The Tragedy of Julius Caesar/Act II

== ACT II. ==
=== SCENE I. Rome. BRUTUS'S orchard. ===
[Enter Brutus.]
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.
:Th' 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.
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, &c. Speak, strike, redress—!
:Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake!—"
:Such instigations have been often dropp'd
:Where I have took them up.
:"Shall Rome, & c." 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, then,
: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 pass, thy native semblance on,
:Not Erebus itself were dim enough
:To hide thee from prevention.
[Enter 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?
[BRUTUS and CASSIUS whisper apart.]
DECIUS.
:Here lies the east: doth not the day break here?
CASCA.
:No.
CINNA.
:O, pardon, sir, it doth, and yon grey 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,
:As I am sure they do, bear fire enough
:To kindle cowards, and to steel with valour
:The melting spirits of women; then, countrymen,
:What need we any spur but our own cause
:To prick us to redress? what other bond
:Than secret Romans, that have spoke the word,
:And will not palter? and what other oath
:Than honesty to honesty engaged,
:That this shall be, or we will fall for it?
:Swear priests, and cowards, and men cautelous,
:Old feeble carrions, and such suffering souls
:That welcome wrongs; unto bad causes swear
:Such creatures as men doubt: but do not stain
:The even virtue of our enterprise,
:Nor th' insuppressive mettle of our spirits,
:To think that or our cause or our performance
:Did need an oath; when every drop of blood
:That every Roman bears, and nobly bears,
:Is guilty of a several bastardy,
:If he do break the smallest particle
:Of any promise that hath pass'd from him.
CASSIUS.
:But what of Cicero? Shall we sound him?
:I think he will stand very strong with us.
CASCA.
:Let us not leave him out.
CINNA.
:No, by no means.
METELLUS.
:O, let us have him! for his silver hairs
:Will purchase us a good opinion,
:And buy men's voices to commend our deeds:
:It shall be said, his judgment ruled our hands;
:Our youths and wildness shall no whit appear,
:But all be buried in his gravity.
BRUTUS.
:O, name him not! let us not break with him;
:For he will never follow any thing
:That other men begin.
CASSIUS.
:Then leave him out.
CASCA.
:Indeed, he is not fit.
DECIUS.
:Shall no man else be touch'd but only Caesar?
CASSIUS.
:Decius, well urged.—I think it is not meet,
:Mark Antony, so well beloved of Caesar,
:Should outlive Caesar: we shall find of him
:A shrewd contriver; and you know his means,
:If he improve them, may well stretch so far
:As to annoy us all: which to prevent,
:Let Antony and Caesar fall together.
BRUTUS.
:Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius,
:To cut the head off, and then hack the limbs,
:Like wrath in death, and envy afterwards;
:For Antony is but a limb of Caesar.
:Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.
:We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar;
:And in the spirit of men there is no blood:
:O, that we then could come by Caesar's spirit,
:And not dismember Caesar! But, alas,
:Caesar must bleed for it! And, gentle friends,
:Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;
:Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods,
:Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds;
:And let our hearts, as subtle masters do,
:Stir up their servants to an act of rage,
:And after seem to chide 'em. This shall mark
:Our purpose necessary, and not envious;
:Which so appearing to the common eyes,
:We shall be call'd purgers, not murderers.
:And for Mark Antony, think not of him;
:For he can do no more than Caesar's arm
:When Caesar's head is off.
CASSIUS.
:Yet I do fear him;
:For in th' ingrafted love he bears to Caesar—
BRUTUS.
:Alas, good Cassius, do not think of him:
:If he love Caesar, all that he can do
:Is to himself,—take thought and die for Caesar.
:And that were much he should; for he is given
:To sports, to wildness, and much company.
TREBONIUS.
:There is no fear in him; let him not die;
:For he will live, and laugh at this hereafter.
[Clock strikes.]
BRUTUS.
:Peace! count the clock.
CASSIUS.
:The clock hath stricken three.
TREBONIUS.
:'Tis time to part.
CASSIUS.
