In at his window; set this up with wax
Upon old Brutus' statue :20 all this done,
Repair to Pompey's porch,27 where you shall find

us.

Is Decius Brutus 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.27

150

[Exit Cinna.

Come, Casca, you and I will yet ère 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 alchemy,

Will change to virtue and to worthiness.

Cas. Him and his worth and our great need of

him

You have right well conceited.28 Let us go,

For it is after midnight; and ere day
We will awake him and be sure of him.

160

[Exeunt.

26 Lucius Junius Brutus, instigated by whom the Roman nobles banished Tarquin, the last king of Rome, and took oath that they would never again submit to kingly authority. 27 A covered walk forming a spacious addition to the theater built by Pompey in the Campus Martius.

28 Estimated.

Suggestion.-Paraphrase lines 157-160. What revelation is made by these lines as to the character and reputation of Brutus?

SCENE-SETTING.

ACT II.—SCENE I.—BRUTUS' ORCHARD.

Note. Brutus, believing that he must choose between the friendship of Cæsar and his duty to his country, is won over by the resolute attitude of the conspirators whose purpose has been strengthened by the terrors of the storm.

(1). Setting of the Scene.

The scene, when lighted by the long, flickering flashes of lightning, shows a background formed by the portico of a mansion. From this a lawn, with trees, statuary, and welltrimmed shrubbery slopes down to the foreground where there is a white marble seat overhung by a grape arbor. Standing in front of this, Brutus, Portia, and Lucius, in their white gar ments, are distinctly visible; but the conspirators, in their dark cloaks, are but indistinct shapes, except as their faces show pallid in the lightning flashes.

(2). Actors.

Marcus Brutus, Casca, Cassius, Decimus Brutus, Cinna, Portia.

Lucius, the page of Marcus Brutus.

Metellus Cimber, a Roman noble and military officer, distinguished in Cæsar's service.

Caius Trebonius, a Roman general, a trusted friend and confidant of Cæsar.

Caius Ligarius, a young nobleman who feels that Cæsar has unfairly discriminated against him in the matter of pardon for taking the side of Pompey in the Civil War. (3). Costumes.

Brutus wears the Roman undress,-the tunic, a white woolen garment without sleeves, extending to the knees. A

wide purple stripe down the front of the tunic denotes senatorial rank.

cloaks.

Lucius wears a similar tunic without the stripe.
Portia wears a plain white stola.

The conspirators all wear heavy, hooded, frieze

SCENE I. Rome. BRUTUS's orchard.

Enter BRUTUS.

Bru. What, Lucius, ho!

I cannot by the progress of the stars,
Give guess how near to day. Lucius, I say!
I would it were my fault to sleep so soundly.
When, Lucius, when? awake, I say! what, Lucius!
Enter LUCIUS.

Luc. Call'd you, my lord?

Bru. Get me a taper in my study, Lucius: When it is lighted, come and call me here.

Luc. I will, my lord.

[Exit.

Bru. It must be by his death: and for my part,

I know no personal cause to spurn1 at him,
But for the general. He would be crown'd:
How that might change his nature, there's the
question.

It is the bright day that brings forth the adder;3

10

1 To kick at, i. e "To remove with violence from one's path."

2 The general public.

3 "It is power and exalted position that bring out harmful traits of a man's character."

the

And that craves wary walking. Crown him?——

that ;

And then, I grant, we put a sting in him,

That at his will he may do danger with.

The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins.
Remorse from power: and, to speak truth of

Cæsar,

(Bu

I have not known when his affections sway'd
More than his reason. But 't is a common proof,
That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber upward turns his face;
But when he once attains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend.) So Cæsar may.
Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel
Will bear no colour for the thing he is,'
Fashion it thus; that what he is, augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities:
And therefore think him as a serpent's egg
Which, hatch'd, would, as his kind, grow mis-
chievous,

And kill him in the shell.

Re-enter LUCIUS.

20

30

4 Demands.

5 Compassion.

6 Steps.

7 As things are, the conspirators have no legitimate excuse for assassinating Caesar. The deed must be committed on the ground that Caesar, should he be made king, would be a menace to Roman liberty.

Luc. The taper burneth in your closet, sir.
Searching the window for a flint, I found
This paper, thus seal'd up; and, I am sure,
It did not lie there when I went to bed.

[Gives him the letter.

Bru. Get you to bed again; it is not day.

Is not to-morrow, boy, the ides of March?
Luc. I know not, sir.

Bru. Look in the calendar, and bring me word.
Luc. I will, sir.

Bru. The exhalations whizzing in the air
Give so much light that I may read by them.

40

[Exit.

[Opens the letter and reads.

"Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake, and see thyself. Shall Rome, etc. Speak, strike, redress! Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake!"

Such instigations have been often dropp'd

Where I have took them up.

"Shall Rome, etc." Thus must I piece it out:

Shall Rome stand under one man's awe? What,
Rome?

My ancestors did from the streets of Rome

10

The Tarquin drive, when he was call'd a king." "Speak, strike, redress!" Am I entreated

8 The lightning flashes.

9 Is this formation of the perfect tense allowable in modern English?

10 See page 32.