Julius Caesar (3 page)
Authors: William Shakespeare
Line Numbers
are editorial, for reference and to key the explanatory and textual notes.
Explanatory Notes
explain allusions and gloss obsolete and difficult words, confusing phraseology, occasional major textual cruces, and so on. Particular attention is given to nonstandard usage, bawdy innuendo, and technical terms (e.g. legal and military language). Where more than one sense is given, commas indicate shades of related meaning, slashes alternative or double meanings.
Textual Notes
at the end of the play indicate major departures from the Folio. They take the following form: the reading of our text is given in bold and its source given after an equals sign, with “F2” indicating a correction that derives from the Second Folio of 1632, “F3” a correction introduced in the Third Folio of 1664, and “Ed” one that derives from the subsequent editorial tradition. The rejected Folio (“F”) reading is then given. Thus for Act 5 Scene 4 line 18: “
tell the
= Ed. F = tell thee” means that the Folio text’s “tell thee” has been rejected in favor of the editorial correction “tell the,” which makes better sense of the rest of the First Soldier’s speech.
MAJOR PARTS:
(with percentage of lines/number of speeches/scenes on stage) Marcus Brutus (28%/194/12), Caius Cassius (20%/140/8), Mark Antony (13%/51/8), Julius Caesar (5%/42/4), Casca (5%/39/4), Portia (4%/16/2), Octavius Caesar (2%/19/3), Decius Brutus (2%/12/3).
LINGUISTIC MEDIUM:
95% verse, 5% prose.
DATE:
1599. Not mentioned by Meres in 1598, seen at the Globe by Swiss visitor Thomas Platter in September 1599. Alluded to in several plays and poems by other writers in the period 1599–1601.
SOURCES:
Based on the biographies of Julius Caesar and Marcus Brutus, with brief reference to the life of Cicero, in Sir Thomas North’s English translation of Plutarch’s
Lives of the Most Noble Grecians and Romanes
(1579).
TEXT:
1623 Folio is the only early printed text. Exceptionally good quality of printing, perhaps set from the theater promptbook or a transcription of it. Some editors have detected signs of revision in the fact that Brutus is told twice of Portia’s suicide, and proposed that one or other account should be deleted, but in the theater this double testing of his Stoic response is highly effective.
Julius
CAESAR
CALPURNIA
, his Wife
Marcus
BRUTUS
, sometime friend of Caesar, then conspirator against him
PORTIA
, his wife
other conspirators against Caesar
Caius
CASSIUS
CASCA
DECIUS
Brutus
CINNA
METELLUS
Cimber
TREBONIUS
Caius
LIGARIUS
triumvirs of Rome after Caesar’s death
Mark
ANTONY
OCTAVIUS
Caesar
LEPIDUS
A
SOOTHSAYER
ARTEMIDORUS
, a teacher of rhetoric
CINNA
, a poet
Another
POET
senators
CICERO
PUBLIUS
POPILIUS
tribunes of the people
MURELLUS
FLAVIUS
A CARPENTER
A
COBBLER
FIRST, SECOND, THIRD, FOURTH
and
FIFTH PLEBEIANS
LUCIUS
, Brutus’ young servant
PINDARUS
, Cassius’ bondman
supporters of Brutus and Cassius
LUCILIUS
TITINIUS
MESSALA
CATO
STRATO
CLAUDIO
VARRUS
CLITUS
DARDANIUS
VOLUMNIUS
SERVANT
, to Caesar
SERVANT
, to Antony
SERVANT
, to Octavius
A
MESSENGER
FIRST, SECOND
and
THIRD SOLDIERS
, members of Brutus and Cassius’ army
FIRST
and
SECOND SOLDIERS
, members of Antony’s army
GHOST
, Caesar’s ghost
Other Commoners, Senators and Soldiers
Act 1 Scene 1
running scene 1
Enter Flavius, Murellus and certain Commoners over the stage
FLAVIUS
Hence!
1
Home, you idle creatures, get you home:
Is this a holiday? What, know you not,
Being
mechanical
, you ought not
walk
3
Upon a labouring day, without the
sign
4
Of your profession?— Speak, what trade art thou?
CARPENTER
Why, sir, a carpenter.
MURELLUS
Where is thy leather apron, and thy
rule
7
?
What dost thou with thy best apparel on?—
You, sir, what trade are you?
COBBLER
Truly, sir,
in respect of
a
fine workman
, I am
but
10
as
you would say, a
cobbler
11
.
MURELLUS
But what trade art thou? Answer me
directly
12
.
COBBLER
A trade, sir, that I hope, I may use with a safe
conscience, which is indeed, sir, a mender of bad
soles
14
.
