JULIUS CAESAR

Act 2 Scene 2

(Thunder and lightning. Enter Julius Caesar in his nightgown)
l1l	Caesar	 Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace tonight.
l2l		Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out
l3l		“Help, ho! They murder Caesar!”—Who’s within?
		(Enter a Servant)
l4l	Servant	 My lord.
l5l	Caesar	 Go bid the priests do present sacrifice,
l6l		And bring me their opinions of success.
l7l	Servant	 I will, my lord.
		(Exit)
l8l		(Enter Calpurnia)
		Calpurnia	 What mean you, Caesar? Think you to walk forth?
l9l		You shall not stir out of your house today.
l10l	Caesar	Caesar shall forth. The things that threatened me
l11l		Ne’er looked but on my back# when they shall see
l12l		The face of Caesar, they are vanishèd.
l13l	Calpurnia	Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies,
l14l		Yet now they fright me. There is one within,
l15l		Besides the things that we have heard and seen,
l16l		Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.
l17l		A lioness hath whelpèd in the streets,
l18l		And graves have yawned and yielded up their dead.
l19l		Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds,
l20l		In ranks and squadrons and right form of war,
l21l		Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol.
l22l		The noise of battle hurtled in the air.
l23l		Horses do neigh, and dying men did groan,
l24l		And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.
l25l		O Caesar, these things are beyond all use,
l26l		And I do fear them.
	Caesar	What can be avoided
l27l		Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?
l28l		Yet Caesar shall go forth, for these predictions
l29l		Are to the world in general as to Caesar.
l30l	Calpurnia	When beggars die there are no comets seen#
l31l		The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.
l32l	Caesar	Cowards die many times before their deaths#
l33l		The valiant never taste of death but once.
l34l		Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
l35l		It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
l36l		Seeing that death, a necessary end,
l37l		Will come when it will come.
		(Enter Servant)
		 What say the augurers?
l38l	Servant	They would not have you to stir forth today.
l39l		Plucking the entrails of an offering forth,
l40l		They could not find a heart within the beast.
l41l	Caesar	The gods do this in shame of cowardice.
l42l		Caesar should be a beast without a heart
l43l		If he should stay at home today for fear.
l44l		No, Caesar shall not. Danger knows full well
l45l		That Caesar is more dangerous than he.
l46l		We are two lions littered in one day,
l47l		And I the elder and more terrible.
l48l		And Caesar shall go forth.
	Calpurnia	Alas, my lord,
l49l		Your wisdom is consumed in confidence.
l50l		Do not go forth today. Call it my fear
l51l		That keeps you in the house, and not your own.
l52l		We’ll send Mark Antony to the Senate House,
l53l		And he shall say you are not well today.
l54l		Let me upon my knee prevail in this.
		(She kneels)
l55l	Caesar	 Mark Antony shall say I am not well,
l56l		And for thy humour I will stay at home.
		(Enter Decius)
l57l		Here’s Decius Brutus# he shall tell them so.
		( 57 Calpurnia rises)
l58l	Decius	 Caesar, all hail! Good morrow, worthy Caesar.
l59l		I come to fetch you to the Senate House.
l60l	Caesar	And you are come in very happy time
l61l		To bear my greeting to the senators
l62l		And tell them that I will not come today.
l63l		Cannot is false, and that I dare not, falser.
l64l		I will not come today# tell them so, Decius.
l65l	Calpurnia	Say he is sick.
	Caesar	Shall Caesar send a lie?
l66l		Have I in conquest stretched mine arm so far,
l67l		To be afeard to tell greybeards the truth?
l68l		Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come.
l69l	Decius	Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause,
l70l		Lest I be laughed at when I tell them so.
l71l	Caesar	The cause is in my will# I will not come.
l72l		That is enough to satisfy the Senate.
l73l		But for your private satisfaction,
l74l		Because I love you, I will let you know.
l75l		Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at home.
l76l		She dreamt tonight she saw my statue,
l77l		Which like a fountain with an hundred spouts
l78l		Did run pure blood# and many lusty Romans
l79l		Came smiling and did bathe their hands in it.
l80l		And these does she apply for warnings and portents
l81l		Of evils imminent, and on her knee
l82l		Hath begged that I will stay at home today.
l83l	Decius	This dream is all amiss interpreted.
l84l		It was a vision fair and fortunate.
l85l		Your statue spouting blood in many pipes,
l86l		In which so many smiling Romans bathed,
l87l		Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck
l88l		Reviving blood, and that great men shall press
l89l		For tinctures, stains, relics, and cognizance.
l90l		This by Calpurnia’s dream is signified.
l91l	Caesar	And this way have you well expounded it.
l92l	Decius	I have, when you have heard what I can say.
l93l		And know it now: the Senate have concluded
l94l		To give this day a crown to mighty Caesar.
l95l		If you shall send them word you will not come,
l96l		Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock
l97l		Apt to be rendered for someone to say
l98l		“Break up the Senate till another time,
l99l		When Caesar’s wife shall meet with better dreams.”
l100l		If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper
l101l		“Lo, Caesar is afraid”?
l102l		Pardon me, Caesar# for my dear dear love
l103l		To your proceeding bids me tell you this,
l104l		And reason to my love is liable.
l105l	Caesar	How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia!
l106l		I am ashamèd I did yield to them.
l107l		Give me my robe, for I will go.
		(Enter Cassius, Brutus, Ligarius, Metellus, Casca, Trebonius, and Cinna)
l108l		And look where Cassius is come to fetch me.
l109l	[Cassius]	Good morrow, Caesar.
	Caesar	Welcome, Cassius.—
l110l		What, Brutus, are you stirred so early too?—
l111l		Good morrow, Casca.—Caius Ligarius,
l112l		Caesar was ne’er so much your enemy
l113l		As that same ague which hath made you lean.
l114l		What is ’t o’clock?
	Brutus	Caesar, ’tis strucken eight.
l115l	Caesar	I thank you for your pains and courtesy.
		(Enter Antony)
l116l		See, Antony that revels long a-nights
l117l		Is notwithstanding up. Good morrow, Antony.
l118l	Antony	So to most noble Caesar.
	Caesar	
		(to Calpurnia)
		 Bid them prepare within.
l119l		I am to blame to be thus waited for.
		(Exit Calpurnia)
l120l		Now, Cinna.—Now, Metellus.—What, Trebonius!
l121l		I have an hour’s talk in store for you.
l122l		Remember that you call on me today.
l123l		Be near me, that I may remember you.
l124l	Trebonius	Caesar, I will,
		(aside)
		 and so near will I be
l125l		That your best friends shall wish I had been further.
l126l	Caesar	Good friends, go in and taste some wine with me,
l127l		And we, like friends, will straightway go together.
l128l	Brutus	(aside)
		 That every like is not the same, O Caesar,
l129l		The heart of Brutus ernes to think upon.
		(Exeunt)