:But it is doubtful yet
:Whether Caesar will come forth today or no;
:For he is superstitious grown of late,
:Quite from the main opinion he held once
:Of fantasy, of dreams, and ceremonies.
:It may be these apparent prodigies,
:The unaccustom'd terror of this night,
:And the persuasion of his augurers
:May hold him from the Capitol to-day.
DECIUS.
:Never fear that: if he be so resolved,
:I can o'ersway him, for he loves to hear
:That unicorns may be betray'd with trees,
:And bears with glasses, elephants with holes,
:Lions with toils, and men with flatterers:
:But when I tell him he hates flatterers,
:He says he does, being then most flattered.
:Let me work;
:For I can give his humor the true bent,
:And I will bring him to the Capitol.
CASSIUS.
:Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him.
BRUTUS.
:By the eighth hour: is that the uttermost?
CINNA.
:Be that the uttermost; and fail not then.
METELLUS.
:Caius Ligarius doth bear Caesar hard,
:Who rated him for speaking well of Pompey:
:I wonder none of you have thought of him.
BRUTUS.
:Now, good Metellus, go along by him:
:He loves me well, and I have given him reason;
:Send him but hither, and I'll fashion him.
CASSIUS.
:The morning comes upon 's. We'll leave you, Brutus;—
:And, friends, disperse yourselves, but all remember
:What you have said, and show yourselves true Romans.
BRUTUS.
:Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily;
:Let not our looks put on our purposes,
:But bear it as our Roman actors do,
:With untired spirits and formal constancy:
:And so, good morrow to you every one.—
[Exeunt all but Brutus.]
:Boy! Lucius!—Fast asleep? It is no matter;
:Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber:
:Thou hast no figures nor no fantasies,
:Which busy care draws in the brains of men;
:Therefore thou sleep'st so sound.
[Enter Portia.]
PORTIA.
:Brutus, my lord!
BRUTUS.
:Portia, what mean you? wherefore rise you now?
:It is not for your health thus to commit
:Your weak condition to the raw-cold morning.
PORTIA.
:Nor for yours neither. You've ungently, Brutus,
:Stole from my bed: and yesternight, at supper,
:You suddenly arose, and walk'd about,
:Musing and sighing, with your arms across;
:And, when I ask'd you what the matter was,
:You stared upon me with ungentle looks:
:I urged you further; then you scratch'd your head,
:And too impatiently stamp'd with your foot:
:Yet I insisted, yet you answer'd not;
:But, with an angry wafture of your hand,
:Gave sign for me to leave you. So I did;
:Fearing to strengthen that impatience
:Which seem'd too much enkindled; and withal
:Hoping it was but an effect of humour,
:Which sometime hath his hour with every man.
:It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor sleep;
:And, could it work so much upon your shape
:As it hath much prevail'd on your condition,
:I should not know you, Brutus. Dear my lord,
:Make me acquainted with your cause of grief.
BRUTUS.
:I am not well in health, and that is all.
PORTIA.
:Brutus is wise, and, were he not in health,
:He would embrace the means to come by it.
BRUTUS.
:Why, so I do. Good Portia, go to bed.
PORTIA.
:Is Brutus sick? and is it physical
:To walk unbraced and suck up the humours
:Of the dank morning? What, is Brutus sick,
:And will he steal out of his wholesome bed
:To dare the vile contagion of the night,
:And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air
:To add unto his sickness? No, my Brutus;
:You have some sick offense within your mind,
:Which, by the right and virtue of my place,
:I ought to know of: and, upon my knees,
:I charge you, by my once commended beauty,
:By all your vows of love, and that great vow
:Which did incorporate and make us one,
:That you unfold to me, yourself, your half,
:Why you are heavy, and what men to-night
:Have had resort to you; for here have been
:Some six or seven, who did hide their faces
:Even from darkness.
BRUTUS.
:Kneel not, gentle Portia.
PORTIA.
:I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus.
:Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus,
:Is it excepted I should know no secrets
:That appertain to you? Am I yourself
:But, as it were, in sort or limitation,—
:To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed,
:And talk to you sometimes? Dwell I but in the suburbs
:Of your good pleasure? If it be no more,
:Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife.
