Текст книги "William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition"

Автор книги: William Shakespeare

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2.2 Thunder and lightning. Enter Julius Caesar in his nightgown

CAESAR

Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace tonight.

Thrice hath Calpurnia 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 Calpurnia

CALPURNIA

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 threatened me

Ne’er looked but on my back; when they shall see

The face of Caesar, they are vanished.

CALPURNIA

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 whelpèd in the streets,

And graves have yawned and yielded up their dead.

Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds,

In ranks and squadrons and right form of war,

Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol.

The noise of battle hurtled in the air.

Horses do 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 avoided

Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?

Yet Caesar shall go forth, for these predictions

Are to the world in general as to Caesar.

CALPURNIA

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 heart

If he should stay at home today for fear.

No, Caesar shall not. Danger knows full well

That Caesar is more dangerous than he.

We are two lions littered in one day,

And I the elder and more terrible.

And Caesar shall go forth.

CALPURNIA Alas, my lord,

Your wisdom is consumed in confidence.

Do not go forth today. Call it my fear

That 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.

She kneels

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.

⌈Calpurnia rises⌉

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 time

To 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.

CALPURNIA

Say he is sick.

CAESAR Shall Caesar send a lie?

Have I in conquest stretched mine arm so far,

To be afeard to tell greybeards the truth?

Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come.

DECIUS

Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause,

Lest I be laughed 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.

Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at home.

She dreamt tonight she saw my statue,

Which like a fountain with an hundred spouts

Did run pure blood; and many lusty Romans

Came smiling and did bathe their hands in it.

And these does she apply for warnings and portents

Of evils imminent, and on her knee

Hath begged 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 bathed,

Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck

Reviving blood, and that great men shall press

For tinctures, stains, relics, and cognizance.

This by Calpurnia’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 concluded

To 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 mock

Apt to be rendered 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 love

To your proceeding bids me tell you this,

And reason to my love is liable.

CAESAR

How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnial

I am ashamed I did yield to them.

Give me my robe, for I will go.

Enter ⌈Cassius,⌉ Brutus, Ligarius, Metellus, Casca, Trebonius, and Cinna

And look where Cassius is come to fetch me.

⌈CASSIUS⌉

Good morrow, Caesar.

CAESAR Welcome, Cassius.—

What, Brutus, are you stirred so early too?—

Good morrow, Casca.—Caius Ligarius,

Caesar was ne‘er so much your enemy

As 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 ⌈to Calpurnia⌉ Bid them prepare within.

I am to blame to be thus waited for. ⌈Exit Calpurnia⌉

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 ernes to think upon. Exeunt

2.3 Enter Artemidorus, reading a letter

ARTEMIDORUS ’Caesar, beware of Brutus. Take heed of Cassius. Come not near Casca. Have an eye to Cinna. Trust not Trebonius. Mark well Metellus Cimber. Decius Brutus loves thee not. Thou hast wronged Caius Ligarius. There is but one mind in all these men, and it is bent against Caesar. If thou beest not immortal, look about you. Security gives way to conspiracy. The mighty gods defend thee!

Thy lover,

Artemidorus.’

Here will I stand till Caesar pass along,

And as a suitor will I give him this.

My heart laments that virtue cannot live

Out of the teeth of emulation.

If thou read this, O Caesar, thou mayst live.

If not, the fates with traitors do contrive. Exit

2.4 Enter Portia and Lucius

PORTIA

I prithee, boy, run to the Senate House.

Stay not to answer me, but get thee gone.—

Why dost thou stay?

LUCIUS To know my errand, madam.

PORTIA

I would have had thee there and here again

Ere I can tell thee what thou shouldst do there.

(Aside) O constancy, be strong upon my side;

Set a huge mountain ’tween my heart and tongue.

I have a man’s mind, but a woman’s might.

How hard it is for women to keep counsel!

(To Lucius) Art thou here yet?

LUCIUS Madam, what should I do?

Run to the Capitol, and nothing else?

And so return to you, and nothing else?

PORTIA

Yes, bring me word, boy, if thy lord look well,

For he went sickly forth; and take good note

What Caesar doth, what suitors press to him.

