Julies Caesar - Act 4 - Scene 3

SCENE III. Brutus's tent.

    Enter BRUTUS and CASSIUS

CASSIUS

    That you have wrong'd me doth appear in this:
    You have condemn'd and noted Lucius Pella
    For taking bribes here of the Sardians;
    Wherein my letters, praying on his side,
    Because I knew the man, were slighted off.

BRUTUS

    You wronged yourself to write in such a case.

CASSIUS

    In such a time as this it is not meet
    That every nice offence should bear his comment.

BRUTUS

    Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself
    Are much condemn'd to have an itching palm;
    To sell and mart your offices for gold
    To undeservers.

CASSIUS

    I an itching palm!
    You know that you are Brutus that speak this,
    Or, by the gods, this speech were else your last.

BRUTUS

    The name of Cassius honours this corruption,
    And chastisement doth therefore hide his head.

CASSIUS

    Chastisement!

BRUTUS

    Remember March, the ides of March remember:
    Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake?
    What villain touch'd his body, that did stab,
    And not for justice? What, shall one of us
    That struck the foremost man of all this world
    But for supporting robbers, shall we now
    Contaminate our fingers with base bribes,
    And sell the mighty space of our large honours
    For so much trash as may be grasped thus?
    I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon,
    Than such a Roman.

CASSIUS

    Brutus, bay not me;
    I'll not endure it: you forget yourself,
    To hedge me in; I am a soldier, I,
    Older in practise, abler than yourself
    To make conditions.

BRUTUS

    Go to; you are not, Cassius.

CASSIUS

    I am.

BRUTUS

    I say you are not.

CASSIUS

    Urge me no more, I shall forget myself;
    Have mind upon your health, tempt me no further.

BRUTUS

    Away, slight man!

CASSIUS

    Is't possible?

BRUTUS

    Hear me, for I will speak.
    Must I give way and room to your rash choler?
    Shall I be frighted when a madman stares?

CASSIUS

    O ye gods, ye gods! must I endure all this?

BRUTUS

    All this! ay, more: fret till your proud heart break;
    Go show your slaves how choleric you are,
    And make your bondmen tremble. Must I budge?
    Must I observe you? must I stand and crouch
    Under your testy humour? By the gods
    You shall digest the venom of your spleen,
    Though it do split you; for, from this day forth,
    I'll use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter,
    When you are waspish.

CASSIUS

    Is it come to this?

BRUTUS

    You say you are a better soldier:
    Let it appear so; make your vaunting true,
    And it shall please me well: for mine own part,
    I shall be glad to learn of noble men.

CASSIUS

    You wrong me every way; you wrong me, Brutus;
    I said, an elder soldier, not a better:
    Did I say 'better'?

BRUTUS

    If you did, I care not.

CASSIUS

    When Caesar lived, he durst not thus have moved me.

BRUTUS

    Peace, peace! you durst not so have tempted him.

CASSIUS

    I durst not!

BRUTUS

    No.

CASSIUS

    What, durst not tempt him!

BRUTUS

    For your life you durst not!

CASSIUS

    Do not presume too much upon my love;
    I may do that I shall be sorry for.

BRUTUS

    You have done that you should be sorry for.
    There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats,
    For I am arm'd so strong in honesty
    That they pass by me as the idle wind,
    Which I respect not. I did send to you
    For certain sums of gold, which you denied me:
    For I can raise no money by vile means:
    By heaven, I had rather coin my heart,
    And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring
    From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash
    By any indirection: I did send
    To you for gold to pay my legions,
    Which you denied me: was that done like Cassius?
    Should I have answer'd Caius Cassius so?
    When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous,
    To lock such rascal counters from his friends,
    Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts;
    Dash him to pieces!

CASSIUS

    I denied you not.

BRUTUS

    You did.

CASSIUS

    I did not: he was but a fool that brought
    My answer back. Brutus hath rived my heart:
    A friend should bear his friend's infirmities,
    But Brutus makes mine greater than they are.

