ANTONIUS..

Therefore in pity, Sir, reftrain them more.

CESAR

I'll guard them from themselves, their own worst Foes;

And will have Pow'r to do whate'er I please ;

Yet bear my Thunder in a gentle Hand.

Like Jove, I'll fit above; but 'tis to show
My Love and Care of all the World below.

Enter a Meffenger.

MESSENGER.

Some other Sports are in the Field of MARS,
And only wait your Prefence.

CESAR.

Let us go.

The Ev'ning is far spent, it will be dark;

And I, thou know'ft, have not been well to-day.

[To BRUTUS.

Exeunt CESAR, and ANTONY.

SCENE IV.

CASSIUS.

Will you not wait on CASAR to the Course?

VOL. I.

BRU

BRUTUS.

Not I.

CASSIUS.

How fo?

BRUTUS.

I am not fit for Sports s

I want the airy Humour of MARC ANTONY.
Let me not hinder, CASSIUS, your Defires.

CASSIUS.

BRUTUS, I have obferv'd you much of late;
I have not from your Eyes that Gentleness
And Show of Love, which I was us'd to find:
Pardon my Cares, that only come from Kindness;
Your Carriage is a little too referv'd,

And strange, to Friends who would be more familiar.
BRUTUS.

CASSIUS, mistake me not, if I have veil'd
My Look, I turn the trouble of my Countenance
Meerly upon my felf: I am of late

Troubled with Paffions of a diff'rent nature,
Conceptions only proper to my self,

Which gives perhaps fome Soil to my Behaviour.
But let not therefore my good Friends complain,
(Amongst which number CASSIUS is the chief)
Nor mifinterpret farther my Neglect ;

But

But think poor BRUTUS, with himself at war,
Forgets the Shows of Love to other Men.

CASSIUS.

I am most glad to find I was mistaken.

That Error made this Breaft of mine conceal

Thoughts of great Value, worthy of your Ear:
ONT. Tell me, good BRUTUS, can you fee your Face?
BRUTUS.

s

No, CASSIUS; for, the Eye fees not it self,
But by Reflexion from fome other thing.

CASSIUS.

'Tis juft: Then know, 'tis much lamented, BRUTUS, That you have no fuch Mirror as might show (Spite of your Modefty your own hid Worth;) That you for once might fee the noble Shadow. I have heard fome, of the beft Rank in Rome (Except immortal CÆSAR) talk of BRUTUS; And groaning underneath this Age's Yoke, Have wifh'd, that noble BRUTUS had his Eyes.

BRUTUS.

Into what Dangers wou'd you lead me, CASSIUS,
That you would have me look into my felf

For that which is not in me?

BRUTUS, hear :

CASSIUS.

And fince, you know, you cannot fee your self
So well as by Reflexion; I, your Glass,
Will without all Disguise discover now
That of your felf, which yet you know not of.
And be not jealous of me, gentle BRUTUS.
Were I fome flight Buffoon, or us'd to flatter,
To cloy each Man I meet with proffer'd Love,
And then betray him, did I use to fawn
And hug Men hard, then crush them with my Scandal;
Or if you ever knew me riotous

To loss of Reason; then you might suspect me.
What Shouts are these?

BRUTUS.

[Agreat Shout.

I hope, like those just now,

For joy, that CESAR has refus'd the Crown.

CASSIUS.

If you hope that, you would not have him King.

BRUTUS.

I would not, CASSIUS; yet I love him well.

CASSIUS.

And do you think he would forgive that Wish,
Or would accept your Love, with that Allay?

BRUTUS

BRUTUS.

If juft, he will; and, if unjust, I care not.
But wherefore do you hold me here fo long?
I fee you labour with fome weighty thing.
If it be towards the gen'ral Good, speak quickly;
I am in hafte to meet your noble Thoughts.
Set Virtue in my Eye, and let grim Death
Shake his unheeded Dart, I'll still be fix'd.
For, may the Gods fo help me, as, for Honour,
I look indiff'rently on Life or Death.

CASSIUS.

I know your Virtue, BRUTUS, and dare trust it.
Well, Honour is the Subject of my Story.
I cannot tell what you and other Men
Think of this Life; but for my fingle felf,
I'll chufe much rather not to live at all,
Than live to be in awe of any thing..
I was born free as CESAR; fo are you;
We both are bred as well; and we can both
Endure the Winter's Cold as well as he.
For, once upon a raw and gufty Day,
The troubled Tiber turn'd into a Foam,
CASAR fays to me, CASSIUS, dar'ft thou now
Leap in with me into this angry Flood,
And swim to yonder Point? Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plung'd me in,