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Complete Plays, The Page 26


  That every nice offence should bear his comment.

  Brutus

  Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself

  Are much condemn’d to have an itching palm;

  To sell and mart your offices for gold

  To undeservers.

  Cassius

  I an itching palm!

  You know that you are Brutus that speak this,

  Or, by the gods, this speech were else your last.

  Brutus

  The name of Cassius honours this corruption,

  And chastisement doth therefore hide his head.

  Cassius

  Chastisement!

  Brutus

  Remember March, the ides of March remember:

  Did not great Julius bleed for justice’ sake?

  What villain touch’d his body, that did stab,

  And not for justice? What, shall one of us

  That struck the foremost man of all this world

  But for supporting robbers, shall we now

  Contaminate our fingers with base bribes,

  And sell the mighty space of our large honours

  For so much trash as may be grasped thus?

  I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon,

  Than such a Roman.

  Cassius

  Brutus, bay not me;

  I’ll not endure it: you forget yourself,

  To hedge me in; I am a soldier, I,

  Older in practise, abler than yourself

  To make conditions.

  Brutus

  Go to; you are not, Cassius.

  Cassius

  I am.

  Brutus

  I say you are not.

  Cassius

  Urge me no more, I shall forget myself;

  Have mind upon your health, tempt me no further.

  Brutus

  Away, slight man!

  Cassius

  Is’t possible?

  Brutus

  Hear me, for I will speak.

  Must I give way and room to your rash choler?

  Shall I be frighted when a madman stares?

  Cassius

  O ye gods, ye gods! must I endure all this?

  Brutus

  All this! ay, more: fret till your proud heart break;

  Go show your slaves how choleric you are,

  And make your bondmen tremble. Must I budge?

  Must I observe you? must I stand and crouch

  Under your testy humour? By the gods

  You shall digest the venom of your spleen,

  Though it do split you; for, from this day forth,

  I’ll use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter,

  When you are waspish.

  Cassius

  Is it come to this?

  Brutus

  You say you are a better soldier:

  Let it appear so; make your vaunting true,

  And it shall please me well: for mine own part,

  I shall be glad to learn of noble men.

  Cassius

  You wrong me every way; you wrong me, Brutus;

  I said, an elder soldier, not a better:

  Did I say ‘better’?

  Brutus

  If you did, I care not.

  Cassius

  When Caesar lived, he durst not thus have moved me.

  Brutus

  Peace, peace! you durst not so have tempted him.

  Cassius

  I durst not!

  Brutus

  No.

  Cassius

  What, durst not tempt him!

  Brutus

  For your life you durst not!

  Cassius

  Do not presume too much upon my love;

  I may do that I shall be sorry for.

  Brutus

  You have done that you should be sorry for.

  There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats,

  For I am arm’d so strong in honesty

  That they pass by me as the idle wind,

  Which I respect not. I did send to you

  For certain sums of gold, which you denied me:

  For I can raise no money by vile means:

  By heaven, I had rather coin my heart,

  And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring

  From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash

  By any indirection: I did send

  To you for gold to pay my legions,

  Which you denied me: was that done like Cassius?

  Should I have answer’d Caius Cassius so?

  When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous,

  To lock such rascal counters from his friends,

  Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts;

  Dash him to pieces!

  Cassius

  I denied you not.

  Brutus

  You did.

  Cassius

  I did not: he was but a fool that brought

  My answer back. Brutus hath rived my heart:

  A friend should bear his friend’s infirmities,

  But Brutus makes mine greater than they are.

  Brutus

  I do not, till you practise them on me.

  Cassius

  You love me not.

  Brutus

  I do not like your faults.

  Cassius

  A friendly eye could never see such faults.

  Brutus

  A flatterer’s would not, though they do appear

  As huge as high Olympus.

  Cassius

  Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come,

  Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius,

  For Cassius is aweary of the world;

  Hated by one he loves; braved by his brother;

  Cheque’d like a bondman; all his faults observed,

  Set in a note-book, learn’d, and conn’d by rote,

  To cast into my teeth. O, I could weep

  My spirit from mine eyes! There is my dagger,

  And here my naked breast; within, a heart

  Dearer than Plutus’ mine, richer than gold:

  If that thou be’st a Roman, take it forth;

  I, that denied thee gold, will give my heart:

  Strike, as thou didst at Caesar; for, I know,

  When thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him better

  Than ever thou lovedst Cassius.

  Brutus

  Sheathe your dagger:

  Be angry when you will, it shall have scope;

  Do what you will, dishonour shall be humour.

  O Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb

  That carries anger as the flint bears fire;

  Who, much enforced, shows a hasty spark,

  And straight is cold again.

