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III. The same. A street.
III. _Via quaedam._
Thunder and lightning. Enter, from opposite sides, Casca with his sword drawn, and Cicero.
_Ex hac parte_ CASCA, _stricto ense, ex illa_ CICERO.
CICERO. Good even, Casca: brought you Caesar home? Why are you breathless, and why stare you so?
_Cic._--Salve, Casca: deduxistine Caesarem? Sed quid vult iste anhelitus? cur distentis oculis stupes?
CASCA. Are not you moved, when all the sway of earth Shakes like a thing unfirm? O Cicero, I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds Have riv’d the knotty oaks; and I have seen Th’ ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam, To be exalted with the threatening clouds: But never till tonight, never till now, Did I go through a tempest dropping fire. Either there is a civil strife in heaven, Or else the world too saucy with the gods, Incenses them to send destruction.
_Casc._--Annon et ipse trepidas, quum tota terra, moles veluti instabilis, quassatur? O Cicero, vidi ego quercus nodosas vi turbinis furibundi disrumpi, oceanumque superbientem tumescere, spumare, furere, quasi gestiret se nubibus minacibus intermiscere: sed nunquam adhuc procellae ignem stillanti interfui. Vel bellum civile inter se Dii gerunt, vel per hanc stragem homines insolentiores castigant.
CICERO. Why, saw you anything more wonderful?
_Cic._--Ecquid igitur mirabilius vidisti?
CASCA. A common slave, you’d know him well by sight, Held up his left hand, which did flame and burn Like twenty torches join’d, and yet his hand, Not sensible of fire remain’d unscorch’d. Besides, I ha’ not since put up my sword, Against the Capitol I met a lion, Who glared upon me, and went surly by, Without annoying me. And there were drawn Upon a heap a hundred ghastly women, Transformed with their fear; who swore they saw Men, all in fire, walk up and down the streets. And yesterday the bird of night did sit, Even at noonday upon the marketplace, Hooting and shrieking. When these prodigies Do so conjointly meet, let not men say, “These are their reasons; they are natural”; For I believe, they are portentous things Unto the climate that they point upon.
_Casc._--Servus quidam, tibi notus, sinistram, quasi ex viginti taedis exardescentem, sursum ferebat; nec tamen ignescebat manus. Mihi ipsi ad Capitolium (ecce ensem adhuc strictum) obviam venit leo, qui me torve intuens illaesum praeteribat: pavidae mulieres in globum coactae terrore ipsa facie mutata, jurabunt vidisse viros ignibus succinctos perambulare vias. Heri, meridie ipsa, noctua in foro sedebat, stridens, ululansque. Quum haec et talia concurrunt, ne quis dicat, "Hoc aut illud in causa est,--Haec omnia secundum naturam sunt." Ego enim ea esse credo quae, in quamcunque regionem demissa fuerint, portentosum aliquod mox adfuturum denuntient.
CICERO. Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time. But men may construe things after their fashion, Clean from the purpose of the things themselves. Comes Caesar to the Capitol tomorrow?
_Cic._--Fateor tempus extra ordinem esse: accidit tamen ut homines signa, sensu plane signis ipsis opposito, pro arbitrio non raro interpretentur. Caesarne cras ad Capitolium?
CASCA. He doth, for he did bid Antonius Send word to you he would be there tomorrow.
_Casc._--Procul dubio; Antonio enim jussit ut te certiorem faceret.
CICERO. Goodnight then, Casca: this disturbed sky Is not to walk in.
_Cic._--Vale, ergo, Casca: haec tempestas vix sub dio sustinenda est.
CASCA. Farewell, Cicero.
_Casc._--Vale, Cicero.
[_Exit Cicero._]
[_Exit_ CICERO.
CASSIUS. Who’s there?
_Cass._--Quis ibi?
CASCA. A Roman.
_Casc._--Romanus.
CASSIUS. Casca, by your voice.
_Cass._--Vocem Cascae agnosco.
CASCA. Your ear is good. Cassius, what night is this!
_Casc._--Aures non te fallunt. Quae sit haec nox, Cassi?
CASSIUS. A very pleasing night to honest men.
_Cass._--Honestis gratissima.
CASCA. Who ever knew the heavens menace so?
_Casc._--Quis unquam coelos adeo minaces noverit?
