Julius Caesar | Page 5

means this shouting? I do fear the people
Choose
Caesar for their king.
CASSIUS.
Ay, do you fear it?
Then must I think you would not
have it so.
BRUTUS.
I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well,
But wherefore
do you hold me here so long?
What is it that you would impart to me?

If it be aught toward the general good,
Set honor in one eye and
death i' the other
And I will look on both indifferently;
For let the
gods so speed me as I love
The name of honor more than I fear death.
CASSIUS.
I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
As well as I do
know your outward favor.
Well, honor is the subject of my story.
I
cannot tell what you and other men

Think of this life; but, for my

single self,
I had as lief not be as live to be
In awe of such a thing as
I myself.
I was born free as Caesar; so were you:
We both have fed
as well; and we can both
Endure the winter's cold as well as he:
For
once, upon a raw and gusty day,
The troubled Tiber chafing with her
shores,
Caesar said to me, "Darest thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with
me into this angry flood
And swim to yonder point?" Upon the word,

Accoutred as I was, I plunged in,
And bade him follow: so indeed
he did.
The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews,
throwing it aside
And stemming it with hearts of controversy;
But
ere we could arrive the point proposed,
Caesar cried, "Help me,
Cassius, or I sink!
I, as Aeneas, our great ancestor,
Did from the
flames of Troy upon his shoulder
The old Anchises bear, so from the
waves of Tiber
Did I the tired Caesar: and this man
Is now become
a god; and Cassius is
A wretched creature, and must bend his body,

If Caesar carelessly but nod on him.
He had a fever when he was in
Spain;
And when the fit was on him I did mark
How he did shake:
'tis true, this god did shake:
His coward lips did from their color fly;

And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world
Did lose his
luster. I did hear him groan:
Ay, and that tongue of his that bade the
Romans
Mark him, and write his speeches in their books,
Alas, it
cried, "Give me some drink, Titinius,"
As a sick girl.--Ye gods, it
doth amaze me,
A man of such a feeble temper should
So get the
start of the majestic world,
And bear the palm alone.
[Shout. Flourish.]
BRUTUS.
Another general shout!
I do believe that these applauses
are

For some new honors that are heap'd on Caesar.
CASSIUS.
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a
Colossus; and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about

To find ourselves dishonorable graves.
Men at some time are
masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But
in ourselves,that we are underlings.
"Brutus" and "Caesar": what

should be in that "Caesar"?
Why should that name be sounded more
than yours?
Write them together, yours is as fair a name;
Sound
them, it doth become the mouth as well;
Weigh them, it is as heavy;
conjure with them,
"Brutus" will start a spirit as soon as "Caesar."

Now, in the names of all the gods at once,
Upon what meat doth this
our Caesar feed
That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed!

Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!
When went there by
an age since the great flood,
But it was famed with more than with
one man?
When could they say, till now, that talk'd of Rome,
That
her wide walls encompass'd but one man?
Now is it Rome indeed,
and room enough,
When there is in it but one only man.
O, you and
I have heard our fathers say
There was a Brutus once that would have
brook'd
Th' eternal devil to keep his state in Rome,
As easily as a
king!
BRUTUS.
That you do love me, I am nothing jealous;
What you
would work me to, I have some aim:
How I have thought of this, and
of these times,
I shall recount hereafter; for this present,
I would not,
so with love I might entreat you,
Be any further moved. What you
have said,
I will consider; what you have to say,
I will with patience
hear; and find a time
Both meet to hear and answer such high things.

Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this:
Brutus had rather be a
villager
Than to repute himself a son of Rome
Under these hard
conditions as this time
Is like to lay upon us.
CASSIUS.
I am glad that my weak words
Have struck but thus
much show of fire from Brutus.
BRUTUS.
The games are done, and Caesar is returning.
CASSIUS.
As they pass by, pluck Casca by the sleeve;
And he will,
after his sour fashion, tell you

What hath proceeded worthy note
today.

[Re-enter Caesar and his Train.]
BRUTUS.
I will do so.--But, look you, Cassius,
The angry spot
doth glow on Caesar's brow,
And all the rest look like a chidden train:

Calpurnia's cheek is pale; and Cicero
Looks with such