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