Cafca. He doth; for he did bid Antoniu Send word to you, he would be there to-mo Cic. Good night then, Casca: this distur
Cafca. Your ear is good. Cafius, what Caf. A very pleasing night to honest mer Cafca. Who ever knew the heavens mena Caf. Those, that have known the earth f For my part, I have walk'd about the street Submitting me unto the perilous night; And, thus unbraced, Casca, as you fee, Have bar'd my bosom to the thunder-stone And, when the cross blue lightning seem'd The breast of heaven, I did present myfelf Even in the aim and very flash of it.
Cafca. But wherefore did you so much tem It is the part of men to fear and tremble,
When the most mighty gods, by tokens, send Such dreadful heralds to aftonish us.
Caf. You are dull, Casca; and those sparks of life That should be in a Roman, you do want, Or else you use not: You look pale, and gaze, And put on fear, and cast yourself in wonder, To fee the strange impatience of the heavens : But if you would confider the true cause, Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts, Why birds, and beasts, from quality and kind; Why old men fools, and children calculate; Why all these things change, from their ordinance, Their natures, and pre-formed faculties, To monstrous quality; why, you shall find, That heaven hath infus'd them with these spirits, To make them instruments of fear, and warning, Unto fome monstrous state. Now could I, Casca, Name to thee a man most like this dreadful night; That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars As doth a lion in the Capitol: A man no mightier than thyself, or me, In personal action; yet prodigious grown, And fearful, as these strange eruptions are. Cafca. 'Tis Cæfar that you mean: Is it not, Caffius?
Caf. Let it be who it is: for Romans now Have thewes and limbs like to their ancestors; But, woe the while! our fathers' minds are dead, And we are govern'd with our mothers' spirits; Our yoke and fufferance show us womanish.
Cafca. Indeed, they say, the senators to-morrow Mean to establish Cæfar as a king: And he shall wear his crown, by fea, and land, In every place, save here in Italy.
Caf. I know where I will wear this dagger then;
Caffius from bondage will deliver Caffius : Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong; Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat : Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, Can be retentive to the strength of spirit; But life, being weary of these worldly bars, Never lacks power to dismiss itself. If I know this, know all the world besides, That part of tyranny, that I do bear,
I can shake off at pleasure.
So every bondman in his own hand bears The power to cancel his captivity.
Caf. And why should Cæfar be a tyrant then? Poor man! I know, he would not be a wolf, But that he fees, the Romans are but theep : He were no lion, were not Romans hinds. Those that with haste will make a mighty fire, Begin it with weak straws: What trash is Rome, What rubbish, and what offal, when it serves For the base matter to illuminate
So vile a thing as Cæfar? But, O, grief! Where hast thou led me? I, perhaps, speak this Before a willing bondman: then I know My answer must be made: But I am arm'd, And dangers are to me indifferent.
Cafca. You speak to Casca; and to such a man, That is no fleering tell-tale. Hold my hand : Be factious for redress of all these griefs ; And I will fet this foot of mine as far,
As who goes fartheft. Caf.
There's a bargain made.
Now know you, Casca, I have mov'd already
Some certain of the nobleft-minded Romans, To undergo, with me, an enterprize Of honourable-dangerous consequence; And I do know, by this, they stay for me In Pompey's porch: For now, this fearful night, There is no stir, or walking in the streets; And the complexion of the element, Is favour'd, like the work we have in hand, Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible.
Cafca. Stand close a while, for here comes one in hafte. Caf. 'Tis Cinna, I do know him by his gait;
He is a friend. Cinna, where haste you so ?
Cin. To find out you: Who's that? Metellus Cimber? Caf. No, it is Casca; one incorporate
To our attempts. Am I not staid for, Cinna?
Cin. I am glad on't. What a fearful night is this?
There's two or three of us have seen strange fights.
Caf. Am I not staid for, Cinna? Tell me. Cin.
You are. O, Caffius, if you could but win The noble Brutus to our party-
Caf. Be you content: Good Cinna, take this paper, And look you lay it in the prætor's chair, Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this
In at his window: fet 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?
Cin. All but Metellus Cimber; and he's gone To seek you at your house. Well, I will hie, And fo bestow these papers as you bade me.
Will change to virtue, and to worthiness.
Caf. Him, and his worth, and our great need You have right well conceited. Let us go, For it is after midnight; and, ere day,
We will awake him, and be fure of him.
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