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ceived the common herd was glad he refused the crown, he pluck'd me ope his doublet, and offered them his throat to cut: an I had been a man of any occupation, if I would not have taken him at a word, I would I might go to hell among the rogues; and fo he fell. When he came to himfelf again, he faid, "If he had done or faid any thing amifs, he defired their worthips to think it "was his infirmity." Three or four wenches where I ftood, cried, "Alas good foul !" and forgave him with all their hearts: but there's no heed to be taken of them; if Cæfar had stabbed their mothers, they would have done no less.

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Bru. And after that, he came thus fad away?
Cafca. Ay.

Caf. Did Cicero fay any thing?
Cafca. Ay, he fpoke Greek.
Caf. To what effect?

Cafca. Nay, an' I tell you what, I'll ne'er look.. you i' th' face again. But thofe that understood. him smiled at one another, and fhook their heads; but for mine own part, it was Greek to me. I could tell you more news too: Marullus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs off Cæfar's images, are put to filence. Fare you well. There was more foolery yet, if I could remember it.

Caf. Will you fup with me to-night, Casca?
Cafca. No, I am promised forth.

Caf. Will you dine with me to-morrow?

Cafca. Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold,

and your dinner be worth the eating. Caf. Good, I will expect you.

Cafca. Do fo: farewel both.

[Exit.

Bru. What a blunt fellow is this grown to be! He was quick mettle when he went to school. Caf. So is he

now,

in execution

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Of any bold or noble enterprize,

However he puts on this tardy form:
This rudeness is a fauce to his good wit,
Which gives men ftomach to digeft his words
With better appetite.

Bru. And fo it is; for this time I will leave you.
To-morrow, if you please to speak with me,
I will come home to you; or if

you will,
Come home to me, and I will wait for you.
Caf. I will do fo: till then, think of the world.
[Exit Brutus.
Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet I fee,
Thy honourable metal may be wrought
From what it is difpofed; therefore 'tis meet
That noble minds keep ever with their likes;
For who fo firm that cannot be feduced?
Cæfar doth bear me hard; but he loves Brutus.
If I were Brutus now, and he were Caffius,
He should not humour me.--I will this night,
In feveral hands, in at his windows throw,
As if they came from several citizens,
Writings, all tending to the great opinion
That Rome holds of his name: wherein obfcurely
Cæfar's ambition fhall be glanced at.

And, after this, let Cæfar feat him fure;
For we will shake him, or worfe days endure.

[Exit. Thunder and Lightening. Enter CASCA, his Sword drawn; and CICERO, meeting him.

Cic. Good even, Cafca; brought you Cæfar home? Why are you breathlefs, and why stare you fo? Cafea. Are not you moved, when all the fway of Shakes like a thing unfirm? O Cicero!

[earth I have feen tempefts, when the fcolding winds Have rived the knotty oaks; and I have feen

The ambitious ocean fwell, and rage, and foam,
To be exalted with the threatning clouds:
But never till to-night, never till now,
Did I go through a tempeft dropping fire.
Either there is a civil ftrife in heaven;

Or else the world, too faucy with the Gods,
Incenfes them to fend destruction.

Cic. Why, faw you any thing more wonderful? Cafca. A common flave, you know him well by fight,

Held up his left hand, which did flame and burn,
Like twenty torches joined; and yet his hand,
Not fenfible of fire, remained unfcorched.
Befides, (I ha' not fince put up my fword)
Against the Capitol í met a lion,

Who glared upon me, and went furly by,
Without annoying me.

And there were drawn

Upon a heap a hundred ghaftly women,

Transformed with their fear, who fwore they faw
Men, all in fire, walk up and down the streets.
And yesterday the bird of night did fit,
Even at noon-day, upon the market-place,
Hooting and fhrieking. When these prodigies
Do fo conjointly meet, let not men say,
"Thefe are their reafons, they are natural:"
For, I believe, they are portentous things
Unto the climate that they point upon.

Cic. Indeed, it is a strange difpofed time:"
But men may conftrue things after their fashion,
Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.
Comes Cæfar to the Capitol to-morrow?

Cafea. He doth: for he did bid Antonius Send word to you, he would be there to-morrow. Cic. Good night then, Cafca; this disturbed fky Is not to walk in. [Exit Cicero

Cafea. Farewel, Cicero.

Enter CASSIUS.

Caf. Who's there!
Cafca. A Roman.

Caf. Cafca, by your voice.

Cafca. Your ear is good. Caffius, what night is this? Caf. A very pleafing night to honeft men.

Cafea. Who ever knew the heavens menace fo? Caf. Thofe that have known the earth fo full

of faults.

For my part, I have walked about the streets,
Submitting me unto the perilous night;
And thus embraced, Cafca, as you fee,
Have bared my bofom to the thunder-ftone:
And when the cross blue lightning feemed to open
The breaft of heaven, I did prefent myself
Even in the aim and very flash of it.

Cafca. But wherefore did you so much tempt the heavens?

It is the part of men to fear and tremble,
When the most mighty Gods, by tokens, fend
Such dreadful heralds to astonish us.

Caf. You are dull, Casca; and those sparks of life, -
That fhould be in a Roman, you do want,
Or else you use not; you look pale, and gaze,
And put on fear, and caft yourself in wonder,
To fee the ftrange impatience of the heavens:
But if you would confider the true cause
Why all thefe fires, why all these gliding ghofts,
Why birds and beats, from quality and kind,
Why old men, fools, and children calculate;
Why all thefe things change, from their ordinance,
Their natures and pre-formed faculties
To monftrous quality; why, you shall find,
That Heaven has infufed them with thefe fpirits,
To make them inftruments of fear and warning

Unto fome monstrous state.

Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man
Moft like this dreadful night;

That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars
As doth the lion in the Capitol;

A man no mightier than thyself or me,
In perfonal action; yet prodigious grown,
And fearful as thefe ftrange 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; (6) But wo the while, our fathers minds are dead, And we are governed with our mothers fpirits; Our yoke and fufferance fhews us womanish.

Cafca. Indeed they fay the Senators to-morrow Mean to establish Cæfar as a king:

And he fhall wear his crown by sea and land,
In every place fave 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 moft ftrong;
Therein, ye Gods, you tyrants do defeat:
Nor ftony tower, nor walls of beaten brafs,

(6) Have thewes and limbs] Mr Pope has fubjoined, to both his editions, an explanation of thewes, as if it fignified manners or capacities. "Tis certain it fometimes has thefe figuifications, but he's mistaken frangely to imagine it has any fuch fenfe here; nor, indeed, do I ever remember its being used by our Author in thofe acceptations. With him, I think, it always fignifies, muscles, finews, bodily firength. So in the fecond part of Henry IV.

Care I for the limb, the thewes, the ftature, bulk, and big femblance of a man?

And in Hamlet;

For Nature crefcent does not grow alone

In thewes and bulk.

VOL. X.

L

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