  Cassius

  Hath Cassius lived

  To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus,

  When grief, and blood ill-temper’d, vexeth him?

  Brutus

  When I spoke that, I was ill-temper’d too.

  Cassius

  Do you confess so much? Give me your hand.

  Brutus

  And my heart too.

  Cassius

  O Brutus!

  Brutus

  What’s the matter?

  Cassius

  Have not you love enough to bear with me,

  When that rash humour which my mother gave me

  Makes me forgetful?

  Brutus

  Yes, Cassius; and, from henceforth,

  When you are over-earnest with your Brutus,

  He’ll think your mother chides, and leave you so.

  Poet

  [Within] Let me go in to see the generals;

  There is some grudge between ’em, ’tis not meet

  They be alone.

  Lucilius

  [Within] You shall not come to them.

  Poet

  [Within] Nothing but death shall stay me.

  Enter Poet, followed by Lucilius, Titinius, and Lucius

  Cassius<
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  How now! what’s the matter?

  Poet

  For shame, you generals! what do you mean?

  Love, and be friends, as two such men should be;

  For I have seen more years, I’m sure, than ye.

  Cassius

  Ha, ha! how vilely doth this cynic rhyme!

  Brutus

  Get you hence, sirrah; saucy fellow, hence!

  Cassius

  Bear with him, Brutus; ’tis his fashion.

  Brutus

  I’ll know his humour, when he knows his time:

  What should the wars do with these jigging fools?

  Companion, hence!

  Cassius

  Away, away, be gone.

  Exit Poet

  Brutus

  Lucilius and Titinius, bid the commanders

  Prepare to lodge their companies to-night.

  Cassius

  And come yourselves, and bring Messala with you

  Immediately to us.

  Exeunt Lucilius and Titinius

  Brutus

  Lucius, a bowl of wine!

  Exit Lucius

  Cassius

  I did not think you could have been so angry.

  Brutus

  O Cassius, I am sick of many griefs.

  Cassius

  Of your philosophy you make no use,

  If you give place to accidental evils.

  Brutus

  No man bears sorrow better. Portia is dead.

  Cassius

  Ha! Portia!

  Brutus

  She is dead.

  Cassius

  How ’scaped I killing when I cross’d you so?

  O insupportable and touching loss!

  Upon what sickness?

  Brutus

  Impatient of my absence,

  And grief that young Octavius with Mark Antony

  Have made themselves so strong:— for with her death

  That tidings came;— with this she fell distract,

  And, her attendants absent, swallow’d fire.

  Cassius

  And died so?

  Brutus

  Even so.

  Cassius

  O ye immortal gods!

  Re-enter Lucius, with wine and taper

  Brutus

  Speak no more of her. Give me a bowl of wine.

  In this I bury all unkindness, Cassius.

  Cassius

  My heart is thirsty for that noble pledge.

  Fill, Lucius, till the wine o’erswell the cup;

  I cannot drink too much of Brutus’ love.

  Brutus

  Come in, Titinius!

  Exit Lucius

  Re-enter Titinius, with Messala

  Welcome, good Messala.

  Now sit we close about this taper here,

  And call in question our necessities.

  Cassius

  Portia, art thou gone?

  Brutus

  No more, I pray you.

  Messala, I have here received letters,

  That young Octavius and Mark Antony

  Come down upon us with a mighty power,

  Bending their expedition toward Philippi.

  Messala

  Myself have letters of the selfsame tenor.

  Brutus

  With what addition?

  Messala

  That by proscription and bills of outlawry,

  Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus,

  Have put to death an hundred senators.

  Brutus

  Therein our letters do not well agree;

  Mine speak of seventy senators that died

  By their proscriptions, Cicero being one.

  Cassius

  Cicero one!

  Messala

  Cicero is dead,

  And by that order of proscription.

  Had you your letters from your wife, my lord?

  Brutus

  No, Messala.

  Messala

  Nor nothing in your letters writ of her?

  Brutus

  Nothing, Messala.

  Messala

  That, methinks, is strange.

  Brutus

  Why ask you? hear you aught of her in yours?

  Messala

  No, my lord.

  Brutus

  Now, as you are a Roman, tell me true.

  Messala

  Then like a Roman bear the truth I tell:

  For certain she is dead, and by strange manner.

  Brutus

  Why, farewell, Portia. We must die, Messala:

  With meditating that she must die once,

  I have the patience to endure it now.

  Messala

  Even so great men great losses should endure.

  Cassius

  I have as much of this in art as you,

  But yet my nature could not bear it so.

  Brutus

  Well, to our work alive. What do you think

  Of marching to Philippi presently?

  Cassius

  I do not think it good.

  Brutus

  Your reason?

