HAM. Indeed, indeed, Sir, but this troubles me.
Hold you the watch to-night?
My lord, from head to foot.
Then saw you not his face?
HOR. O yes, my lord: he wore his beaver up. HAM. What, look'd he frowningly?
HOR. A count'nance more in sorrow than in anger. HAM. Pale, or red?
HOR. Nay, very pale.
HAM. And fix'd his eyes upon you?
Most constantly.
I would I had been there!
HOR. It would have much amaz'd you.
HAM. Very like. Staid it long?
HOR. While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred.
HAM. His beard was grizzl'd?-no.—
HOR. It was, as I have seen it in his life,
HAM. I'll watch to-night; perchance 'twill walk again HOR. I warrant you it will.
HAM. If it assumes my noble father's person,
I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape, And bid me hold my peace. I pray you, If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight, Let it be ten'ble in your silence still; And whatsoever shall befall to-night, Give it an understanding, but no tongue: I will requite your love: so fare ye well.. Upon the platform 'twixt eleven and twelve I'll visit you.
CAS. WILL you go see the order of the course? BRU. Not I.
BRU. I am not gamesome; I do lack some part Of that quick spirit that is in Antony;
Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires; I'll leave you.
CAS. Brutus, I do observe you now of laté; I have not from your eyes that gentleness And show of love as I was wont to have; You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand Over your friend that loves you.
Be not deceiv'd: if I have veil'd my look, I turn the trouble of my countenance Merely upon myself. Vexed I am
Of late with passions of some difference, Conceptions only proper to myself;
Which give some soil perhaps to my behaviour; But let not therefore my good friends be griev❜d, Among which number, Cassius, be you one; Nor construe any farther my neglect,
Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,
Forgets the show of love to other men.
CAS. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passions
By means whereof, this breast of mine hath buried Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.
Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face? BRU. No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself,
But by reflection from some other thing.
And it is very much lamented, Brutus,
That you have no such mirror as will turn Your hidden worthiness into your eye,
That you might see your shadow. I have heard, Where many of the best respect in Rome,
(Except immortal Cæsar,) speaking of Brutus, And groaning underneath this age's yoke, Have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes. BRU. Into what dangers would you That you would have me seek into myself, For that which is not in me?
CAS. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepar'd to hear; And since you know you cannot see yourself So well as by reflection, I, your glass,
Will modestly discover to yourself
That of yourself which yet you know not of. And be not jealous of me, gentle Brutus: Were I a common laugher, or did use To stale with ordinary oaths my love To every new protester; if you know, That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard, And after scandal them; or if you know, That I profess myself in banqueting
To all the rout; then hold me dangerous.
BRD. What means this shouting? I do fear the people Choose Cæsar for their king.
Cas. Ay, do you fear it?
Then must I think you would not have it so.
BRU. I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well. But wherefore do you hold me here so long? What is it that you would impart to me? If it be aught toward the general good, Set Honour in one eye, and Death i' th' other, And I will look on Death indifferently: For let the gods so speed me, as I love The name of Honour more than I fear Death. CAS. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, As well as I do know your outward favour. Well, honour is the subject of my story,- I cannot tell what you and other men Think of this life: but for my single self, I had as lief not be, as live to be In awe of such a thing as I myself. I was born free as Cæsar; so were you: We both have fed as well; and we can both Endure the winter's cold as well as he.
For once upon a raw and gusty day, The troubled Tiber chafing with his shores, Cæsar says to me, Dar'st thou, Cassius, now Leap in with me into this angry flood, And swim to yonder point?-Upon the word, Accoutred as I was, I plunged in
And bade him follow; so indeed he did. The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it With lusty sinews, throwing it aside, And stemming it with hearts of controversy. But ere we could arrive at the point propos'd, Cæsar cry'd, Help me, Cassius, or I sink. I, as Æneas, our great ancestor,.
Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder The old Anchises bear; so from the waves of Tiber Did I the tired Cæsar: and this man
Is now become a god; and Cassius is
A wretched creature, and must bend his body, If Cæsar carelessly but nod on him.
He had a fever when he was in Spain,
And when the fit was on him, I did mark
How he did shake. 'Tis true, this god did shake; His coward lips did from their colour fly,
And that same eye whose bend does awe the world, Did lose its lustre; I did hear him groan: Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans Mark him, and write his speeches in their books, Alas! it cry'd-Give me some drink, Titinius- As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me, A man of such a feeble temper should So get the start of this majestic world, And bear the palm alone.
BRU. Another general shout!
I do believe that these applauses are
For some new honours that are heap'd on Cæsar.
CAS. Why man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus! and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs, and prep about To find ourselves dishonourable graves. Men at some time are masters of their fates; The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
Brutus and Cæsar-what should be in that Cæsar? Why should that name be sounded more than yours? Write them together; yours is as fair a name: Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well; Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with 'em, Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Cæsar. Now, in the names of all the gods at once, Upon what meat does this our Cæsar feed, That he is grown so great? Age, thou art sham'd; Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods. When went there by an age, since the great flood, But it was fam'd with more than with one man? When could they say, till now, that talk'd of Rome, That her wide walls encompass'd but one man? and I have heard our fathers say, There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd Th' eternal devil, to keep his state in Rome
BRU. That you do love me, I am nothing jealous What you would work me to, I have some aim: How I have thought of this, and of these times, I shall recount hereafter: for this present, I would not (so with love I might entreat you) Be any further mov'd. What you have said, I will consider; what you have to say, I will with patience hear; and find a time Both meet to hear, and answer such high things. Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this: Brutus had rather be a villager,
Than to repute himself a son of Rome Under such hard conditions as this time
Is like to lay upon us.
CAS. I am glad that my weak words
Have struck but thus much show of fire from Brutus.
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