FLAVIUS
What trade, thou knave? Thou
naughty
15
knave, what trade?
COBBLER
Nay I beseech you, sir,
be not out
16
with me: yet if you
be out, sir, I can
mend you
17
.
MURELLUS
What mean’st thou by that? Mend me, thou saucy fellow?
COBBLER
Why sir,
cobble
20
you.
FLAVIUS
Thou art a cobbler, art thou?
COBBLER
Truly sir, all that I live by is with the
awl
. I
meddle
21
with no
tradesman’s matters
, nor
women’s matters
22
; but
withal
I am indeed, sir, a surgeon to old
shoes
23
: when they are
in great danger, I
recover
them. As
proper
men as ever
trod
24
upon
neat’s
leather
have
gone upon
my
handiwork
25
.
FLAVIUS
But
wherefore
26
art not in thy shop today?
Why dost thou lead these men about the streets?
COBBLER
Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get myself into
more work. But indeed, sir, we make holiday to see Caesar
and to rejoice in his
triumph
30
.
MURELLUS
Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?
What
tributaries
32
follow him to Rome
To
grace
33
in captive bonds his chariot wheels?
You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things:
O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,
Knew you not
Pompey
36
? Many a time and oft
Have you climbed up to walls and battlements,
To towers and windows? Yea, to chimney-tops,
Your infants in your arms, and there have sat
The
livelong
40
day, with patient expectation,
To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome:
And when you saw his chariot but appear,
Have you not made an universal shout,
That
Tiber
44
trembled underneath her banks
To hear the
replication
45
of your sounds
Made in her
concave
46
shores?
And do you now put on your best attire?
And do you now
cull out
48
a holiday?
And do you now strew flowers in his way
That comes in triumph over Pompey’s
blood
50
?
Be gone!
Run to your houses, fall upon your knees,
Pray to the gods to
intermit
53
the plague
That needs must light on this ingratitude.
FLAVIUS
Go, go, good countrymen, and for this fault
Assemble all the poor men of your sort;
Draw them to Tiber banks, and weep your tears
Into the channel
till the lowest stream
58
Do kiss the most exalted shores of all.—
Exeunt all the Commoners
See where their
basest mettle
be not
moved
60
:
They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness.
Go you down that way towards the
Capitol
62
,
This way will I: disrobe the
images
63
If you do find them decked with
ceremonies
64
.
MURELLUS
May we do so?
You know it is the
feast of Lupercal
66
.
FLAVIUS
It is no matter. Let no images
Be hung with Caesar’s
trophies
. I’ll
about
68
And drive away the
vulgar
69
from the streets;
So do you too, where you perceive them
thick
70
.
These growing feathers plucked from Caesar’s wing
Will make him fly an ordinary
pitch
72
,
Who
else
73
would soar above the view of men,
And keep us all in servile fearfulness.
Exeunt
running scene 1 continues
Enter Caesar, Antony
for
the
course
, Calpurnia, Portia, Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Cassius, Casca, a
Soothsayer
, after them Murellus and Flavius
CAESAR
Calpurnia.
CASCA
Peace,
ho
2
! Caesar speaks.
CAESAR
Calpurnia.
CALPURNIA
Here, my lord.
CAESAR
Stand you directly in Antonio’s way
5
When he doth run his course. Antonio!
ANTONY
Caesar, my lord.
CAESAR
Forget not in your speed, Antonio,
To touch Calpurnia, for our elders say,
The barren touchèd in this holy chase
Shake off their sterile curse.
ANTONY
I shall remember.
When Caesar says ‘Do this’ it is performed.
CAESAR
Set on, and leave no ceremony out.
Music
SOOTHSAYER
Caesar!
CAESAR
Ha? Who calls?
CASCA
Bid every noise be still: peace yet again!
Music stops
CAESAR
Who is it in the
press
18
that calls on me?
I hear a tongue shriller than all the music,
Cry ‘Caesar!’ Speak, Caesar is turned to hear.
SOOTHSAYER
Beware the
Ides of March
21
.
CAESAR
What man is that?
BRUTUS
A soothsayer bids you beware the Ides of March.
CAESAR
Set him before me: let me see his face.
CASSIUS
Fellow, come from the throng: look upon Caesar.
Soothsayer comes forward
CAESAR
What say’st thou to me now? Speak once again.
SOOTHSAYER
Beware the Ides of March.
CAESAR
He is a dreamer. Let us leave him: pass.
Sennet
. Exeunt. Brutus and Cassius remain
CASSIUS
Will you go see the
order
29
of the course?
