Bru. Sleep again, Lucius. Sirrah, Claudius!

Fellow thou, awake!

Var. My lord!

Clau. My lord!

300

Bru. Why did you so cry out, sirs, in your sleep? Both. Did we, my lord?

Bru.

Ay: saw you anything?

Nor I, my lord.

Var. No, my lord, I saw nothing.
Clau.

Bru. Go, and commend me to my brother Cas

[The Plains of Philippi]

Enter Octavius, Antony, and their Army.

Oct. Now, Antony, our hopes are answered:
You said the enemy would not come down,
But keep the hills and upper regions;
It proves not so; their battles are at hand;
They mean to warn us at Philippi here,
Answering before we do demand of them.

Ant. Tut, I am in their bosoms, and I know
Wherefore they do it: they could be content
To visit other places; and come down

1 answered: fulfilled

5 warn: summon, challenge

4 battles: battalions

7 bosoms: secrets

With fearful bravery, thinking by this face

To fasten in our thoughts that they have courage;

But 'tis not so.

Mess.

Enter a Messenger.

Prepare you, generals:

The enemy comes on in gallant show;
Their bloody sign of battle is hung out,
And something to be done immediately.

Ant. Octavius, lead your battle softly on,
Upon the left hand of the even field.

Oct. Upon the right hand I; keep thou the left.
Ant. Why do you cross me in this exigent?
Oct. I do not cross you; but I will do so.

12

. 16

20

March.

Drum. Enter Brutus, Cassius, and their Army.
Bru. They stand, and would have parley.
Cas. Stand fast, Titinius: we must out and talk.
Oct. Mark Antony, shall we give sign of battle?
Ant. No, Cæsar, we will answer on

their

24

charge. Make forth; the generals would have some words. Oct. [To his troops.] Stir not until the signal. Bru. Words before blows: is it so, countrymen? Oct. Not that we love words better, as you do. Bru. Good words are better than bad strokes, Octavius.

28

Ant. In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good words:

Witness the hole you made in Cæsar's heart,

10 fearful bravery: cowardly bravado

face: pretense

14 bloody battle: signal for immediate combat 17 even: equally divided

20 but.. so: but I shall do as I said

24 answer . . charge: fight when they attack 25 Make forth: step forward

30 In... strokes: while delivering foul blows

19 exigent: emergency 21 parley: conference

Crying, 'Long live! Hail, Cæsar!'

Cas.

Antony,

The posture of your blows are yet unknown;
But for your words, they rob the Hybla bees,
And leave them honeyless.

Ant.

Not stingless too!

36

Bru. O yes, and soundless too;

For you have stol'n their buzzing, Antony,

And very wisely threat before you sting.
Ant. Villains! you did not so when your

daggers

Hack'd one another in the sides of Cæsar:

vile

40

You show'd your teeth like apes, and fawn'd like

hounds,

And bow'd like bondmen, kissing Cæsar's feet;
Whilst damned Casca, like a cur, behind

Struck Cæsar on the neck. O you flatterers!

Cas. Flatterers! Now, Brutus, thank yourself:

If Cassius might have rul'd.

44

This tongue had not offended so to-day,

Oct. Come, come, the cause: if arguing make us sweat,

48

The proof of it will turn to redder drops.

Look:

I draw a sword against conspirators;

When think you that the sword goes up again?
Never, till Cæsar's three-and-thirty wounds

52

Be well aveng'd; or till another Cæsar

Have added slaughter to the sword of traitors.
Bru. Cæsar, thou canst not die by

hands,

33 posture: nature (?) are: a plural by attraction

34 Hybla: town in Sicily, famous for its honey

traitors'

56

41 show'd apes: simulated smiles of affection, like favorite pets

44 flatterers: treacherous hypocrites

48 the cause: let's get down to business

53 three-and-thirty; cf. n.

Unless thou bring'st them with thee.

Oct.

I was not born to die on Brutus' sword.

So I hope;

Bru. O, if thou wert the noblest of thy strain, Young man, thou couldst not die more honourable.

60

Cas. A peevish schoolboy, worthless of such honour, Join'd with a masquer and a reveller.

Ant. Old Cassius still!

Oct.

Come, Antony; away!

64

Defiance, traitors, hurl we in your teeth.
If you dare fight to-day, come to the field;

If not, when you have stomachs.

Exeunt Octavius, Antony, and Army.

Cas. Why now, blow wind, swell billow, and swim

bark!

The storm is up, and all is on the hazard.
Bru. Ho, Lucilius: hark, a word with you.
Lucil. [Standing forth.]

Cas. Messala.

68

My lord? [Brutus and Lucilius talk apart.]

Mes. [Standing forth.] What says my general?
Cas.

This is my birth-day; as this very day

Messala,

72

Was Cassius born. Give me thy hand, Messala:
Be thou my witness that against my will,
As Pompey was, am I compell'd to set
Upon one battle all our liberties.
You know that I held Epicurus strong,
And his opinion; now I change my mind,

59 strain: race

61 peevish: silly

63 Old

76

such honour: i.e., that of dying on Brutus' sword still: you are still the same old Cassius

66 stomachs: courage

72 as: a colloquial expletive

75 As Pompey: at the battle of Pharsalia, 48 B. C.

77 held strong: believed Epicurus right in disregarding omens

And partly credit things that do presage.
Coming from Sardis, on our former ensign
Two mighty eagles fell, and there they perch'd,
Gorging and feeding from our soldiers' hands;
Who to Philippi here consorted us:
This morning are they fled away and gone,
And in their stead do ravens, crows, and kites
Fly o'er our heads, and downward look on us,
As we were sickly prey: their shadows seem
A canopy most fatal, under which

Our army lies, ready to give up the ghost.
Mes. Believe not so.

Cas.

I but believe it partly,

For I am fresh of spirit and resolv'd
To meet all perils very constantly.

Bru. Even so, Lucilius.
Cas.

Now, most noble Brutus,

The gods to-day stand friendly, that we may,
Lovers in peace, lead on our days to age!
But since the affairs of men rest still incertain,
Let's reason with the worst that may befall.
If we do lose this battle, then is this
The very last time we shall speak together:
What are you, then, determined to do?

80

84

88

92

96

100

Bru. Even by the rule of that philosophy By which I did blame Cato for the death

Which he did give himself—(I know not how,
But I do find it cowardly and vile,

104

For fear of what might fall, so to prevent

The time of life)-arming myself with patience,

80 former ensign: banner at the front of our column

83 consorted: accompanied

87 As: as if sickly prey: so sick as soon to be their prey 88 fatal: fateful, doom-foreboding

94 The gods: may the gods

97 reason with: consider

102 Cato: of Utica; committed suicide, 46 B. C.