"I urg'd you further; then you fcratch'd your head, "And too impatiently stamp'd with your foot: "Yet I infifted, yet you anfwer'd not; "But with an angry wafture of your hand, "Gave fign for me to leave you: fo I did, "Fearing to ftrengthen that impatience, "Which feem'd too much inkindled; and, withal, Bru. I am not well in health, and that is all. Bru. Why, fo I do: good Porcia, go to bed. Bru. Kneel not, gentle Porcia. Por. Por. I fhould not need, if you were gentle Brutus. To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed, Porcia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife. Bru. You are my true and honourable wife; As dear to me, as are the ruddy drops That vifit my fad heart. Por. If this were true, then fhould I know this fecret. I grant, I am a woman; but withal, A woman that lord Brutus took to wife: I grant, I am a woman; but withal, I 'A woman well reputed Cata's daughter. Tell me your counfels, I will not disclose them: Here, in the thigh: can I bear that with patience, Bru. O ye Gods! 1 A woman well reputed; Cato's Daughter.] This falfe pointing fhould be corrected thus, A woman well reputed Cato's daughter. i.e. worthy of my birth, and the relation I bear to Cato. This indeed was a good reason why fhe should be intrufted with the fecret. But the falfe pointing, which gives a fenfe only implying that she was a woman of a good character, and that he was Cato's daughter, gives no good reafon : For the might be Cato's daughter, and yet not inherit his firmness; and fhe might be a woman well reputed, and yet not the best at a fecret. But if fhe was well reputed Cato's daughter, that is, worthy of her birth, fhe could neither want her father's love to her country, nor his refolution to engage in its deliverance. D 2 Render Render me worthy of this noble wife. [Knock. Hark, hark, one knocks: Porcia, go in a while; The fecrets of my heart. All my engagements I will conftrue to thee, Leave me with hafte. Enter Lucius and Ligarius. Lucius, who's there that knocks? [Exit Porcia Luc. Here is a fick man, that would speak with you. Bru. Caius Ligarius, that Metellus fpake of. Boy, ftand afide. Caius Ligarius! how? Cai. Vouchfafe good morrow from a feeble tongue. To wear a kerchief? 'would, you were not sick! Bru. Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius, Cai. By all the Gods the Romans bow before, I here difcard my fickness. Soul of Rome! Brave fon, deriv'd from honourable loins! Thou, like an Exorcift, haft conjur'd up My mortified fpirit. Now bid me run, And I will strive with things impoffible; the better of them. What's to do? Bru. A piece of work, that will make fick men whole. Yea, get Cai. But are not fome whole, that we must make fick ? Bru. That we muft alfo. What it is, my Caius, I fhall unfold to thee, as we are going, To whom it must be done. Cai. Set on your foot, And with a heart new-fir'd I follow you, That That Brutus leads me on. Bru. Follow me then. [Exeunt. IV. SCENE Changes to Cæfar's Palace. Thunder and Lightning. Enter Julius Cæfar. Caf.NOR heav'n, nor earth, have been at peace to night; Thrice hath Calphurnia in her fleep cry'd out, "Help, ho! they murder Cafar." Who's within? Enter a Servant. Ser. My lord? Caf. Go bid the priests do prefent facrifice, And bring me their opinions of fuccess. Ser. I will, my lord. Enter Calphurnia. [Exit. Cal. What mean you, Cæfar? think you to walk forth? You shall not stir out of your house to day. Caf. Cæfar fhall forth; the things, that threatned me, Ne'er lookt but on my back: when they shall fee The face of Cafar, they are vanished. Cal. Cafar, I never stood on ceremonies, And Graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead? D 3 And And Ghofts did fhriek, and fqueal about the ftreets. Caf. What can be avoided, Whofe end is purpos'd by the mighty Gods? Cal. When Beggars die, there are no comets feen; The heav'ns themselves blaze forth the death of Princes. Caf. "Cowards die many times before their deaths, "The valiant never tafte of death but once : "Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, "It seems to me moft ftrange, that men should fear : "Seeing that death, a neceffary end, "Will come, when it will come. Enter a Servant. What say the Augurs? Ser. They would not have you to stir forth to day. Plucking the entrails of an Offering forth, They could not find a heart within the beast. [Exit Servant. Caf. The Gods do this in fhame of cowardife: Cæfar fhould be a beast without a heart, If he should stay at home to day for fear. No, Cæfar fhall not; Danger knows full well, That Cæfar is more dangerous than he. We (a) were two lions litter'd in one day, And I the elder and more terrible; And Cæfar fhall go forth. Cal. Alas, my lord, Your wifdom is confum'd in confidence: That keeps you in the house, and not your own. (a) Were, Mr. Theobald. Vulg. beare.] And |