BRUTUS

    I do not, till you practise them on me.

CASSIUS

    You love me not.

BRUTUS

    I do not like your faults.

CASSIUS

    A friendly eye could never see such faults.

BRUTUS

    A flatterer's would not, though they do appear
    As huge as high Olympus.

CASSIUS

    Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come,
    Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius,
    For Cassius is aweary of the world;
    Hated by one he loves; braved by his brother;
    Cheque'd like a bondman; all his faults observed,
    Set in a note-book, learn'd, and conn'd by rote,
    To cast into my teeth. O, I could weep
    My spirit from mine eyes! There is my dagger,
    And here my naked breast; within, a heart
    Dearer than Plutus' mine, richer than gold:
    If that thou be'st a Roman, take it forth;
    I, that denied thee gold, will give my heart:
    Strike, as thou didst at Caesar; for, I know,
    When thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him better
    Than ever thou lovedst Cassius.

BRUTUS

    Sheathe your dagger:
    Be angry when you will, it shall have scope;
    Do what you will, dishonour shall be humour.
    O Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb
    That carries anger as the flint bears fire;
    Who, much enforced, shows a hasty spark,
    And straight is cold again.

CASSIUS

    Hath Cassius lived
    To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus,
    When grief, and blood ill-temper'd, vexeth him?

BRUTUS

    When I spoke that, I was ill-temper'd too.

CASSIUS

    Do you confess so much? Give me your hand.

BRUTUS

    And my heart too.

CASSIUS

    O Brutus!

BRUTUS

    What's the matter?

CASSIUS

    Have not you love enough to bear with me,
    When that rash humour which my mother gave me
    Makes me forgetful?

BRUTUS

    Yes, Cassius; and, from henceforth,
    When you are over-earnest with your Brutus,
    He'll think your mother chides, and leave you so.

Poet

    [Within] Let me go in to see the generals;
    There is some grudge between 'em, 'tis not meet
    They be alone.

LUCILIUS

    [Within] You shall not come to them.

Poet

    [Within] Nothing but death shall stay me.

    Enter Poet, followed by LUCILIUS, TITINIUS, and LUCIUS

CASSIUS

    How now! what's the matter?

Poet

    For shame, you generals! what do you mean?
    Love, and be friends, as two such men should be;
    For I have seen more years, I'm sure, than ye.

CASSIUS

    Ha, ha! how vilely doth this cynic rhyme!

BRUTUS

    Get you hence, sirrah; saucy fellow, hence!

CASSIUS

    Bear with him, Brutus; 'tis his fashion.

BRUTUS

    I'll know his humour, when he knows his time:
    What should the wars do with these jigging fools?
    Companion, hence!

CASSIUS

    Away, away, be gone.

    Exit Poet

BRUTUS

    Lucilius and Titinius, bid the commanders
    Prepare to lodge their companies to-night.

CASSIUS

    And come yourselves, and bring Messala with you
    Immediately to us.

    Exeunt LUCILIUS and TITINIUS

BRUTUS

    Lucius, a bowl of wine!

    Exit LUCIUS

CASSIUS

    I did not think you could have been so angry.

BRUTUS

    O Cassius, I am sick of many griefs.

CASSIUS

    Of your philosophy you make no use,
    If you give place to accidental evils.

BRUTUS

    No man bears sorrow better. Portia is dead.

CASSIUS

    Ha! Portia!

BRUTUS

    She is dead.

CASSIUS

    How 'scaped I killing when I cross'd you so?
    O insupportable and touching loss!
    Upon what sickness?

BRUTUS

    Impatient of my absence,
    And grief that young Octavius with Mark Antony
    Have made themselves so strong:--for with her death
    That tidings came;--with this she fell distract,
    And, her attendants absent, swallow'd fire.

CASSIUS

    And died so?

BRUTUS

    Even so.

CASSIUS

    O ye immortal gods!

    Re-enter LUCIUS, with wine and taper

BRUTUS

    Speak no more of her. Give me a bowl of wine.
    In this I bury all unkindness, Cassius.

