2

All

Live, Brutus! live, live!
[Brutus descends from pulpit.]

First Plebeian

Bring him with triumph home unto his house.

Second Plebeian

Give him a statue with his ancestors.

Third Plebeian

Let him be Caesar.

Fourth Plebeian

First Plebeian

Brutus

Second Plebeian

First Plebeian

Brutus

[Exit Brutus.]

First Plebeian

Third Plebeian

Antony

[Goes into the pulpit.]

Fourth Plebeian

Third Plebeian

Fourth Plebeian

First Plebeian

Third Plebeian

Second Plebeian

Antony

Plebeians

Antony

First Plebeian

Second Plebeian

Third Plebeian

Fourth Plebeian

First Plebeian

Second Plebeian

Third Plebeian

Fourth Plebeian

Antony

Fourth Plebeian

All

Antony

Fourth Plebeian

Antony

Fourth Plebeian

All

Second Plebeian

Antony

Several Plebeians

Second Plebeian

Third Plebeian

[Antony comes down.]

Fourth Plebeian

First Plebeian

Second Plebeian

Antony

Several Plebeians

Antony

[He removes the mantle.]

First Plebeian

Second Plebeian

Third Plebeian

Fourth Plebeian

First Plebeian

Second Plebeian

All

Antony

First Plebeian

Second Plebeian

Antony

All

First Plebeian

Third Plebeian

Antony

All

Antony

All

Antony

Second Plebeian

Third Plebeian

Antony

All

Antony

First Plebeian

Second Plebeian

Third Plebeian

Fourth Plebeian

[Exit Plebeians with the body.]

Antony

[Enter a Servant]

Servant

Antony

Servant

Antony

Servant

Antony

[Exit.]

Brutus

As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate,
I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honor him; but as he
was ambitious, I slew him. There is tears for his love; joy
for his fortune; honor for his valor; and death for his
ambition. Who is here so base that would be a bondman?
If any, speak, for him have I offended. Who is here so rude
that would not be a Roman? If any, speak, for him have
I offended. Who is here so vile that will not love his
country? If any, speak, for him have I offended. I pause for
a reply.

All

None, Brutus, none.

Brutus

Then none have I offended. I have done no more to
Caesar than you shall do to Brutus. The question of his
death is enrolled in the Capitol; his glory not extenuated,
wherein he was worthy; nor his offenses enforced, for
which he suffered death.

Caesar

                                  What can be avoided
Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?
Yet Caesar shall go forth; for these predictions
Are to the world in general as to Caesar.

Calpurnia

When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.

Cassius

Well, Brutus, thou art noble, yet I see
Thy honorable metal may be wrought
From that it is disposed.  Therefore it is meet
That noble minds keep ever with their likes;
For who so firm that cannot be seduced?
Caesar doth bear me hard, but he loves Brutus.
If I were Brutus now, and he were Cassius,
He should not humor me. I will this night,
In several 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 obscurely
Caesar's ambition shall be glancèd at.
And after this let Caesar seat him sure,
For we will shake him, or worse days endure.
[Exit.]

Cassius

Well, Brutus, thou art noble, yet I see
Thy honorable metal may be wrought
From that it is disposed.  Therefore it is meet
That noble minds keep ever with their likes;
For who so firm that cannot be seduced?
Caesar doth bear me hard, but he loves Brutus.
If I were Brutus now, and he were Cassius,
He should not humor me. I will this night,
In several 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 obscurely
Caesar's ambition shall be glancèd at.
And after this let Caesar seat him sure,
For we will shake him, or worse days endure.
[Exit.]

Cassius

But, soft, I pray you; what, did Caesar swoon?

Casca

He fell down in the market-place, and foamed at
mouth, and was speechless.

Brutus

'Tis very like; he hath the falling sickness.

Cassius

No, Caesar hath it not; but you and I,
And honest Casca, we have the falling sickness.

Casca

I know not what you mean by that, but I am sure
Caesar fell down. If the tag-rag people did not clap him
and hiss him, according as he pleased and displeased
them, as they use to do the players in the theatre, I am
no true man.

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

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 'em,
'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 talked of Rome,
That her wide walls encompassed 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 brooked
Th'eternal devil to keep his state in Rome
As easily as a king.

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