Had you a healthful ear to hear of it.

LIG. By all the gods that Romans bow before,
I here difcard my fickness. Soul of Rome!
Brave fon, deriv'd from honourable loins!
Thou, like an exorcift, haft conjur'd up
My mortified spirit. Now bid me run,
And I will strive with things impoffible;
Yea, get the better of them.
the better of them.

What's to do?

BRU. A piece of work, that will make fick men whole. LIG. But are not fome whole, that we must make sick? BRU. That muft we also. What it is, my Caius, I fhall unfold to thee, as we are going To whom it must be done.

LIG. Set on your foot;

And, with a heart new fir'd, I follow you,
To do I know not what: but it fufficeth,
That Brutus leads me on.

BRU. Follow me then.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. The fame. A Room in CESAR'S Palace. Thunder and lightning. Enter CESAR, in his Night-gown. CAS. Nor heaven, nor earth, have been at peace toThrice hath Calphurnia in her fleep cried out, [night: Help, bo! They murder Cæfar. Who's within?

SERV. My lord?

Enter a SERVANT.

CAS. Go bid the priests do prefent facrifice, And bring me their opinions of fuccefs.

SERV. I will, my lord.

Enter CALPHURNIA.

[Exit.

CAL. What mean you, Cæfar? Think you to walk forth? You fhall not stir out of houfe to-day.

your

CAS. Cæfar fhall forth: The things, that threaten'd me,

Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they fhall fee
The face of Cæfar, they are vanished.

CAL. Cæfar, I never ftood on ceremonies,
Yet now they fright me. There is one within,
Befides the things that we have heard and feen,
Recounts most horrid fights feen by the watch.
A lionefs 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 fquadrons, and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol :

The noise of battle hurtled in the air,

Horfes did neigh, and dying men did groan;

And ghosts did shriek, and squeal about the streets.
O Cæfar! these things are beyond all use,

And I do fear them.

CES. What can be avoided,

Whofe end is purpos'd by the mighty gods?
Yet Cæfar fhall go forth: for these predictions
Are to the world in general, as to Cæfar.

CAL. When beggars die, there are no comets feen; The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes: CES. 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 fhould fear;
Seeing that death, a neceffary end,

Will come, when it will come.

Re-enter a SERVANT.

What fay the augurers?

SERV. They would not have you to ftir forth to-day,

Plucking the entrails of an offering forth,

They could not find a heart within the beast.

VOL. V.

CES. The gods do this in fhame of cowardice: Cæfar fhould be a beast without a heart,

If he should stay at home to-day for fear.

No, Cæfar fhall not: Danger knows full well,
That Cæfar is more dangerous than he.
We were two lions litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible;
And Cæfar fhall go forth.

CAL. Alas, my lord,

Your wifdom is confum'd 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 fenate-house ;
And he fhall fay, you are not well to-day:
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.

Cæs. Mark Antony fhall fay, I am not well;
And, for thy humour, I will ftay at home.
Enter DECIUS.

Here's Decius Brutus, he fhall tell them fo.

DEC. Cæfar, all hail! good morrow, worthy Cæfar: I come to fetch you to the fenate-house.

CES. And you are come in very happy time,

To bear my greeting to the fenators,

And tell them, that I will not come to-day:
Cannot, is falfe; and that I dare not, falfer;
I will not come to-day: Tell them fo, Decius.
CAL. Say, he is fick.

CAS. Shall Cæfar fend 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, Cæfar will not come.

DEC. Moft mighty Cæfar, let me know fome cause, Left I be laugh'd at, when I tell them fo.

CAS. The caufe is in my will, I will not come; That is enough to fatisfy the fenate.

But, for your private fatisfaction,

Because I love you, I will let you know.
Calphurnia here, my wife, stays me at home :
She dreamt to-night fhe faw my ftatua,
Which like a fountain, with a hundred spouts,
Did run pure blood; and many lufty Romans
Came fmiling, and did bathe their hands in it.
And thefe does fhe apply for warnings, portents,
And evils imminent; and on her knee
Hath begg'd, that I will stay at home to-day.
DEC. This dream is all amifs interpreted;
It was a vifion, fair and fortunate:

Your ftatue spouting blood in many pipes,
In which so many fmiling Romans bath'd,
Signifies, that from you great Rome shall fuck
Reviving blood; and that great men fhall prefs
For tinctures, ftains, relicks, and cognizance.
This by Calphurnia's dream is fignify'd.

CES. And this way have you well expounded it.
DEC. I have, when you have heard what I can fay:
And know it now; The fenate have concluded
To give, this day, a crown to mighty Cæfar.
If you fhall fend them word, you will not come,
Their minds may change. Befides, it were a mock
Apt to be render'd, for fome one to fay,
Break up the fenate till another time,

When Cæfar's wife shall meet with better dreams.
If Cæfar hide himself, fhall they not whisper,

Lo, Cæfar is afraid?

Pardon me, Cæfar; for my dear, dear love
To your proceeding bids me tell

you this;

And reafon to my love is liable.

Cas. How foolish do your fears feem now, Calphurnia? 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.

PUB. Good morrow, Cæfar.,

CES. Welcome, Publius.

What, Brutus, are you flirr'd fo early too?-
Good-morrow, Cafca.-Caius Ligarius,

Cæfar was ne'er fo much your enemy,

As that fame ague which hath made yoù lean.—
What is't o'clock ?

BRU. Cæfar, 'tis ftrucken eight.

CES. I thank you for your pains and courtesy.
Enter ANTONY.

See! Antony, that revels long o'nights,

Is notwithstanding up :

Good morrow, Antony.

ANT. So to moft noble Cæfar.

CES. 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 ftore for you;
Remember that you call on me to-day:
Be near me, that I may remember you.

TREB. Cæfar, I will:-and fo near will I be,

[Afide.

That your best friends fhall wish I had been further.
CES. Good friends, go in, and taste some wine with me;
And we, like friends, will ftraightway go together.

BRU. That every like is not the fame, O Cæfar,

The heart of Brutus yearns to think upon! [Exeunt.