The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (889 page)

It’s Cinna. I recognize his walk. He is a friend.

Enter Cinna

Cinna, where haste you so?

Cinna, where are you going in such a hurry?

Cinna

To find out you. Who's that? Metellus Cimber?

To find you. Who’s that? Metellus Cimber?

Cassius

No, it is Casca, one incorporate


To our attempts. Am I not stay'd for, Cinna?

No, it’s Casca. He is one of us. Are the others ready?

Cinna

I am glad on't. What a fearful night is this!


There's two or three of us have seen strange sights.

Good, I’m glad. This has been a scary night. There are a couple of guys who have seen some strange sights.

Cassius

Am I not stay'd for? tell me.

Have the people gathered? Tell me.

Cinna

Yes,


You are. O Cassius, if you could but win


The noble Brutus to our party,--

Yes, they are. Please bring Brutus to join us.

Cassius

Be you content. Good Cinna, take this paper,


And look you lay it in the praetor's chair,


Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this


In at his window; set this up with wax


Upon old Brutus' statue: all this done,


Repair to Pompey's Porch, where you shall find us.


Is Decius Brutus and Trebonius there?

Be patient, good Cinna. Take this paper and put it in the chair where Brutus sits, throw this in his window, and put this on old Brutus’s statue. When you have done all this, go to the theater where we will be. Are Decius Brutus and Trebonius there?

Cinna

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.

Everyone is there but Metellus Cimber. He’s gone to your house looking for you. Well, I’ll go deliver these papers as you wish.

Cassius

That done, repair to Pompey's theatre.--

When you’re done, go to Pompey’s theater.

Exit Cinna.

Come, Casca, you and I will yet, ere day,


See Brutus at his house: three parts of him


Is ours already; and the man entire,


Upon the next encounter, yields him ours.

Come on, Casca. You and I will go to Brutus’s house. He is three-fourths ours, and I bet after our visit we will have him completely.

Casca

O, he sits high in all the people's hearts!


And that which would appear offense in us,


His countenance, like richest alchemy,


Will change to virtue and to worthiness.

The people love him. So, with him we can do no wrong in their eyes.

Cassius

Him, and his worth, and our great need of him,


You have right well conceited. Let us go,


For it is after midnight; and, ere day,


We will awake him, and be sure of him.

You are so right. We need him. Let’s go for it’s almost midnight. We will wake him up.

Exit.

Enter Brutus.

Brutus

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!

What’s going on, Lucius? What time is it? I say, Lucius! I can’t believe I slept so soundly. Wake up, Lucius! What time is it? Lucius!

Enter Lucius

Lucius

Call'd you, my lord?

Did you call, my lord?

Brutus

Get me a taper in my study, Lucius:


When it is lighted, come and call me here.

Bring a candle to my study, Lucius, and when it is lit, call me.

Lucius

I will, my lord.

I will, my lord.

Exit.

Brutus

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


I know no personal cause to spurn 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;


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.


Th' abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins


Remorse from power; and, to speak truth of Caesar,


I have not known when his affections sway'd


More than his reason. But 'tis 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 Caesar may;


Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel


Will bear no color 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 mischievous;


And kill him in the shell.

If Caesar wants to be crowned, despite what may happen, what part do I play? I have no reason to want his death, but Rome’s best interest is at hand. I wonder if it will change his nature. Everyone knows that when one climbs the ladder of success and reaches the top rung, the climber’s back is turned on everyone below him. Caesar may become high-minded and power-hungry. If so, his life must be taken.

Re-enter Lucius.

Lucius

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.

The candle is lit in your study, sir. While I was looking for the flint, I found this sealed letter. I’m sure it wasn’t there earlier.

Brutus

Get you to bed again; it is not day.


Is not tomorrow, boy, the Ides of March?

Go to bed, now. Isn’t tomorrow the Ides of March?

Lucius

I know not, sir.

I don’t know, sir.

Brutus

Look in the calendar, and bring me word.

Look in the calendar, and let me know.

Lucius

I will, sir.

I will, sir.

Exit.

Brutus

The exhalations, whizzing in the air


Give so much light that I may read by them.--

[Opens the letter and reads.]


"Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake and see thyself.


Shall Rome, &c. Speak, strike, redress--!


Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake!--"

Such instigations have been often dropp'd


Where I have took them up.


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


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


My ancestors did from the streets of Rome


The Tarquin drive, when he was call'd a king.--


"Speak, strike, redress!"--Am I entreated, then,


To speak and strike? O Rome, I make thee promise,


If the redress will follow, thou receivest


Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus!

The sky is lit by stars and meteors so, I may read this letter.

Opens the letter and reads.

“Brutus, You are asleep. Wake up and see what is happening to Rome. Speak, strike, help us! Brutus, you are asleep. Wake up and take action. What is going to happen to Rome? Should it be ruled by one man? Our ancestors drove off King Tarquin. Speak, strike, help!” Am I supposed to speak and strike. Oh, Rome, I promise you I will help protect you.

Re-enter Lucius.

Lucius

Sir, March is wasted fifteen days.

Tomorrow is March fourteenth.

Knocking within.

Brutus

'Tis good. Go to the gate, somebody knocks.--

Good. Go the gate and see who is knocking.

Exit Lucius.

Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar


I have not slept.


Between the acting of a dreadful thing


And the first motion, all the interim is


Like a phantasma or a hideous dream:


The genius and the mortal instruments


Are then in council; and the state of man,


Like to a little kingdom, suffers then


The nature of an insurrection.

Since Cassius first told me he wants me to go against Caesar, I haven’t slept. My mind has been filled with thought of taking action against the General. My body and my mind are in turmoil.

Re-enter Lucius.

Lucius

Sir, 'tis your brother Cassius at the door,


Who doth desire to see you.

Sir, it’s your brother, Cassius, at the door. He wants to see you.

Brutus