  Cassius

  This it is:

  ’Tis better that the enemy seek us:

  So shall he waste his means, weary his soldiers,

  Doing himself offence; whilst we, lying still,

  Are full of rest, defense, and nimbleness.

  Brutus

  Good reasons must, of force, give place to better.

  The people ’twixt Philippi and this ground

  Do stand but in a forced affection;

  For they have grudged us contribution:

  The enemy, marching along by them,

  By them shall make a fuller number up,

  Come on refresh’d, new-added, and encouraged;

  From which advantage shall we cut him off,

  If at Philippi we do face him there,

  These people at our back.

  Cassius

  Hear me, good brother.

  Brutus

  Under your pardon. You must note beside,

  That we have tried the utmost of our friends,

  Our legions are brim-full, our cause is ripe:

  The enemy increaseth every day;

  We, at the height, are ready to decline.

  There is a tide in the affairs of men,

  Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

  Omitted, all the voyage of their life

  Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

  On such a full sea are we now afloat;

  And we must take the current when it serves,

  Or lose our ventures.

  Cassius

  Then, with your will, go on;

  We’ll along ourselves, and meet them at Philippi.

  Brutus

  The deep of night is crept upon our talk,

  And nature must obey necessity;

  Which we will niggard with a little rest.

  There is no more to say?

  Cassius

  No more. Good night:

  Early to-morrow will we rise, and hence.

  Brutus

  Lucius!

  Enter Lucius

  My gown.

  Exit Lucius

  Farewell, good Messala:

  Good night, Titinius. Noble, noble Cassius,

  Good night, and good repose.

  Cassius

  O my dear brother!

  This was an ill beginning of the night:

  Never come such division ’tween our souls!

  Let it not, Brutus.

  Brutus

  Every thing is well.

  Cassius

  Good night, my lord.

  Brutus

  Good night, good brother.

  Titinius

  Messala

  Good night, Lord Brutus.

  Brutus

  Farewell, every one.

  Exeunt all but Brutus

  Re-enter Lucius, with the gown

&
nbsp; Give me the gown. Where is thy instrument?

  Lucius

  Here in the tent.

  Brutus

  What, thou speak’st drowsily?

  Poor knave, I blame thee not; thou art o’er-watch’d.

  Call Claudius and some other of my men:

  I’ll have them sleep on cushions in my tent.

  Lucius

  Varro and Claudius!

  Enter Varro and Claudius

  Varro

  Calls my lord?

  Brutus

  I pray you, sirs, lie in my tent and sleep;

  It may be I shall raise you by and by

  On business to my brother Cassius.

  Varro

  So please you, we will stand and watch your pleasure.

  Brutus

  I will not have it so: lie down, good sirs;

  It may be I shall otherwise bethink me.

  Look, Lucius, here’s the book I sought for so;

  I put it in the pocket of my gown.

  Varro and Claudius lie down

  Lucius

  I was sure your lordship did not give it me.

  Brutus

  Bear with me, good boy, I am much forgetful.

  Canst thou hold up thy heavy eyes awhile,

  And touch thy instrument a strain or two?

  Lucius

  Ay, my lord, an’t please you.

  Brutus

  It does, my boy:

  I trouble thee too much, but thou art willing.

  Lucius

  It is my duty, sir.

  Brutus

  I should not urge thy duty past thy might;

  I know young bloods look for a time of rest.

  Lucius

  I have slept, my lord, already.

  Brutus

  It was well done; and thou shalt sleep again;

  I will not hold thee long: if I do live,

  I will be good to thee.

  Music, and a song

  This is a sleepy tune. O murderous slumber,

  Lay’st thou thy leaden mace upon my boy,

  That plays thee music? Gentle knave, good night;

  I will not do thee so much wrong to wake thee:

  If thou dost nod, thou break’st thy instrument;

  I’ll take it from thee; and, good boy, good night.

  Let me see, let me see; is not the leaf turn’d down

  Where I left reading? Here it is, I think.

  Enter the Ghost of Caesar

  How ill this taper burns! Ha! who comes here?

  I think it is the weakness of mine eyes

  That shapes this monstrous apparition.

  It comes upon me. Art thou any thing?

  Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil,

  That makest my blood cold and my hair to stare?

  Speak to me what thou art.

  Ghost

  Thy evil spirit, Brutus.

  Brutus

  Why comest thou?

  Ghost

  To tell thee thou shalt see me at Philippi.

  Brutus

  Well; then I shall see thee again?

  Ghost

  Ay, at Philippi.

  Brutus

  Why, I will see thee at Philippi, then.

  Exit Ghost

  Now I have taken heart thou vanishest:

  Ill spirit, I would hold more talk with thee.

  Boy, Lucius! Varro! Claudius! Sirs, awake! Claudius!