and give me audience, friends. `
` Cassius, go you into the other street `
` And part the numbers. `
` Those that will hear me speak, let 'em stay here; `
` Those that will follow Cassius, go with him; `
` And public reasons shall be rendered `
` Of Caesar's death. `
` FIRST CITIZEN. I will hear Brutus speak. `
` SECOND CITIZEN. I will hear Cassius and compare their reasons, `
` When severally we hear them rendered. `
` Exit Cassius, with some Citizens. `
` Brutus goes into the pulpit. `
` THIRD CITIZEN. The noble Brutus is ascended. Silence! `
` BRUTUS. Be patient till the last. `
` Romans, countrymen, and lovers! Hear me for my cause, and be `
` silent, that you may hear. Believe me for mine honor, and `
` have `
` respect to mine honor, that you may believe. Censure me in `
` your `
` wisdom, and awake your senses, that you may the better judge. `
` If `
` there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar's, `
` to `
` him I say that Brutus' love to Caesar was no less than his. `
` If `
` then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this `
` is `
` my answer: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved `
` Rome `
` more. Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, `
` than `
` that Caesar were dead to live all freemen? As Caesar loved `
` me, I `
` weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was `
` valiant, I honor him; but as he was ambitious, I slew him. `
` There `
` is tears for his love, joy for his fortune, honor for his `
` valor, `
` and death for his ambition. Who is here so base that would be `
` a `
` bondman? If any, speak, for him have I offended. Who is here `
` so `
` rude that would not be a Roman? If any, speak, for him have I `
` offended. Who is here so vile that will not love his country? `
` If `
` any, speak, for him have I offended. I pause for a reply. `
` ALL. None, Brutus, none. `
` BRUTUS. Then none have I offended. I have done no more to `
` Caesar `
` than you shall do to Brutus. The question of his death is `
` enrolled in the Capitol, his glory not extenuated, wherein he `
` was `
` worthy, nor his offenses enforced, for which he suffered `
` death. `
` `
` Enter Antony and others, with Caesar's body. `
` `
` Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony, who, though he `
` had `
` no hand in his death, shall receive the benefit of his dying, `
` a `
` place in the commonwealth, as which of you shall not? With `
` this I `
` depart- that, as I slew my best lover for the good of Rome, I `
` have the same dagger for myself, when it shall please my `
` country `
` to need my death. `
` ALL. Live, Brutus, live, live! `
` FIRST CITIZEN. Bring him with triumph home unto his house. `
` SECOND CITIZEN. Give him a statue with his ancestors. `
` THIRD CITIZEN. Let him be Caesar. `
` FOURTH CITIZEN. Caesar's better parts `
` Shall be crown'd in Brutus. `
` FIRST CITIZEN. We'll bring him to his house with shouts and `
` clamors. `
` BRUTUS. My countrymen- `
` SECOND CITIZEN. Peace! Silence! Brutus speaks. `
` FIRST CITIZEN. Peace, ho! `
` BRUTUS. Good countrymen, let me depart alone, `
` And, for my sake, stay here with Antony. `
` Do grace to Caesar's corse, and grace his speech `
` Tending to Caesar's glories, which Mark Antony, `
` By our permission, is allow'd to make. `
` I do entreat you, not a man depart, `
` Save I alone, till Antony have spoke. Exit. `
` FIRST CITIZEN. Stay, ho, and let us hear Mark Antony. `
` THIRD CITIZEN. Let him go up into the public chair; `
` We'll hear him. Noble Antony, go up. `
` ANTONY. For Brutus' sake, I am beholding to you. `
` Goes into the pulpit. `
` FOURTH CITIZEN. What does he say of Brutus? `
` THIRD CITIZEN. He says, for Brutus' sake, `
` He finds himself beholding to us all. `
` FOURTH CITIZEN. 'Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here. `
` FIRST CITIZEN. This Caesar was a tyrant. `
` THIRD CITIZEN. Nay, that's certain. `
` We are blest that Rome is rid of him. `
` SECOND CITIZEN. Peace! Let us hear what Antony can say. `
` ANTONY. You gentle Romans- `
` ALL. Peace, ho! Let us hear him. `
` ANTONY. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears! `
` I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. `
` The evil that men do lives after them, `
` The good is oft interred with their bones; `
` So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus `
` Hath told you Caesar was ambitious; `
` If it were so, it was a grievous fault, `
` And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it. `
` Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest- `
` For Brutus is an honorable man; `
` So are they all, all honorable men- `
` Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral. `
` He was my friend, faithful and just to me; `
` But Brutus says he was ambitious, `
` And Brutus is an honorable man. `
` He hath brought many captives home to Rome, `
` Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill. `
` Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? `
` When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; `
` Ambition should be made of sterner stuff: `
` Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, `
` And Brutus is an honorable man. `
` You all did see that on the Lupercal `
` I thrice presented him a kingly crown, `
` Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition? `
` Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, `
` And sure he is an honorable man. `
` I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, `
` But here I am to speak what I do know. `
` You all did love him once, not without cause; `
` What cause withholds you then to mourn for him? `
` O judgement, thou art fled to brutish beasts, `
` And men have lost their reason. Bear with me; `
` My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, `
` And I must pause till it come back to me. `
` FIRST CITIZEN. Methinks there is much reason in his sayings. `
` SECOND CITIZEN. If thou consider rightly of the matter, `
` Caesar has had great wrong. `
` THIRD CITIZEN. Has he, masters? `
` I fear there will a worse come in his place. `
` FOURTH CITIZEN. Mark'd ye his words? He would not take the `
`
` BRUTUS. Prepare the body then, and follow us. `
` Exeunt all but Antony. `
` ANTONY. O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, `
` That I am meek and gentle with these butchers! `
` Thou art the ruins of the noblest man `
` That ever lived in the tide of times. `
` Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood! `
` Over thy wounds now do I prophesy `
` (Which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips `
` To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue) `
` A curse shall light upon the limbs of men; `
` Domestic fury and fierce civil strife `
` Shall cumber all the parts of Italy; `
` Blood and destruction shall be so in use, `
` And dreadful objects so familiar, `
` That mothers shall but smile when they behold `
` Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war; `
` All pity choked with custom of fell deeds, `
` And Caesar's spirit ranging for revenge, `
` With Ate by his side come hot from hell, `
` Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice `
` Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war, `
` That this foul deed shall smell above the earth `
` With carrion men, groaning for burial. `
` `
` Enter a Servant. `
` `
` You serve Octavius Caesar, do you not? `
` SERVANT. I do, Mark Antony. `
` ANTONY. Caesar did write for him to come to Rome. `
` SERVANT. He did receive his letters, and is coming, `
` And bid me say to you by word of mouth- `
` O Caesar! Sees the body. `
` ANTONY. Thy heart is big; get thee apart and weep. `
` Passion, I see, is catching, for mine eyes, `
` Seeing those beads of sorrow stand in thine, `
` Began to water. Is thy master coming? `
` SERVANT. He lies tonight within seven leagues of Rome. `
` ANTONY. Post back with speed and tell him what hath chanced. `
` Here is a mourning Rome, a dangerous Rome, `
` No Rome of safety for Octavius yet; `
` Hie hence, and tell him so. Yet stay awhile, `
` Thou shalt not back till I have borne this corse `
` Into the marketplace. There shall I try, `
` In my oration, how the people take `
` The cruel issue of these bloody men, `
` According to the which thou shalt discourse `
` To young Octavius of the state of things. `
` Lend me your hand. Exeunt with Caesar's body. `
` `
` `
` `
` `
` SCENE II. `
` The Forum. `
` `
` Enter Brutus and Cassius, and a throng of Citizens. `
` `
` CITIZENS. We will be satisfied! Let us be satisfied! `
` BRUTUS. Then follow me and give me audience, friends. `
` Cassius, go you into the other street `
` And part the numbers. `
` Those that will hear me speak, let 'em stay here; `
` Those that will follow Cassius, go with him; `
` And public reasons shall be rendered `
` Of Caesar's death. `
` FIRST CITIZEN. I will hear Brutus speak. `
` SECOND CITIZEN. I will hear Cassius and compare their reasons, `
` When severally we hear them rendered. `
` Exit Cassius, with some Citizens. `
` Brutus goes into the pulpit. `
` THIRD CITIZEN. The noble Brutus is ascended. Silence! `
` BRUTUS. Be patient till the last. `
` Romans, countrymen, and lovers! Hear me for my cause, and be `
` silent, that you may hear. Believe me for mine honor, and `
` have `
` respect to mine honor, that you may believe. Censure me in `
` your `
` wisdom, and awake your senses, that you may the better judge. `
` If `
` there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar's, `
` to `
` him I say that Brutus' love to Caesar was no less than his. `
` If `
` then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this `
` is `
` my answer: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved `
` Rome `
` more. Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, `
` than `
