Caf. You are dull, Gasca; and those sparks of life, That thould be in a Roman, you do want, Or else you use not; you look pale, and gaze, And put on fear, and caft your felf in wonder, To fee the ftrange impatience of the heav'ns: But if you would confider the true caufe, Why all these fires, why all thefe gliding ghofts, Why birds and beafts, from quality and kind, Why old men, fools, and children calculate; Why all these things change, from their ordinance, Their natures and pre-formed faculties

To monftrous quality; why, you shall find,
That heaven has infus'd them with these spirits,
To make them inftruments of fear and warning
Untó fome monftrous state.

Now could I, Cafca, name to thee a man
Moft like this dreadful night;

That thunders, lightens, opens Graves, and roars
As doth the lion in the Capitol ;

A man no mightier than thy felf, or me,
In perfonal action; yet prodigious grown,
And fearful, as thefe ftrange eruptions are.
Cafca. 'Tis Cæfar that you mean; is it not, Caffius?
Caf. Let it be who it is: for Romans now

Have thewes and limbs like to their ancestors;
But, woe the while! our fathers' minds are dead,
And we are govern'd with our mothers' spirits:
Our yoke and fuff'rance fhew us womanish.

Cafca. Indeed, they fay, the Senators to morrow Mean to establish Cæfar as a King:

And he shall wear his Crown by sea and land,
In every place, fave here in Italy.

8 and Children calculate ;] Calculate here fignifies to foretel or prophefy: For the custom of foretelling fortunes by judicial Aftrology (which was at that time much in vogue) being performed by a long tedious calculation, Shakespear, with his ufual liberty, employs the species [calculate] for the genus [foretel. ]

C 2

Caf.

Caf. I know, where I will wear this dagger then: • Caffius from bondage will deliver Caffius. "Therein, ye Gods, you make the weak moft ftrong; Therein, ye Gods, you tyrants do defeat; • Nor ftony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, • Nor airless dungeon, nor ftrong links of iron, • Can be retentive to the ftrength of fpirit: But life, being weary of thefe worldly bars, • Never lacks power to dismiss itself.

If I know this; know all the world befides, • That part of tyranny, that I do bear, I can fhake off at pleasure.

Cafca. So can I:

So every bondman in his own hand bears
The power to cancel his captivity.

Caf. And why should Cæfar be a tyrant then?
Poor man! I know, he would not be a wolf,
But that he fees, the Romans are but sheep;
He were no lion, were not Romans hinds.
Those that with hafte will make a mighty fire,
Begin it with weak ftraws. What trash is Rome?
What rubbish, and what offal? when it ferves
For the base matter to illuminate

So vile a thing as Cafar? But, oh, grief!
Where haft thou led me? I, perhaps, fpeak this
Before a willing bondman: then I know,
My answer must be made. But I am arm'd,
And dangers are to me indifferent.

Cafca. You speak to Cafca, and to fuch a man,
That is no flearing tell-tale. Hold my hand:
Be factious for redress of all these griefs,
And I will fet this foot of mine as far,
As who goes fartheft.

Caf. There's a bargain made.

Now know you, Cafca, I have mov'd already
Some certain of the nobleft-minded Romans,
To undergo, with me, an enterprize

Of

Of honourable dang❜rous confequence;
And I do know, by this they ftay for me
In Pompey's Porch. For now, this fearful night,
There is no ftir, or walking in the streets;
And the complexion of the Elements

Is fev'rous, like the work we have in hand;
Moft bloody, fiery, and moft terrible.

Enter Cinna.

Cafca. Stand close a while, for here comes one in hafte.

Caf. 'Tis Cinna, I do know him by his gate;
He is a friend. Cinna, where hafte you fo?
Cin. To find out you: who's that, Metellus Cimber?
Caf. No, it is Cafca, one incorporate

To our attempts. Am I not ftaid for, Cinna?
Cin. I'm glad on't. What a fearful night is this?
There's two or three of us have feen ftrange fights.
Caf. Am I not ftaid for? tell me.

Cin. Yes, you are.

O Caffius! could you win the noble Brutus
To our party

9 And the complexion of the ELEMENT

Is fev'rous] We find from the preceding relation, that it was not one Element only which was disturbed, but all; being told that all the fway of Earth book like a thing infirm that the winds rived the knotty oaks; that the Ocean raged and famed; and that there was a tempeft dropping Fire. So that all the four ELEMENTS appear'd to be diforder'd. We fhould read therefore,

The complexion of the ELEMENTS,

which is confirm'd by the following line,

Moft bloody, fiery, and moft terrible.

Bloody referring to the water; fiery to the air and fire; and terrible to the earthquakes; as appears from Calphurnia's account, which is a comment on this line:

Graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead;

Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds,

Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol.

C 3

Caf.

Caf. Be you content. Good Cinua, take this paper; And look you lay it in the Prætor's chair,

Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this
In at his window; fet this up with wax
Upon old Brutus' Statue: all this done,

Repair to Pompey's porch, where you fhall find us,
Is Decius Brutus, and Trebonius there?

Cin, All, but Metellus Cimber, and he's gone To feck you at your house. Well, I will hie, And fo beftow thefe papers, as you bade me. Caf. That done, repair to Pompey's Theatre.

[Exit Cinna,

Come, Cafca, you and I will, yet, ere day,
See Brutus at his houfe; three parts of him
Is ours already, and the man entire

Upon the next encounter yields him ours.

Cafca. O, he fits high in all the people's hearts:
And that, which would appear offence in us,
His countenance, like richeft alchymy,

Will change to virtue and to worthiness.

Caf. Him, and his worth, and our great need of him,

You have right well conceited; let us go,

For it is after mid-night; and, ere day,

We will awake him, and be fure of him. [Exeunt.

ACT II. SCENE I

BRUTUS's Garden,

Enter Brutus.

BRUTUS.

WHAT, Lucius! ho!—

I cannot by the progrefs of the stars,

Give guess how near to day-Lucius, I fay!

I would, it were my fault to fleep fo foundly.
When, Lucius, when? awake, I say; what, Lucius.

When it is lighted, come and call me here.

Luc. I will, my lord.

my ftudy, Lucius:

[Exit.

Bru. It must be by his death: and, for my part,
I know no perfonal cause to spurn at him;
But for the general. He would be crown'd-

"How that might change his nature, there's the question.

"It is the bright day, that brings forth the adder; "And that craves wary walking: crown him →→ that

"And then I grant we put a fting in him, "That at his will he may do danger with. "Th' abuse of Greatness is, when it disjoins "*Remorfe from Power: and,to speak truth of Cafar, I have not known when his affections fway'd More than his reafon. But 'tis a common proof, 'That lowlinefs is young ambition's ladder,

1 Whereto the climber-upward turns his face; But when he once attains the upmoft round,

. He then unto the ladder turns his back, • Looks in the clouds, fcorning the base degrees By which he did afcend: fo Cæfar may: Then, left he may, prevent. And fince the quarrel + Will bear no colour, for the thing he is,

* Remorse from Power:-] Remorfe, for mercy.

1 Whereto the climber upward turns, &c.] Climber upward fhould be printed with a hyphen to avoid an ambiguity, of climbing upwards or turning upwards, for, understood in the latter fenfe, the thought is abfurd and defective.

+ Will bear no colour, for the thing he is,

Fashion it thus-] The metaphor from the wardrobe, when the Excellence of the fashion makes out for the defect of the colour.

VOL. VII.

Fashion