Hark, boy, what noise is that?

LUCIUS I hear none, madam.

PORTIA Prithee, listen well.

I heard a bustling rumour, like a fray,

And the wind brings it from the Capitol.

LUCIUS Sooth, madam, I hear nothing.

Enter the Soothsayer

PORTIA

Come hither, fellow. Which way hast thou been?

SOOTHSAYER

At mine own house, good lady.

PORTIA What is’t o’clock?

SOOTHSAYER About the ninth hour, lady.

PORTIA

Is Caesar yet gone to the Capitol?

SOOTHSAYER

Madam, not yet. I go to take my stand

To see him pass on to the Capitol.

PORTIA

Thou hast some suit to Caesar, hast thou not?

SOOTHSAYER

That I have, lady. If it will please Caesar

To be so good to Caesar as to hear me,

I shall beseech him to befriend himself.

PORTIA

Why, know’st thou any harms intended towards him?

SOOTHSAYER

None that I know will be; much that I fear may chance.

Good morrow to you.

⌈He moves away⌉ Here the street is narrow.

The throng that follows Caesar at the heels,

Of senators, of praetors, common suitors,

Will crowd a feeble man almost to death.

I’ll get me to a place more void, and there

Speak to great Caesar as he comes along. Exit

PORTIA (aside)

I must go in. Ay me! How weak a thing

The heart of woman is! O Brutus,

The heavens speed thee in thine enterprise!—

Sure the boy heard me. (To Lucius) Brutus hath a suit

That Caesar will not grant. (Aside) O, I grow faint!

(To Lucius) Run, Lucius, and commend me to my lord.

Say I am merry. Come to me again,

And bring me word what he doth say to thee.

Exeunt ⌈severally⌉

3.1 Enter ⌈at one door⌉ Artemidorus, the Soothsayer, and citizens. Flourish. Enter ⌈at another door⌉ Caesar, Brutus, Cassius, Casca, Decius, Metellus, Trebonius, Cinna, ⌈Ligarius,⌉ Antony, Lepidus, Publius, Popillius, ⌈and other senators⌉

CAESAR (to the Soothsayer) The ides of March are come.

SOOTHSAYER Ay, Caesar, but not gone.

ARTEMIDORUS Hail, Caesar! Read this schedule.

DECIUS (to Caesar)

Trebonius doth desire you to o’er-read

At your best leisure this his humble suit.

ARTEMIDORUS

O Caesar, read mine first, for mine’s a suit

That touches Caesar nearer. Read it, great Caesar.

CAESAR

What touches us ourself shall be last served.

ARTEMIDORUS

Delay not, Caesar, read it instantly.

CAESAR

What, is the fellow mad?

PUBLIUS (to Artemidorus)

Sirrah, give place.

CASSIUS (to Artemidorus)

What, urge you your petitions in the street?

Come to the Capitol.

⌈They walk about the stage⌉

POPILLIUS (aside to Cassius)

I wish your enterprise today may thrive.

CASSIUS

What enterprise, Popillius?

POPILLIUS Fare you well.

He leaves Cassius, and makes to Caesar

BRUTUS What said Popillius Laena?

CASSIUS

He wished today our enterprise might thrive.

I fear our purpose is discovered.

BRUTUS

Look how he makes to Caesar. Mark him.

CASSIUS

Casca, be sudden, for we fear prevention.—

Brutus, what shall be done? If this be known,

Cassius or Caesar never shall turn back,

For I will slay myself.

BRUTUS Cassius, be constant.

Popillius Laena speaks not of our purposes,

For look, he smiles, and Caesar doth not change.

CASSIUS

Trebonius knows his time, for look you, Brutus,

He draws Mark Antony out of the way.

Exeunt Trebonius and Antony

DECIUS

Where is Metellus Cimber? Let him go

And presently prefer his suit to Caesar.

⌈Caesar sits⌉

BRUTUS

He is addressed. Press near, and second him.

CINNA

Casca, you are the first that rears your hand.

⌈The conspirators and the other senators take their places⌉

CAESAR

Are we all ready? What is now amiss

That Caesar and his Senate must redress?