CASSIUS

    My heart is thirsty for that noble pledge.
    Fill, Lucius, till the wine o'erswell the cup;
    I cannot drink too much of Brutus' love.

BRUTUS

    Come in, Titinius!

    Exit LUCIUS

    Re-enter TITINIUS, with MESSALA
    Welcome, good Messala.
    Now sit we close about this taper here,
    And call in question our necessities.

CASSIUS

    Portia, art thou gone?

BRUTUS

    No more, I pray you.
    Messala, I have here received letters,
    That young Octavius and Mark Antony
    Come down upon us with a mighty power,
    Bending their expedition toward Philippi.

MESSALA

    Myself have letters of the selfsame tenor.

BRUTUS

    With what addition?

MESSALA

    That by proscription and bills of outlawry,
    Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus,
    Have put to death an hundred senators.

BRUTUS

    Therein our letters do not well agree;
    Mine speak of seventy senators that died
    By their proscriptions, Cicero being one.

CASSIUS

    Cicero one!

MESSALA

    Cicero is dead,
    And by that order of proscription.
    Had you your letters from your wife, my lord?

BRUTUS

    No, Messala.

MESSALA

    Nor nothing in your letters writ of her?

BRUTUS

    Nothing, Messala.

MESSALA

    That, methinks, is strange.

BRUTUS

    Why ask you? hear you aught of her in yours?

MESSALA

    No, my lord.

BRUTUS

    Now, as you are a Roman, tell me true.

MESSALA

    Then like a Roman bear the truth I tell:
    For certain she is dead, and by strange manner.

BRUTUS

    Why, farewell, Portia. We must die, Messala:
    With meditating that she must die once,
    I have the patience to endure it now.

MESSALA

    Even so great men great losses should endure.

CASSIUS

    I have as much of this in art as you,
    But yet my nature could not bear it so.

BRUTUS

    Well, to our work alive. What do you think
    Of marching to Philippi presently?

CASSIUS

    I do not think it good.

BRUTUS

    Your reason?

CASSIUS

    This it is:
    'Tis better that the enemy seek us:
    So shall he waste his means, weary his soldiers,
    Doing himself offence; whilst we, lying still,
    Are full of rest, defense, and nimbleness.

BRUTUS

    Good reasons must, of force, give place to better.
    The people 'twixt Philippi and this ground
    Do stand but in a forced affection;
    For they have grudged us contribution:
    The enemy, marching along by them,
    By them shall make a fuller number up,
    Come on refresh'd, new-added, and encouraged;
    From which advantage shall we cut him off,
    If at Philippi we do face him there,
    These people at our back.

CASSIUS

    Hear me, good brother.

BRUTUS

    Under your pardon. You must note beside,
    That we have tried the utmost of our friends,
    Our legions are brim-full, our cause is ripe:
    The enemy increaseth every day;
    We, at the height, are ready to decline.
    There is a tide in the affairs of men,
    Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
    Omitted, all the voyage of their life
    Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
    On such a full sea are we now afloat;
    And we must take the current when it serves,
    Or lose our ventures.

CASSIUS

    Then, with your will, go on;
    We'll along ourselves, and meet them at Philippi.

BRUTUS

    The deep of night is crept upon our talk,
    And nature must obey necessity;
    Which we will niggard with a little rest.
    There is no more to say?

CASSIUS

    No more. Good night:
    Early to-morrow will we rise, and hence.

BRUTUS

    Lucius!

    Enter LUCIUS
    My gown.

    Exit LUCIUS
    Farewell, good Messala:
    Good night, Titinius. Noble, noble Cassius,
    Good night, and good repose.

CASSIUS

    O my dear brother!
    This was an ill beginning of the night:
    Never come such division 'tween our souls!
    Let it not, Brutus.

BRUTUS

    Every thing is well.

CASSIUS

    Good night, my lord.

BRUTUS

    Good night, good brother.

TITINIUS MESSALA

    Good night, Lord Brutus.