` that Caesar were dead to live all freemen? As Caesar loved `
` me, I `
` weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was `
` valiant, I honor him; but as he was ambitious, I slew him. `
` There `
` is tears for his love, joy for his fortune, honor for his `
` valor, `
` and death for his ambition. Who is here so base that would be `
` a `
` bondman? If any, speak, for him have I offended. Who is here `
` so `
` rude that would not be a Roman? If any, speak, for him have I `
` offended. Who is here so vile that will not love his country? `
` If `
` any, speak, for him have I offended. I pause for a reply. `
` ALL. None, Brutus, none. `
` BRUTUS. Then none have I offended. I have done no more to `
` Caesar `
` than you shall do to Brutus. The question of his death is `
` enrolled in the Capitol, his glory not extenuated, wherein he `
` was `
` worthy, nor his offenses enforced, for which he suffered `
` death. `
` `
` Enter Antony and others, with Caesar's body. `
` `
` Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony, who, though he `
` had `
` no hand in his death, shall receive the benefit of his dying, `
` a `
` place in the commonwealth, as which of you shall not? With `
` this I `
` depart- that, as I slew my best lover for the good of Rome, I `
` have the same dagger for myself, when it shall please my `
` country `
` to need my death. `
` ALL. Live, Brutus, live, live! `
` FIRST CITIZEN. Bring him with triumph home unto his house. `
` SECOND CITIZEN. Give him a statue with his ancestors. `
` THIRD CITIZEN. Let him be Caesar. `
` FOURTH CITIZEN. Caesar's better parts `
` Shall be crown'd in Brutus. `
` FIRST CITIZEN. We'll bring him to his house with shouts and `
` clamors. `
` BRUTUS. My countrymen- `
` SECOND CITIZEN. Peace! Silence! Brutus speaks. `
` FIRST CITIZEN. Peace, ho! `
` BRUTUS. Good countrymen, let me depart alone, `
` And, for my sake, stay here with Antony. `
` Do grace to Caesar's corse, and grace his speech `
` Tending to Caesar's glories, which Mark Antony, `
` By our permission, is allow'd to make. `
` I do entreat you, not a man depart, `
` Save I alone, till Antony have spoke. Exit. `
` FIRST CITIZEN. Stay, ho, and let us hear Mark Antony. `
` THIRD CITIZEN. Let him go up into the public chair; `
` We'll hear him. Noble Antony, go up. `
` ANTONY. For Brutus' sake, I am beholding to you. `
` Goes into the pulpit. `
` FOURTH CITIZEN. What does he say of Brutus? `
` THIRD CITIZEN. He says, for Brutus' sake, `
` He finds himself beholding to us all. `
` FOURTH CITIZEN. 'Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here. `
` FIRST CITIZEN. This Caesar was a tyrant. `
` THIRD CITIZEN. Nay, that's certain. `
` We are blest that Rome is rid of him. `
` SECOND CITIZEN. Peace! Let us hear what Antony can say. `
` ANTONY. You gentle Romans- `
` ALL. Peace, ho! Let us hear him. `
` ANTONY. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears! `
` I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. `
` The evil that men do lives after them, `
` The good is oft interred with their bones; `
` So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus `
` Hath told you Caesar was ambitious; `
` If it were so, it was a grievous fault, `
` And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it. `
` Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest- `
` For Brutus is an honorable man; `
` So are they all, all honorable men- `
` Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral. `
` He was my friend, faithful and just to me; `
` But Brutus says he was ambitious, `
` And Brutus is an honorable man. `
` He hath brought many captives home to Rome, `
` Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill. `
` Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? `
` When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; `
` Ambition should be made of sterner stuff: `
` Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, `
` And Brutus is an honorable man. `
` You all did see that on the Lupercal `
` I thrice presented him a kingly crown, `
` Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition? `
` Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, `
` And sure he is an honorable man. `
` I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, `
` But here I am to speak what I do know. `
` You all did love him once, not without cause; `
` What cause withholds you then to mourn for him? `
` O judgement, thou art fled to brutish beasts, `
` And men have lost their reason. Bear with me; `
` My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, `
` And I must pause till it come back to me. `
` FIRST CITIZEN. Methinks there is much reason in his sayings. `
` SECOND CITIZEN. If thou consider rightly of the matter, `
` Caesar has had great wrong. `
` THIRD CITIZEN. Has he, masters? `
` I fear there will a worse come in his place. `
` FOURTH CITIZEN. Mark'd ye his words? He would not take the `
`