METELLUS (coming forward and kneeling)

Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Caesar,

Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat

An humble heart.

CAESAR I must prevent thee, Cimber.

These couchings and these lowly courtesies

Might fire the blood of ordinary men,

And turn preordinance and first decree

Into the law of children. Be not fond

To think that Caesar bears such rebel blood

That will be thawed from the true quality

With that which melteth fools: I mean sweet words,

Low-crooked curtsies, and base spaniel fawning.

Thy brother by decree is banished.

If thou dost bend and pray and fawn for him,

I spurn thee like a cur out of my way.

Know Caesar doth not wrong but with just cause,

Nor without cause will he be satisfied.

METELLUS

Is there no voice more worthy than my own

To sound more sweetly in great Caesar’s ear

For the repealing of my banished brother?

BRUTUS (coming forward and kneeling)

I kiss thy hand, but not in flattery, Caesar,

Desiring thee that Publius Cimber may

Have an immediate freedom of repeal.

CAESAR

What, Brutus?

CASSIUS (coming forward and kneeling)

Pardon, Caesar; Caesar, pardon.

As low as to thy foot doth Cassius fall

To beg enfranchisement for Publius Cimber.

CAESAR

I could be well moved if I were as you.

If I could pray to move, prayers would move me.

But I am constant as the Northern Star,

Of whose true fixed and resting quality

There is no fellow in the firmament.

The skies are painted with unnumbered sparks;

They are all fire, and every one doth shine;

But there’s but one in all doth hold his place.

So in the world: ‘tis furnished well with men,

And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive;

Yet in the number I do know but one

That unassailable holds on his rank,

Unshaked of motion; and that I am he

Let me a little show it even in this—

That I was constant Cimber should be banished,

And constant do remain to keep him so.

CINNA (coming forward and kneeling) O Caesar!

CAESAR Hence! Wilt thou lift up Olympus?

DECIUS (coming forward ⌈With Ligarius⌉ and kneeling) Great Caesar!

CAESAR Doth not Brutus bootless kneel?

CASCA (coming forward ⌈and kneeling⌉)

Speak hands for me.

They stab Caesar, ⌈Casca first, Brutus last⌉

CAESAR

Et tu, Bruté?—Then fall Caesar. He dies

CINNA

Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead!

Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets.

CASSIUS

Some to the common pulpits, and cry out

‘Liberty, freedom, and enfranchisement!’

BRUTUS

People and senators, be not affrighted.

⌈Exeunt in a tumult Lepidus, Popillius, other senators, Artemidorus, Soothsayer, and citizen⌉

Fly not! Stand still! Ambition’s debt is paid.

CASCA Go to the pulpit, Brutus.

DECIUS And Cassius too.

BRUTUS Where’s Publius?

CINNA

Here, quite confounded with this mutiny.

METELLUS

Stand fast together, lest some friend of Caesar’s

Should chance–

BRUTUS

Talk not of standing.—Pubtius, good cheer!

There is no harm intended to your person,

Nor to no Roman else—so tell them, Publius.

CASSIUS

And leave us, Publius, lest that the people,

Rushing on us, should do your age some mischief.

BRUTUS

Do so; and let no man abide this deed

But we the doers.

⌈Exit Publius⌉ Enter Trebonius

CASSIUS Where is Antony?

TREBONIUS Fled to his house, amazed.

Men, wives, and children stare, cry out, and run,

As it were doomsday.

BRUTUS Fates, we will know your pleasures.

That we shall die, we know; ‘tis but the time

And drawing days out that men stand upon.

CASCA

Why, he that cuts off twenty years of life

Cuts off so many years of fearing death.

BRUTUS

Grant that, and then is death a benefit.

So are we Caesar’s friends, that have abridged

His time of fearing death. Stoop, Romans, stoop,

And let us bathe our hands in Caesar’s blood

Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords;

Then walk we forth even to the market-place,

And, waving our red weapons o‘er our heads,

Let’s all cry ‘peace, freedom, and liberty!’

CASSIUS

Stoop, then, and wash.