BRUTUS

    Farewell, every one.

    Exeunt all but BRUTUS

    Re-enter LUCIUS, with the gown
    Give me the gown. Where is thy instrument?

LUCIUS

    Here in the tent.

BRUTUS

    What, thou speak'st drowsily?
    Poor knave, I blame thee not; thou art o'er-watch'd.
    Call Claudius and some other of my men:
    I'll have them sleep on cushions in my tent.

LUCIUS

    Varro and Claudius!

    Enter VARRO and CLAUDIUS

VARRO

    Calls my lord?

BRUTUS

    I pray you, sirs, lie in my tent and sleep;
    It may be I shall raise you by and by
    On business to my brother Cassius.

VARRO

    So please you, we will stand and watch your pleasure.

BRUTUS

    I will not have it so: lie down, good sirs;
    It may be I shall otherwise bethink me.
    Look, Lucius, here's the book I sought for so;
    I put it in the pocket of my gown.

    VARRO and CLAUDIUS lie down

LUCIUS

    I was sure your lordship did not give it me.

BRUTUS

    Bear with me, good boy, I am much forgetful.
    Canst thou hold up thy heavy eyes awhile,
    And touch thy instrument a strain or two?

LUCIUS

    Ay, my lord, an't please you.

BRUTUS

    It does, my boy:
    I trouble thee too much, but thou art willing.

LUCIUS

    It is my duty, sir.

BRUTUS

    I should not urge thy duty past thy might;
    I know young bloods look for a time of rest.

LUCIUS

    I have slept, my lord, already.

BRUTUS

    It was well done; and thou shalt sleep again;
    I will not hold thee long: if I do live,
    I will be good to thee.

    Music, and a song
    This is a sleepy tune. O murderous slumber,
    Lay'st thou thy leaden mace upon my boy,
    That plays thee music? Gentle knave, good night;
    I will not do thee so much wrong to wake thee:
    If thou dost nod, thou break'st thy instrument;
    I'll take it from thee; and, good boy, good night.
    Let me see, let me see; is not the leaf turn'd down
    Where I left reading? Here it is, I think.

    Enter the Ghost of CAESAR
    How ill this taper burns! Ha! who comes here?
    I think it is the weakness of mine eyes
    That shapes this monstrous apparition.
    It comes upon me. Art thou any thing?
    Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil,
    That makest my blood cold and my hair to stare?
    Speak to me what thou art.

GHOST

    Thy evil spirit, Brutus.

BRUTUS

    Why comest thou?

GHOST

    To tell thee thou shalt see me at Philippi.

BRUTUS

    Well; then I shall see thee again?

GHOST

    Ay, at Philippi.

BRUTUS

    Why, I will see thee at Philippi, then.

    Exit Ghost
    Now I have taken heart thou vanishest:
    Ill spirit, I would hold more talk with thee.
    Boy, Lucius! Varro! Claudius! Sirs, awake! Claudius!

LUCIUS

    The strings, my lord, are false.

BRUTUS

    He thinks he still is at his instrument.
    Lucius, awake!

LUCIUS

    My lord?

BRUTUS

    Didst thou dream, Lucius, that thou so criedst out?

LUCIUS

    My lord, I do not know that I did cry.

BRUTUS

    Yes, that thou didst: didst thou see any thing?

LUCIUS

    Nothing, my lord.

BRUTUS

    Sleep again, Lucius. Sirrah Claudius!

    To VARRO
    Fellow thou, awake!

VARRO

    My lord?

CLAUDIUS

    My lord?

BRUTUS

    Why did you so cry out, sirs, in your sleep?

VARRO CLAUDIUS

    Did we, my lord?

BRUTUS

    Ay: saw you any thing?

VARRO

    No, my lord, I saw nothing.

CLAUDIUS

    Nor I, my lord.

BRUTUS

    Go and commend me to my brother Cassius;
    Bid him set on his powers betimes before,
    And we will follow.

VARRO CLAUDIUS

    It shall be done, my lord.

    Exeunt