BRUTUS.
:You are my true and honorable wife;
:As dear to me as are the ruddy drops
:That visit my sad heart.
PORTIA.
:If this were true, then should I know this secret.
:I grant I am a woman; but withal
:A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife:
:I grant I am a woman; but withal
:A woman well reputed, Cato's daughter.
:Think you I am no stronger than my sex,
:Being so father'd and so husbanded?
:Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose 'em.
:I have made strong proof of my constancy,
:Giving myself a voluntary wound
:Here in the thigh: can I bear that with patience
:And not my husband's secrets?
BRUTUS.
:O ye gods,
:Render me worthy of this noble wife!
[Knocking within.]
;Hark, hark, one knocks
: Portia, go in awhile;
:And by and by thy bosom shall partake
: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 honour.
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. A room in Caesar's palace. ===
[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 murder 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 to-day.
CAESAR.
:Caesar shall forth: the things that threaten me
:Ne'er look but on my back; when they shall see
:The face of Caesar, they are vanished.
CALPURNIA.
:Caesar, I never 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 to-day.
: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 to-day: 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 to-day:
: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 to-day.
:Cannot, is false; and that I dare not, falser:
:I will not come to-day. 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 grey-beards 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 to-night she saw my statua,
: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 to-day.
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 to-day;
: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.]
=== SCENE III. A street near the Capitol. ===
[Enter Artemidorus, reading paper.]
ARTEMIDORUS.
:"Caesar, beware of Brutus; take heed of Cassius; come
:not near Casca; have an eye to Cinna; trust not Trebonius; mark
:well Metellus Cimber; Decius Brutus loves thee not; thou hast
:wrong'd Caius Ligarius. There is but one mind in all these men,
:and it is bent against Caesar. If thou be'st not immortal, look
:about you: security gives way to conspiracy. The mighty gods
:defend thee!
:Thy lover, Artemidorus."
:Here will I stand till Caesar pass along,
: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 Caesar, thou mayest live;
:If not, the Fates with traitors do contrive.
[Exit.]
=== SCENE IV. Another part of the same street, before the house of Brutus. ===
[Enter Portia and Lucius.]
PORTIA.
:I pr'ythee, boy, run to the Senate-house;
:Stay not to answer me, but get thee gone.
:Why dost thou stay?
LUCIUS.
:To know my errand, madam.
PORTIA.
:I would have had thee there, and here again,
:Ere I can tell thee what thou shouldst do there.—
:[Aside.] 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?
LUCIUS.
:Madam, what should I do?
:Run to the Capitol, and nothing else?
:And so return to you, and nothing else?
PORTIA.
:Yes, bring me word, boy, if thy lord look well,
:For he went sickly forth: and take good note
:What Caesar doth, what suitors press to him.
:Hark, boy! what noise is that?
LUCIUS.
:I hear none, madam.
PORTIA.
:Pr'ythee, listen well:
:I heard a bustling rumour, like a fray,
:And the wind brings it from the Capitol.
LUCIUS.
:Sooth, madam, I hear nothing.
[Enter Soothsayer.]
PORTIA.
:Come hither, fellow:
:Which way hast thou been?
Soothsayer.
:At mine own house, good lady.
PORTIA.
:What is't o'clock?
Soothsayer.
:About the ninth hour, lady.
PORTIA.
:Is Caesar yet gone to the Capitol?
Soothsayer.
:Madam, not yet: I go to take my stand
:To see him pass on to the Capitol.
PORTIA.
:Thou hast some suit to Caesar, hast thou not?
Soothsayer.
:That I have, lady: if it will please Caesar
:To be so good to Caesar as to hear me,
:I shall beseech him to befriend himself.
PORTIA.
:Why, know'st thou any harm's intended towards him?
Soothsayer.
: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 Caesar at the heels,
:Of Senators, of Praetors, common suitors,
:Will crowd a feeble man almost to death:
:I'll get me to a place more void, and there
:Speak to great Caesar as he comes along.
[Exit.]
PORTIA.
:I must go in.—[Aside.] 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 Caesar 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.
[Exeunt.]
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