CASSIUS. Those that have known the earth so full of faults. For my part, I have walk’d about the streets, Submitting me unto the perilous night; And, thus unbraced, Casca, as you see, Have bar’d my bosom to the thunder-stone; And when the cross blue lightning seem’d to open The breast of heaven, I did present myself Even in the aim and very flash of it.
_Cass._--Qui terram adeo sceleribus confertam noverit.--Ego quidem vias perambulavi, noctis hujusce periculis obnoxius; et discinctus, uti vides, Casca, pectus in fulgura nudavi. Immo etiam, coeli gremio contortis quasi fulminibus diffisso, me in ipsum ictum aciemque opposui.
CASCA. But wherefore did you so much tempt the Heavens? It is the part of men to fear and tremble, When the most mighty gods by tokens send Such dreadful heralds to astonish us.
_Casc._--Heus! quare tantum coelos provocasti? Humanum est refugere et trepidare, quum Dii omnipotentes haec signa, tam diros irae suae praecones, in terram demittunt.
CASSIUS. You are dull, Casca; and those sparks of life That should be in a Roman you do want, Or else you use not. You look pale and gaze, And put on fear and cast yourself in wonder, To see the strange impatience of the Heavens: But if you would consider the true cause Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts, Why birds and beasts, from quality and kind; Why old men, fools, and children calculate, Why all these things change from their ordinance, Their natures, and pre-formed faculties, To monstrous quality; why, you shall find That Heaven hath infus’d them with these spirits, To make them instruments of fear and warning Unto some monstrous state. 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.
_Cass._--Piger es, Casca; vitalibusque iis scintillis quae Romanum decent, vel cares, vel fovere non vis: palles, stupesque; stas metuens et attonitus, propter has novas coelorum minas: sed si veram causam exquirere velis, quare ignes isti, larvaeque fluitantes circum; quare aves et ferae naturas suas insitasque facultates sic in portentosam speciem mutent; quare delirent senes, pueri praesagiant; disces haec omnia a Diis ita disponi, ut alicujus diri eventus omina et cautelae fiant. Equidem possem, Casca, tibi virum nominare, huic dirae nocti, quae tonitrua et fulgura tam mira ostentat, manes evocat, rugitque, sicut leo in Capitolio, simillimum; virum neque te ipso, neque me, agendo praestantiorem, portentosum tamen et timendum non minus quam haec Naturae monstra.
CASCA. ’Tis Caesar that you mean; is it not, Cassius?
_Casc._--Caesarem, ut opinor, indicas.
CASSIUS. Let it be who it is: for Romans now Have thews 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.
_Cass._--Quem indicem parum refert: Quirites enim hodierni nervos et membra, qualia avi, jactant; sed, proh pudor! patrum nostrorum animi mortui sunt; matrum consiliis gubernamur. Haec enim sub jugo servilis patientia nos mulieres arguit.
CASCA. Indeed, they say the senators tomorrow Mean to establish Caesar as a king; And he shall wear his crown by sea and land, In every place, save here in Italy.
_Casc._--Fertur Senatum cras Caesarem Regem edicturum esse; ea conditione, ut diadema, ubicunque velit terra marique, excepta Italia, gerat.
CASSIUS. I know where I will wear this dagger then; Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius: Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong; Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat. Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, Can be retentive to the strength of spirit; But life, being weary of these worldly bars, Never lacks power to dismiss itself. If I know this, know all the world besides, That part of tyranny that I do bear I can shake off at pleasure.
_Cass._--Quae si edixerint, qua deinde ego hunc gladiolum geram satis scio. Cassius a servitio Cassium liberabit. Di superi! Hoc vestro munere imbecilli valent, tyranni incassum furunt: non enim turris lapidea, non murus aheneus, non carcer clausus, validi non vincula ferri, animam hanc cohibere valent. Vita, hujus custodiae corporeae pertaesa, viam sibi aperire semper callet. Quod si ego bene noverim, sciant omnes, me, quodcunque mihi tyrannis onus imposuerit, id pro arbitrio discutere posse.
[_Thunder still._]
[_Thunder still._]
CASCA. So can I: So every bondman in his own hand bears The power to cancel his captivity.
_Casc._--Sic ego, et sic servus quivis, propria manu servitutem suam solvendi facultatem habet.
