William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

 

William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Arden 1998

 

Cassius: Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world

Like a colossus, and we petty men

Walk under his huge legs and peep about

To find ourselves dishonourable graves. (1.2.134-7)

 

Cassius: As they pass by, pluck Caska by the sleeve,

And he will, after his sour fashion, tell you

What hath proceeded worthy note today. (1.2.178-80)

 

Caska: …the rabblement hooted, and clapped their

chopped hands, and threw up their sweaty nightcaps,

and uttered such a deal of stinking breath because

Caesar refused the crown that it had almost choked

Caesar; for he swooned and fell down at it. And for

mine own part, I durst not laugh, for fear of opening

my lips and receiving the bad air. (1.2.243-9) [chopped – chapped; nightcaps – Elizabethan woolen caps, normally for wearing in bed. Percy Macquoid refers to an Act of Parliament of 1571 enjoining the wearing of woolen caps on Sundays and holy days ‘by every person above the age of six years except women and certain specified officials’ (Lee & Onions, 2.111)]

 

Brutus: For Antony is but a limb of Caesar.

Let’s be sacrificers but not butchers, Caius.

We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar,

And in the spirit of men there is no blood.

O that we then could come by Caesar’s spirit

And not dismember Caesar! But, alas,

Caesar must bleed for it. And, gentle friends,

Let’s kill him boldly, but not wrathfully:

Let’s carve him as a dish fit for the gods,

Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds. (2.1.164-73)

 

Caesar: Go bid the priests do present sacrifice

And bring me their opinions of success.

Servant; I will, my lord. (2.2.4-6)

…

Calphurnia: 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 whelped in the streets,

And graves have yawned and yielded up their dead.

Fierce 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.

Calphurnia: 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. (2.2.13-43)

 

Antony: I do beseech ye, if you bear me hard,

Now, whilst your purple hands do reek and smoke,

Fulfil your pleasure. Live a thousand years,

I shall not find myself so apt to die. (3.1.157-60)

 

Brutus: If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against

Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less,

but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Caesar

were living, and die all slaves, than that Caesar were

dead, to live all freemen? As Caesar loved me, I weep

for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was

valiant, I honour him: but as he was ambitious, I slew

him. There is tears, for his love; joy, for his fortune;

honour, for his valour; and death, for his ambition.

Who is here so base, that would be a bondman? If any,

speak, for him I have offended. Who is here so rude,

that would not be a Roman? If any, speak, for him have

I offended. Who is here so vile, that will not love his

country? If any, speak, for him have I offended. (3.2.20-33)

 

Antony: Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears:

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them:

The good is oft interred with their bones.

So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus

Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:

If it were so, it was a grievous fault,

And grievously hath Caesar answered it.

Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest

(For Brutus is an honourable man;

So are they all, all honourable men)

Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral.

He was my friend, faithful and just to me;

But Brutus says, he was ambitious,

And Brutus is an honourable man.

He hath brought many captives to Rome,

Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill.

Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?

When the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:

Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.

Yet Brutus says, he was ambitious,

And Brutus is an honourable man.

You all did see, that on the Lupercal

I thrice presented him a kingly crown,

Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?

Yet Brutus says, he was ambitious,

And sure he is an honourable man.

I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,

But here I am to speak what I do know.

You all did love him once, not without cause:

What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?

O judgement, thou art fled to brutish beasts

And men have lost their reason. Bear with me.

My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,

And I must pause till it come back to me. (3.2.74-108)

 

Antony: Look, in this place ran Cassius’s dagger through:

See what a rent the envious Caska made:

Through this, the well-beloved Brutus stabbed,

And as he plucked his cursed steel away,

Mark how the blood of Caesar followed it,

…

This was the most unkindest cut of all:

For when the noble Caesar saw him stab,

Ingratitude, more strong than traitor’s arms,

Quite vanquished him: then burst his mighty heart; (3.2.172-84)