Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Act 5 - Scene 1
The plains of Philippi.
Messenger : Prepare you, generals:
[p]The enemy comes on in gallant show;
[p]Their
bloody sign of battle is hung out,
[p]And something to be done
immediately.
Brutus : They stand, and would have parley.
Cassius : Stand fast, Tintinius: we must out and talk.
Brutus : Words before blows: is it so, countrymen?
Brutus : Good words are better than bad strokes, Octavius.
Cassius : Antony,
[p]The posture of your blows are yet unknown;
[p]But for your
words, they rob the Hybla bees,
[p]And leave them honeyless.
Brutus : O, yes, and soundless too;
[p]For you have stol'n their buzzing,
Antony,
[p]And very wisely threat before you sting.
Cassius : Flatterers! Now, Brutus, thank yourself:
[p]This tongue had not
offended so to-day,
[p]If Cassius might have ruled.
Brutus : Caesar, thou canst not die by traitors' hands,
[p]Unless thou bring'st
them with thee.
Brutus : O, if thou wert the noblest of thy strain,
[p]Young man, thou couldst
not die more honourable.
Cassius : A peevish schoolboy, worthless of such honour,
[p]Join'd with a masker
and a reveller!
Cassius : Why, now, blow wind, swell billow and swim bark!
[p]The storm is up,
and all is on the hazard.
Brutus : Ho, Lucilius! hark, a word with you.
Lucilius : [Standing forth. My lord?
Cassius : Messala!
Messala : [Standing forth What says my general?
Cassius : Messala,
[p]This is my birth-day; as this very day
[p]Was Cassius
born. Give me thy hand, Messala:
[p]Be thou my witness that against my
will,
[p]As Pompey was, am I compell'd to set
[p]Upon one battle all
our liberties.
[p]You know that I held Epicurus strong
[p]And his
opinion: now I change my mind,
[p]And partly credit things that do
presage.
[p]Coming from Sardis, on our former ensign
[p]Two mighty
eagles fell, and there they perch'd,
[p]Gorging and feeding from our
soldiers' hands;
[p]Who to Philippi here consorted us:
[p]This morning
are they fled away and gone;
[p]And in their steads do ravens, crows
and kites,
[p]Fly o'er our heads and downward look on us,
[p]As we
were sickly prey: their shadows seem
[p]A canopy most fatal, under
which
[p]Our army lies, ready to give up the ghost.
Messala : Believe not so.
Cassius : I but believe it partly;
[p]For I am fresh of spirit and
resolved
[p]To meet all perils very constantly.
Brutus : Even so, Lucilius.
Cassius : Now, most noble Brutus,
[p]The gods to-day stand friendly, that we
may,
[p]Lovers in peace, lead on our days to age!
[p]But since the
affairs of men rest still incertain,
[p]Let's reason with the worst
that may befall.
[p]If we do lose this battle, then is this
[p]The
very last time we shall speak together:
[p]What are you then
determined to do?
Brutus : Even by the rule of that philosophy
[p]By which I did blame Cato for
the death
[p]Which he did give himself, I know not how,
[p]But I do
find it cowardly and vile,
[p]For fear of what might fall, so to
prevent
[p]The time of life: arming myself with patience
[p]To stay
the providence of some high powers
[p]That govern us below.
Cassius : Then, if we lose this battle,
[p]You are contented to be led in
triumph
[p]Thorough the streets of Rome?
Brutus : No, Cassius, no: think not, thou noble Roman,
[p]That ever Brutus will
go bound to Rome;
[p]He bears too great a mind. But this same
day
[p]Must end that work the ides of March begun;
[p]And whether we
shall meet again I know not.
[p]Therefore our everlasting farewell
take:
[p]For ever, and for ever, farewell, Cassius!
[p]If we do meet
again, why, we shall smile;
[p]If not, why then, this parting was well
made.
Cassius : For ever, and for ever, farewell, Brutus!
[p]If we do meet again,
we'll smile indeed;
[p]If not, 'tis true this parting was well made.
Brutus : Why, then, lead on. O, that a man might know
[p]The end of this day's
business ere it come!
[p]But it sufficeth that the day will
end,
[p]And then the end is known. Come, ho! away!
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Next: Act 5 - Scene 2
