Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Act 2 - Scene 2
CAESAR’s house.
Caesar : Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace to-night:
[p]Thrice hath
Calpurnia in her sleep cried out,
[p]'Help, ho! they murder Caesar!'
Who's within?
Servant : My lord?
Caesar : Go bid the priests do present sacrifice
[p]And bring me their opinions
of success.
Servant : I will, my lord.
Calpurnia : What mean you, Caesar? think you to walk forth?
[p]You shall not stir
out of your house to-day.
Caesar : Caesar shall forth: the things that threaten'd me
[p]Ne'er look'd but
on my back; when they shall see
[p]The face of Caesar, they are
vanished.
Calpurnia : Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies,
[p]Yet now they fright me. There
is one within,
[p]Besides the things that we have heard and
seen,
[p]Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.
[p]A lioness
hath whelped in the streets;
[p]And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up
their dead;
[p]Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds,
[p]In
ranks and squadrons and right form of war,
[p]Which drizzled blood
upon the Capitol;
[p]The noise of battle hurtled in the air,
[p]Horses
did neigh, and dying men did groan,
[p]And ghosts did shriek and
squeal about the streets.
[p]O Caesar! these things are beyond all
use,
[p]And I do fear them.
Caesar : What can be avoided
[p]Whose end is purposed by the mighty
gods?
[p]Yet Caesar shall go forth; for these predictions
[p]Are to
the world in general as to Caesar.
Calpurnia : When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
[p]The heavens themselves
blaze forth the death of princes.
Caesar : Cowards die many times before their deaths;
[p]The valiant never taste
of death but once.
[p]Of all the wonders that I yet have heard.
[p]It
seems to me most strange that men should fear;
[p]Seeing that death, a
necessary end,
[p]Will come when it will come.
[p][Re-enter
Servant]
[p]What say the augurers?
Servant : They would not have you to stir forth to-day.
[p]Plucking the entrails
of an offering forth,
[p]They could not find a heart within the
beast.
Caesar : The gods do this in shame of cowardice:
[p]Caesar should be a beast
without a heart,
[p]If he should stay at home to-day for fear.
[p]No,
Caesar shall not: danger knows full well
[p]That Caesar is more
dangerous than he:
[p]We are two lions litter'd in one day,
[p]And I
the elder and more terrible:
[p]And Caesar shall go forth.
Calpurnia : Alas, my lord,
[p]Your wisdom is consumed in confidence.
[p]Do not go
forth to-day: call it my fear
[p]That keeps you in the house, and not
your own.
[p]We'll send Mark Antony to the senate-house:
[p]And he
shall say you are not well to-day:
[p]Let me, upon my knee, prevail in
this.
Caesar : Mark Antony shall say I am not well,
[p]And, for thy humour, I will
stay at home.
[p][Enter DECIUS BRUTUS]
[p]Here's Decius Brutus, he
shall tell them so.
Decius Brutus : Caesar, all hail! good morrow, worthy Caesar:
[p]I come to fetch you
to the senate-house.
Caesar : And you are come in very happy time,
[p]To bear my greeting to the
senators
[p]And tell them that I will not come to-day:
[p]Cannot, is
false, and that I dare not, falser:
[p]I will not come to-day: tell
them so, Decius.
Calpurnia : Say he is sick.
Caesar : Shall Caesar send a lie?
[p]Have I in conquest stretch'd mine arm so
far,
[p]To be afraid to tell graybeards the truth?
[p]Decius, go tell
them Caesar will not come.
Decius Brutus : Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause,
[p]Lest I be laugh'd at
when I tell them so.
Caesar : The cause is in my will: I will not come;
[p]That is enough to satisfy
the senate.
[p]But for your private satisfaction,
[p]Because I love
you, I will let you know:
[p]Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at
home:
[p]She dreamt to-night she saw my statua,
[p]Which, like a
fountain with an hundred spouts,
[p]Did run pure blood: and many lusty
Romans
[p]Came smiling, and did bathe their hands in it:
[p]And these
does she apply for warnings, and portents,
[p]And evils imminent; and
on her knee
[p]Hath begg'd that I will stay at home to-day.
Decius Brutus : This dream is all amiss interpreted;
[p]It was a vision fair and
fortunate:
[p]Your statue spouting blood in many pipes,
[p]In which so
many smiling Romans bathed,
[p]Signifies that from you great Rome
shall suck
[p]Reviving blood, and that great men shall press
[p]For
tinctures, stains, relics and cognizance.
[p]This by Calpurnia's dream
is signified.
Caesar : And this way have you well expounded it.
Decius Brutus : I have, when you have heard what I can say:
[p]And know it now: the
senate have concluded
[p]To give this day a crown to mighty
Caesar.
[p]If you shall send them word you will not come,
[p]Their
minds may change. Besides, it were a mock
[p]Apt to be render'd, for
some one to say
[p]'Break up the senate till another time,
[p]When
Caesar's wife shall meet with better dreams.'
[p]If Caesar hide
himself, shall they not whisper
[p]'Lo, Caesar is afraid'?
[p]Pardon
me, Caesar; for my dear dear love
[p]To our proceeding bids me tell
you this;
[p]And reason to my love is liable.
Caesar : How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia!
[p]I am ashamed I did
yield to them.
[p]Give me my robe, for I will go.
[p][Enter PUBLIUS,
BRUTUS, LIGARIUS, METELLUS, CASCA,]
[p]TREBONIUS, and CINNA
[p]And
look where Publius is come to fetch me.
Publius : Good morrow, Caesar.
Caesar : Welcome, Publius.
[p]What, Brutus, are you stirr'd so early
too?
[p]Good morrow, Casca. Caius Ligarius,
[p]Caesar was ne'er so
much your enemy
[p]As that same ague which hath made you lean.
[p]What
is 't o'clock?
Brutus : Caesar, 'tis strucken eight.
Caesar : I thank you for your pains and courtesy.
[p][Enter ANTONY]
[p]See!
Antony, that revels long o' nights,
[p]Is notwithstanding up. Good
morrow, Antony.
Caesar : Bid them prepare within:
[p]I am to blame to be thus waited
for.
[p]Now, Cinna: now, Metellus: what, Trebonius!
[p]I have an
hour's talk in store for you;
[p]Remember that you call on me
to-day:
[p]Be near me, that I may remember you.
Trebonius : Caesar, I will:
[p][Aside]
[p]and so near will I be,
[p]That your best
friends shall wish I had been further.
Caesar : Good friends, go in, and taste some wine with me;
[p]And we, like
friends, will straightway go together.
Brutus : [Aside That every like is not the same, O Caesar,
[p]The heart of
Brutus yearns to think upon!
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