BRUTUS
Not I.
CASSIUS
I pray you do.
BRUTUS
I am not
gamesome
32
: I do lack some part
Of that
quick
33
spirit that is in Antony.
Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires;
I’ll leave you.
CASSIUS
Brutus, I do observe you
now of late
36
:
I have not from your eyes that gentleness
And show of love as I was
wont
38
to have:
You
bear too stubborn and too strange a hand
39
Over your friend, that loves you.
BRUTUS
Cassius,
Be not deceived:
if I have veiled my look,
42
I turn the trouble of my countenance
Merely
44
upon myself. Vexed I am
Of late with
passions of some difference
45
,
Conceptions
only proper
46
to myself
Which give some
soil
47
, perhaps, to my behaviours.
But let not therefore my good friends be grieved—
Among which number, Cassius, be you one—
Nor
construe
50
any further my neglect
Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,
Forgets the
shows
52
of love to other men.
CASSIUS
Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion,
By means whereof
this breast of mine hath
buried
54
Thoughts of great value, worthy
cogitations
55
.
Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?
BRUTUS
No, Cassius, for the eye sees not itself
But
58
by reflection, by some other things.
CASSIUS
’Tis
just
59
,
And it is very much lamented, Brutus,
That you have no such mirrors as will
turn
61
Your hidden worthiness into your eye,
That you might see your
shadow
63
: I have heard,
Where many
of the best respect
64
in Rome—
Except immortal Caesar — speaking of Brutus,
And groaning underneath this age’s
yoke
66
,
Have wished that noble Brutus
had his eyes
67
.
BRUTUS
Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius,
That you would have me seek into myself
For that which is not in me?
CASSIUS
Therefore
71
, good Brutus, be prepared to hear:
And since you know you cannot see yourself
So well as by reflection, I your
glass
73
Will
modestly
discover
74
to yourself
That of yourself which you yet know not of
75
.
And be not
jealous on
me,
gentle
76
Brutus:
Were I a
common laughter
, or
did use
77
To
stale
with
ordinary
78
oaths my love
To every new
protester
79
, if you know
That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard,
And after
scandal
81
them, or if you know
That I
profess myself
82
in banqueting
To all the
rout
83
, then hold me dangerous.
Flourish
, and shout
BRUTUS
What means this shouting? I do fear the people
Choose Caesar for their king.
CASSIUS
Ay, do you fear it?
Then must I think you would not have it so.
BRUTUS
I would not, Cassius, yet I love him well.
But wherefore do you hold me here so long?
What is it that you would impart to me?
If it be
aught
91
toward the general good,
Set honour in one eye, and death i’th’other
92
,
And I will look on both
indifferently
93
.
For let the gods so
speed
94
me, as I love
The name of honour more than I fear death.
CASSIUS
I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
As well as I do know your outward
favour
97
.
Well, honour is the subject of my story:
I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life, but for my single self,
I had
as lief
not
be
101
as live to be
In awe of
such a thing as I myself
102
.
I was born free as Caesar, so were you:
We both have fed as well, and we can both
Endure the winter’s cold as well as he,
For once, upon a raw and gusty day,
The troubled Tiber
chafing with
107
her shores,
Caesar said to me, ‘Dar’st thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry
flood
109
And swim to yonder point?’ Upon the word,
Accoutrèd
111
as I was, I plungèd in
And
bade
112
him follow: so indeed he did.
The torrent roared, and we did
buffet it
113
With
lusty sinews
114
, throwing it aside,
And
stemming
it with
hearts of controversy
115
.
But
ere
116
we could arrive the point proposed,
Caesar cried, ‘Help me, Cassius, or I sink!’
I — as
Aeneas
118
, our great ancestor,
Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder
The old Anchises bear — so from the waves of Tiber
Did I the tired Caesar: and this man
Is now become a god, and Cassius is
A wretched creature, and must
bend his body
123
If Caesar carelessly but nod on him.
He had a fever when he was in Spain,
And when the fit was on him I did
mark
126
How he did shake: ’tis true, this god did shake,
His coward lips did
from their colour fly
128
,
And that same eye, whose
bend
129
doth awe the world,
Did lose his lustre: I did hear him groan:
Ay, and that tongue of his that
bade
131
the Romans
Mark him, and write his speeches in their books,
‘Alas’, it cried, ‘Give me some drink, Titinius’,
As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me
A man of such a feeble temper should
So get the
start of
136
the majestic world
And bear the
palm
137
alone.
Shout. Flourish
BRUTUS
Another general shout?
I do believe that these applauses are
For some new honours that are heaped on Caesar.
