Cas.
Who 's there?

Casca.
A Roman.

Cas.
Casca, by your voice.

Casca.
Cassius, what night is this!

Cas.
A very pleasing night to honest men.

Casca.
Who ever knew the heavens menace so?

Cas.
Those, that have known the earth so full of faults.—
Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man
Most like this dreadful night;
That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars
As doth the lion in the Capitol:
A man no mightier than thyself, or me,
In personal action; yet prodigious grown,
And fearful, as these strange eruptions are.

Casca.
'T is Cæsar that you mean: Is it not, Cassius?

Cas.
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 sufferance show us womanish.

Casca.
Indeed, they say, the senators to-morrow
Mean to establish Cæsar as a king:
And he shall wear his crown by sea, and land,
In every place, save here in Italy.

Cas.
I know where I will wear my dagger then;
Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius:
If I know this, know all the world besides,
That part of tyranny, that I do bear,
I can shake off at pleasure.

Casca.
So can I:
So every bondman in his own hand bears
The power to cancel his captivity.

Cas.
And why should Cæsar be a tyrant then?
Poor man! I know, he would not be a wolf,
But that he sees the Romans are but sheep:
He were no lion, were not Romans hinds.
Those that with haste will make a mighty fire,
Begin it with weak straws: What trash is Rome,
What rubbish, and what offal, when it serves

For the base matter to illuminate
So vile a thing as Cæsar! But, O grief,
Where hast thou led me? I, perhaps, speak this
Before a willing bondman; then, I know,
My answer must be made: But I am arm'd,
And dangers are to me indifferent.

Casca.
You speak to Casca; and to such a man
That is no fleering tell-tale. Hold my hand:
Be factious for redress of all these griefs;
And I will set this foot of mine as far,
As who goes furthest.

Cas.
There's a bargain made.
Now, know you, Casca, I have mov'd already
Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans,
To undergo, with me, an enterprise
Of honourable-dangerous consequence;
And I do know, by this, they stay for me
In Pompey's porch:— [Thunder and Lightning.]
For now, this fearful night,
There is no stir or walking in the streets;
And the complexion of the element
Is favour'd, like the work we have in hand,
Most bloody, firy, and most terrible. [Going.]

Casca.
Stand close awhile; for here comes one in haste.

Cas.
'T is Cinna; I do know him by his gait;
He is a friend. Enter Cinna.
Cinna, where haste you so?

Cin.
To find out you. Who's that? Metellus Cimber?

Cas.
No, it is Casca; one incorporate
To our attempts. Am I not stay'd for, Cinna?

Cin.
I'm glad on 't.— [Thunder.]
What a fearful night is this!

Cas.
Am I not stay'd for? Tell me.

Cin.
Yes,
You are. O, Cassius, if you could but win
The noble Brutus to our party,—

Cas.
Be you content: Good Cinna, 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: set this up with wax
Upon old Brutus' statue: all this done,
Repair to Pompey's porch, where you shall find us.
Is Dacius, and Trebonius, there?

Cin.
All, but Metellus Cimber; and he 's gone
To seek you at your house. Well, I will hie,
And so bestow these papers as you bade me.

Cas.
That done, repair to Pompey's theatre. [Exit Cinna.
Come, Casca, you and I will, yet, ere day,
See Brutus at his house: three parts of him
Is ours already; and the man entire,
Upon the next encounter, yields him ours.

Casca.
O, he sits high in all the people's hearts:
And that, which would appear offence in us,
His countenance, like richest alchymy,
Will change to virtue, and to worthiness.

Cas.
Him, and his worth, and our great need of him,
You have right well conceited. Let us go;
For it is after midnight; and, ere day,
We will awake him, and be sure of him. [Thunder and Lightning.] [Exeunt.

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