They smear their hands with Caesar’s blood How many ages hence

Shall this our lofty scene be acted over,

In states unborn and accents yet unknown!

BRUTUS

How many times shall Caesar bleed in sport,

That now on Pompey’s basis lies along,

No worthier than the dust!

CASSIUS So oft as that shall be,

So often shall the knot of us be called

The men that gave their country liberty.

DECIUS

What, shall we forth?

CASSIUS Ay, every man away.

Brutus shall lead, and we will grace his heels

With the most boldest and best hearts of Rome.

Enter Antony’s Servant

BRUTUS

Soft; who comes here? A friend of Antony’s.

SERVANT (kneeling and falling prostrate)

Thus, Brutus, did my master bid me kneel.

Thus did Mark Antony bid me fall down,

And, being prostrate, thus he bade me say.

‘Brutus is noble, wise, valiant, and honest.

Caesar was mighty, bold, royal, and loving.

Say I love Brutus, and I honour him.

Say I feared Caesar, honoured him, and loved him.

If Brutus will vouchsafe that Antony

May safely come to him and be resolved

How Caesar hath deserved to lie in death,

Mark Antony shall not love Caesar dead

So well as Brutus living, but will follow

The fortunes and affairs of noble Brutus

Thorough the hazards of this untrod state

With all true faith.’ So says my master Antony.

BRUTUS

Thy master is a wise and valiant Roman.

I never thought him worse.

Tell him, so please him come unto this place,

He shall be satisfied, and, by my honour,

Depart untouched.

SERVANT ⌈rising⌉ I’ll fetch him presently. Exit

BRUTUS

I know that we shall have him well to friend.

CASSIUS

I wish we may. But yet have I a mind

That fears him much; and my misgiving still

Falls shrewdly to the purpose.

Enter Antony

BRUTES

But here comes Antony.—Welcome, Mark Antony.

ANTONY

O mighty Caesarl Dost thou lie so low?

Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,

Shrunk to this little measure? Fare thee well.—

I know not, gentlemen, what you intend—

Who else must be let blood, who else is rank.

If I myself, there is no hour so fit

As Caesar’s death’s hour, nor no instrument

Of half that worth as those your swords, made rich

With the most noble blood of all this world.

I do beseech ye, if you bear me hard,

Now, whilst your purpled hands do reek and smoke,

Fulfil your pleasure. Live a thousand years,

I shall not find myself so apt to die.

No place will please me so, no mean of death,

As here by Caesar, and by you cut off,

The choice and master spirits of this age.

BRUTUS

O Antony, beg not your death of us!

Though now we must appear bloody and cruel,

As by our hands and this our present act

You see we do, yet see you but our hands,

And this the bleeding business they have done.

Our hearts you see not; they are pitiful;

And pity to the general wrong of Rome—

As fire drives out fire, so pity pity–

Hath done this deed on Caesar. For your part,

To you our swords have leaden points, Mark Antony.

Our arms, unstrung of malice, and our hearts

Of brothers’ temper, do receive you in

With all kind love, good thoughts, and reverence.

CASSIUS

Your voice shall be as strong as any man’s

In the disposing of new dignities.

BRUTUS

Only be patient till we have appeased

The multitude, beside themselves with fear,

And then we will deliver you the cause

Why I, that did love Caesar when I struck him,

Have thus proceeded.

ANTONY I doubt not of your wisdom.

Let each man render me his bloody hand.

He shakes hands with the conspirators

First, Marcus Brutus, will I shake with you.—

Next, Caius Cassius, do I take your hand.—

Now, Decius Brutus, yours;—now yours, Metellus;—

Yours, Cinna;—and my valiant Casca, yours;—

Though last, not least in love, yours, good Trebonius.

Gentlemen all—alas, what shall I say?

My credit now stands on such slippery ground

That one of two bad ways you must conceit me:

Either a coward or a flatterer.

That I did love thee, Caesar, O, ’tis true.

If then thy spirit look upon us now,

Shall it not grieve thee dearer than thy death

To see thy Antony making his peace,

Shaking the bloody fingers of thy foes—

Most noble!—in the presence of thy corpse?

