Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
The nature of an insurrection.

Re-enter LUCIUS.

Luc. Sir, 'tis your brother Cassius at the door, Who doth desire to see you.

Bru.

Is he alone?

Luc. No, sir, there are more with him.
Bru.

Do you know them?

Luc. No, sir; their hats are pluck'd about their

ears,

And half their faces buried in their cloaks,

That by no means I may discover them
By any mark of favour.

Bru.

Let them enter.

[Exit LUCIUS.

They are the faction. O conspiracy!

Sham'st thou to show thy dangerous brow by night, When evils are most free? O, then, by day, Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough

To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, conspi

racy;

Hide in it smiles, and affability:

For if thou path, thy native semblance on,"
Not Erebus itself were dim enough

To hide thee from prevention.

Enter CASSIUS, CASCA, DECIUS, CINNA, METELLUS CIMBER, and TREBONIUS.

Cas. I think we are too bold upon your rest: Good morrow, Brutus; Do we trouble you?

Bru. I have been up this hour; awake, all night. Know I these men, that come along with you?

8

any mark of favour.] Any distinction of countenance. 9 For if thou path, thy native semblance on,] If thou walk in thy true form.

Cas. Yes, every man of them; and no man here,
But honours you: and every one doth wish,
You had but that opinion of yourself,

Which every noble Roman bears of you.
This is Trebonius.

Bru.

Cas. This Decius Brutus.
Bru.

Cas. This, Casca; this, Cinna ;

And this, Metellus Cimber.

He is welcome hither.

He is welcome too.

They are all welcome.

[They whisper.

Bru.
What watchful cares do interpose themselves

Betwixt your eyes and night?

Cas. Shall I entreat a word?

Dec. Here lies the east: Doth not the day break

here?

Casca. No.

Cin. O, pardon, sir, it doth; and yon grey lines, That fret the clouds, are messengers of day.

Casca. You shall confess, that you are both deceiv'd.

Here, as I point my sword, the sun arises;
Which is a great way growing on the south,
Weighing the youthful season of the year.
Some two months hence, up higher toward the
north

He first presents his fire; and the high east
Stands, as the Capitol, directly here.

Bru. Give me your hands all over, one by one.
Cas. And let us swear our resolution.

Bru. No, not an oath: If not the face of men,'

'No, not an oath: If not the face of men, &c.] Dr. Warburton would read fate of men; but his elaborate emendation is, I think, erroneous. The face of men is the countenance, the regard, the esteem of the publick; in other terms, honour and reputation; or the face of men may mean the dejected look of the people.

JOHNSON,

The sufferance of our souls, the time's abuse,-
If these be motives weak, break off betimes,
And every man hence to his idle bed;

2

So let high-sighted tyranny range on,
Till each man drop by lottery. But if these,
As I am sure they do, bear fire enough

To kindle cowards, and to steel with valour
The melting spirits of women; then, countrymen,
What need we any spur, but our own cause,
To prick us to redress? what other bond,
Than secret Romans, that have spoke the word,
And will not palter? and what other oath,
Than honesty to honesty engag'd,

That this shall be, or we will fall for it?
Swear priests, and cowards, and men cautelous,*
Old feeble carrions, and such suffering souls
That welcome wrongs; unto bad causes swear
Such creatures as men doubt: but do not stain
The even virtue of our enterprize,'

Nor the insuppressive mettle of our spirits,

To think, that, or our cause, or our performance,
Did need an oath; when every drop of blood,
That every Roman bears, and nobly bears,
Is guilty of a several bastardy,

If he do break the smallest particle

Of any promise that hath pass'd from him.

A

Cas. But what of Cicero? Shall we sound him?

I think, he will stand very strong with us.

Casca. Let us not leave him out.

Cin.

No, by no means.

2 Till each man drop by lottery.] Perhaps the poet alluded to the custom of decimation, i. e. the selection by lot of every tenth soldier, in a general mutiny, for punishment.

3 And will not palter?] And will not shuffle or fly from his engagements.

cautelous,] Is here cautious, sometimes insidious.

5 The even virtue of our enterprize,] The calm, equable, temperate spirit that actuates us.

Met. O let us have him; for his silver hairs Will purchase us a good opinion,

6

And buy men's voices to commend our deeds:
It shall be said, his judgment rul'd our hands;
Our youths, and wildness, shall no whit appear,
But all be buried in his gravity.

Bru. O, name him not; let us not break with

him ;

For he will never follow any thing

That other men begin.

Cas.

Then leave him out.

Casca. Indeed, he is not fit.

Dec. Shall no man else be touch'd but only Cæsar?

Cas. Decius, well urg'd:-I think it is not meet, Mark Antony, so well belov'd of Cæsar,

Should outlive Cæsar: We shall find of him
A shrewd contriver; and, you know, his means,
If he improves them, may well stretch so far,
As to annoy us all which to prevent,

Let Antony, and Cæsar, fall together.

Bru. Our course will seem too bloody, Caius
Cassius,

To cut the head off, and then hack the limbs;
Like wrath in death, and envy afterwards :7
For Antony is but a limb of Cæsar..

Let us be sacrificers, but no butchers, Caius.
We all stand up against the spirit of Cæsar;
And in the spirit of men there is no blood:
O, that we then could come by Cæsar's spirit,
And not dismember Cæsar! But, alas,
Cæsar must bleed for it! And, gentle friends,
Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;
Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods,

opinion,] i. e. character.

7--and envy afterwards:] Envy is here, as almost always in Shakspeare's plays, malice.

Not hew him as a carcase fit for hounds:
And let our hearts, as subtle masters do,
Stir up their servants to an act of rage,

And after seem to chide them. This shall make
Our purpose necessary, and not envious:
Which so appearing to the common eyes,
We shall be call'd purgers, not murderers.
And for Mark Antony, think not of him;
For he can do no more than Cæsar's arm,
When Cæsar's head is off.

Cas.
Yet I do fear him :
For in the ingrafted love he bears to Cæsar,

Bru. Alas, good Cassius, do not think of him: If he love Cæsar, all that he can do

8

Is to himself; take thought, and die for Cæsar : And that were much he should; for he is given To sports, to wildness, and much company."

Treb. There is no fear in him; let him not die; For he will live, and laugh at this hereafter.

Bru. Peace, count the clock.
Cas.

[Clock strikes.

The clock hath stricken three.

Treb. "Tis time to part.

Cas.
But it is doubtful yet,
Whe'r Cæsar will come forth to-day, or no:

For he is superstitious grown of late;
Quite from the main opinion he held once
Of fantasy, of dreams, and ceremonies :1
It may be, these apparent prodigies,
The unaccustom'd terror of this night,

8

3

Take thought,] That is, turn melancholy. ?company.] Company is here used in a disreputable sense. Quite from the main opinion he held once

Of fantasy, of dreams, and ceremonies :] Main opinion, is nothing more than leading, fixed, predominant opinion. Fantasy was in our author's time commonly used for imagination. Cer monies means omens or signs deduced from sacrifices, or other ceremonial rites.