The Tragedy of Julius Caesar/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.]