Had I as many eyes as thou hast wounds,

Weeping as fast as they stream forth thy blood,

It would become me better than to close

In terms of friendship with thine enemies.

Pardon me, Julius. Here wast thou bayed, brave hart;

Here didst thou fall, and here thy hunters stand

Signed in thy spoil and crimsoned in thy lethe.

O world, thou wast the forest to this hart;

And this indeed, O world, the heart of thee.

How like a deer strucken by many princes

Dost thou here lie!

CASSIUS Mark Antony.

ANTONY Pardon me, Caius Cassius.

The enemies of Caesar shall say this;

Then in a friend it is cold modesty.

CASSIUS

I blame you not for praising Caesar so;

But what compact mean you to have with us?

Will you be pricked in number of our friends,

Or shall we on, and not depend on you?

ANTONY

Therefore I took your hands, but was indeed

Swayed from the point by looking down on Caesar.

Friends am I with you all, and love you all

Upon this hope: that you shall give me reasons

Why and wherein Caesar was dangerous.

BRUTUS

Or else were this a savage spectacle.

Our reasons are so full of good regard,

That were you, Antony, the son of Caesar,

You should be satisfied.

ANTONY That’s all I seek;

And am, moreover, suitor that I may

Produce his body to the market-place,

And in the pulpit, as becomes a friend,

Speak in the order of his funeral.

BRUTUS

You shall, Mark Antony.

CASSIUS Brutus, a word with you.

(Aside to Brutus) You know not what you do. Do not

consent

That Antony speak in his funeral.

Know you how much the people may be moved

By that which he will utter?

BRUTUS (aside to Cassius) By your pardon,

I will myself into the pulpit first,

And show the reason of our Caesar’s death.

What Antony shall speak I will protest

He speaks by leave and by permission;

And that we are contented Caesar shall

Have all true rites and lawful ceremonies,

It shall advantage more than do us wrong.

CASSIUS (aside to Brutus)

I know not what may fall. I like it not.

BRUTUS

Mark Antony, here, take you Caesar’s body.

You shall not in your funeral speech blame us;

But speak all good you can devise of Caesar,

And say you do’t by our permission;

Else shall you not have any hand at all

About his funeral. And you shall speak

In the same pulpit whereto I am going,

After my speech is ended.

ANTONY Be it so;

I do desire no more.

BRUTUS

Prepare the body then, and follow us.

Exeunt all but Antony

ANTONY

O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,

That I am meek and gentle with these butchers.

Thou art the ruins of the noblest man

That ever lived in the tide of times.

Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!

Over thy wounds now do I prophesy—

Which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips

To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue—

A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;

Domestic fury and fierce civil strife

Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;

Blood and destruction shall be so in use,

And dreadful objects so familiar,

That mothers shall but smile when they behold

Their infants quartered with the hands of war,

All pity choked with custom of fell deeds;

And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge,

With Ate by his side come hot from hell,

Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice

Cry ‘havoc!’ and let slip the dogs of war,

That this foul deed shall smell above the earth

With carrion men, groaning for burial.

Enter Octavius’ Servant

You serve Octavius Caesar, do you not?

SERVANT I do, Mark Antony.

ANTONY

Caesar did write for him to come to Rome.

SERVANT

He did receive his letters, and is coming,

And bid me say to you by word of mouth—

(Seeing the body) O Caesar!

ANTONY

Thy heart is big. Get thee apart and weep.

Passion, I see, is catching, for mine eyes,

Seeing those beads of sorrow stand in thine,

Began to water. Is thy master coming?

SERVANT

He lies tonight within seven leagues of Rome.

ANTONY

Post back with speed and tell him what hath

chanced.

Here is a mourning Rome, a dangerous Rome,

No Rome of safety for Octavius yet.

Hie hence and tell him so.—Yet stay awhile.

Thou shalt not back till I have borne this corpse

Into the market-place. There shall I try

In my oration how the people take

The cruel issue of these bloody men;

According to the which thou shalt discourse

To young Octavius of the state of things.

Lend me your hand.

Exeunt with Caesar’s body