CASSIUS. And why should Caesar 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 Caesar! 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.
_Cass._--Quare igitur Caesar tyrannus? O hominem infelicem! Non lupum ageret, nisi quod Romanos oves esse cerneret; non leonem, nisi quod vitulos. Qui incendium properari volunt, ex levi quavis stipula ordiuntur. Quam sordida et faeculenta moles haec nostra Roma est, quae nihil valet nisi ut ad vilem istum Caesarem illustrandum materiem suppeditet! Sed, O dolorem meum! quo me perduxisti? Forsan hoc coram servo libenti et assentatore locutus sum. Quod si ita est, luendum scio. Esto; ensem gero, et discrimen contemno.
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 farthest.
_Casc._--Casca sum--non sycophanta, neque perfidus. Manum accipe: si quando in haec mala nostra pro virili insurrexeris, ego inter primos ero.
CASSIUS. 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: for now, this fearful night, There is no stir or walking in the streets; And the complexion of the element In favour’s like the work we have in hand, Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible.
_Cass._--Pactum est. Nunc licet scias, Casca, me jamdudum quibusdam optimis nostris persuasisse, ut mecum rem honestam, in primis periculosam, suscipiant; qui jam me in porticu Pompeii expectant. Hac enim nocte vix unus quivis vicos tenet; ipsa tempestas speciem gerit nostro operi consentaneam, quam maxime cruentam, igneam et terribilem.
CASCA. Stand close awhile, for here comes one in haste.
_Casc._--Tace. Advenit quidam pede concitato?
CASSIUS. ’Tis Cinna; I do know him by his gait; He is a friend. Cinna, where haste you so?
_Cass._--Cinna est; gressum agnosco; nobis amicus. Cinna, quo properas?
CINNA. To find out you. Who’s that? Metellus Cimber?
_Cin._--Ut te inveniam. Quis iste? An Metellus Cimber?
CASSIUS. No, it is Casca, one incorporate To our attempts. Am I not stay’d for, Cinna?
_Cass._--Casca est; unus ex nostris. Num me nostri expectant, Cinna?
CINNA. I am glad on’t. What a fearful night is this! There’s two or three of us have seen strange sights.
_Cin._--Gratulor ob Cascam. Quam plena metu est haec nox! Ex nobis sunt qui mirabilia viderunt.
CASSIUS. Am I not stay’d for? tell me.
_Cass._--Dico tibi, Cinna; num me expectant nostri?
CINNA. Yes, you are. O Cassius, if you could But win the noble Brutus to our party—
_Cin._--Immo: O Cassi, si tantum Bruto nobili partium nostrarum esse persuadere posses.
CASSIUS. Be you content. Good Cinna, take this paper, And look you lay it in the praetor’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 Decius Brutus and Trebonius there?
_Cass._--Contentus esto. Cape hanc tabellam, mi bone, et in praetoris sedili ita ponas, ut Brutus eam inveniat; hanc in fenestram ejus injice: hac statuam Bruti grandaevi incera: dein ad porticum Pompeianum; ibi nos reperies. Num Decius Brutus et Trebonius ibi sunt?
CINNA. 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.
_Cin._--Scilicet, omnes, Metello Cimbro excepto, qui te domi tuae quaerit. Abeo, ut has tabellas pro jusso disponam.
CASSIUS. That done, repair to Pompey’s theatre.
_Cass._--Deinde ad theatrum Pompeianum.
[_Exit Cinna._]
[_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.
Veni, Casca; nos Brutum domi suae adhuc jam nocte visemus: tres ejus partes jamdudum habemus; uno altero congressu totus noster erit.
CASCA. O, he sits high in all the people’s hearts! And that which would appear offence in us, His countenance, like richest alchemy, Will change to virtue and to worthiness.
_Casc._--Ille profecto in corde populari penitus insedit; et quod a nobis factum offensae foret, illius consensu, quasi aurum ex plumbo arte magica confectum, in rem honestam et laude dignam mutabitur.
CASSIUS. 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.
_Cass._--Hominem, pretium hominis, necessitatemque nostram recte aestimas. Eamus; nox enim jam media est; et priusquam lux advenerit, nos eum e somno excitatum omnem nostrum faciemus.