1    Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace to-night:
2    Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out,
3    'Help, ho! they murder Caesar!' Who's within?

4    My lord?

5    Go bid the priests do present sacrifice
6    And bring me their opinions of success.

7    I will, my lord.

8    What mean you, Caesar? think you to walk forth?
9    You shall not stir out of your house to-day.

10   Caesar shall forth: the things that threaten'd me
11   Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they shall see
12   The face of Caesar, they are vanished.

13   Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies,
14   Yet now they fright me. There is one within,
15   Besides the things that we have heard and seen,
16   Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.
17   A lioness hath whelped in the streets;
18   And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead;
19   Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds,
20   In ranks and squadrons and right form of war,
21   Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol;
22   The noise of battle hurtled in the air,
23   Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan,
24   And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.
25   O Caesar! these things are beyond all use,
26   And I do fear them.

27   What can be avoided
28   Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?
29   Yet Caesar shall go forth; for these predictions
30   Are to the world in general as to Caesar.

31   When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
32   The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.

33   Cowards die many times before their deaths;
34   The valiant never taste of death but once.
35   Of all the wonders that I yet have heard.
36   It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
37   Seeing that death, a necessary end,
38   Will come when it will come.
Re-enter Servant
39   What say the augurers?

40   They would not have you to stir forth to-day.
41   Plucking the entrails of an offering forth,
42   They could not find a heart within the beast.

43   The gods do this in shame of cowardice:
44   Caesar should be a beast without a heart,
45   If he should stay at home to-day for fear.
46   No, Caesar shall not: danger knows full well
47   That Caesar is more dangerous than he:
48   We are two lions litter'd in one day,
49   And I the elder and more terrible:
50   And Caesar shall go forth.

51   Alas, my lord,
52   Your wisdom is consumed in confidence.
53   Do not go forth to-day: call it my fear
54   That keeps you in the house, and not your own.
55   We'll send Mark Antony to the senate-house:
56   And he shall say you are not well to-day:
57   Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.

58   Mark Antony shall say I am not well,
59   And, for thy humour, I will stay at home.
Enter DECIUS BRUTUS
60   Here's Decius Brutus, he shall tell them so.

61   Caesar, all hail! good morrow, worthy Caesar:
62   I come to fetch you to the senate-house.

63   And you are come in very happy time,
64   To bear my greeting to the senators
65   And tell them that I will not come to-day:
66   Cannot, is false, and that I dare not, falser:
67   I will not come to-day: tell them so, Decius.

68   Say he is sick.

69   Shall Caesar send a lie?
70   Have I in conquest stretch'd mine arm so far,
71   To be afraid to tell graybeards the truth?
72   Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come.

73   Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause,
74   Lest I be laugh'd at when I tell them so.

75   The cause is in my will: I will not come;
76   That is enough to satisfy the senate.
77   But for your private satisfaction,
78   Because I love you, I will let you know:
79   Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at home:
80   She dreamt to-night she saw my statua,
81   Which, like a fountain with an hundred spouts,
82   Did run pure blood: and many lusty Romans
83   Came smiling, and did bathe their hands in it:
84   And these does she apply for warnings, and portents,
85   And evils imminent; and on her knee
86   Hath begg'd that I will stay at home to-day.

87   This dream is all amiss interpreted;
88   It was a vision fair and fortunate:
89   Your statue spouting blood in many pipes,
90   In which so many smiling Romans bathed,
91   Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck
92   Reviving blood, and that great men shall press
93   For tinctures, stains, relics and cognizance.
94   This by Calpurnia's dream is signified.

95   And this way have you well expounded it.

96   I have, when you have heard what I can say:
97   And know it now: the senate have concluded
98   To give this day a crown to mighty Caesar.
99   If you shall send them word you will not come,
100  Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock
101  Apt to be render'd, for some one to say
102  'Break up the senate till another time,
103  When Caesar's wife shall meet with better dreams.'
104  If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper
105  'Lo, Caesar is afraid'?
106  Pardon me, Caesar; for my dear dear love
107  To our proceeding bids me tell you this;
108  And reason to my love is liable.

109  How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia!
110  I am ashamed I did yield to them.
111  Give me my robe, for I will go.
112  And look where Publius is come to fetch me.

113  Good morrow, Caesar.

114  Welcome, Publius.
115  What, Brutus, are you stirr'd so early too?
116  Good morrow, Casca. Caius Ligarius,
117  Caesar was ne'er so much your enemy
118  As that same ague which hath made you lean.
119  What is 't o'clock?

120  Caesar, 'tis strucken eight.

121  I thank you for your pains and courtesy.
Enter ANTONY
122  See! Antony, that revels long o' nights,
123  Is notwithstanding up. Good morrow, Antony.

124  So to most noble Caesar.

125  Bid them prepare within:
126  I am to blame to be thus waited for.
127  Now, Cinna: now, Metellus: what, Trebonius!
128  I have an hour's talk in store for you;
129  Remember that you call on me to-day:
130  Be near me, that I may remember you.

131  Caesar, I will:
Aside
132  and so near will I be,
133  That your best friends shall wish I had been further.

134  Good friends, go in, and taste some wine with me;
135  And we, like friends, will straightway go together.

Aside
136   That every like is not the same, O Caesar,
137  The heart of Brutus yearns to think upon!