READ STUDY GUIDE: Act II, scenes ii–iv |
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Act II, Scene ii:
A room in Caesar's palace.
A room in Caesar's palace.
| [Thunder and lightning. Enter 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 to-day. |
| CAESAR: |
| Caesar shall forth: the things that threaten me |
| Ne'er look 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 whelped in the streets; |
| And graves have yawn'd, 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 did 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.— |
| [Re-enter Servant.] |
| What say the augurers? |
| SERVANT: |
| They would not have you to stir forth to-day. |
| 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 litter'd 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 to-day: 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 to-day: |
| Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this. |
| CAESAR: |
| Mark Antony shall say I am not well, |
| And, for thy humor, I will stay at home. |
| [Enter Decius.] |
| Here's Decius Brutus, he shall tell them so. |
| 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 to-day. |
| Cannot, is false; and that I dare not, falser: |
| I will not come to-day. Tell them so, Decius. |
| CALPURNIA: |
| Say he is sick. |
| CAESAR: |
| Shall Caesar send a lie? |
| Have I in conquest stretch'd mine arm so far, |
| To be afeard to tell grey-beards the truth?— |
| Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come. |
| DECIUS: |
| Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause, |
| Lest I be laugh'd 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 to-night she saw my statua, |
| 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 |
| And evils imminent; and on her knee |
| Hath begg'd that I will stay at home to-day. |
| 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 render'd, 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, Calpurnia! |
| I am ashamed I did yield to them. |
| Give me my robe, for I will go. |
| [Enter Publius, Brutus, Ligarius, Metellus, Casca,Trebonius, and Cinna.] |
| And look where Publius is come to fetch me. |
| PUBLIUS: |
| Good morrow, Caesar. |
| CAESAR: |
| Welcome, Publius.— |
| What, Brutus, are you stirr'd 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 o'nights, |
| Is notwithstanding up.—Good morrow, Antony. |
| ANTONY: |
| So to most noble Caesar. |
| CAESAR: |
| Bid them prepare within: |
| I am to blame to be thus waited for.— |
| Now, Cinna;—now, Metellus;—what, Trebonius! |
| I have an hour's talk in store for you: |
| Remember that you call on me to-day; |
| 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 yearns to think upon! |
| [Exeunt.] |
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