Hoping it was but an effect of humour;
Which fometime hath his hour with every man.
It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor fleep;
And could it work fo much upon your shape,
As it hath much prevail'd on your condition,
I fhould not know you, Brutus. Dear my Lord,
Make me acquainted with your caufe of grief.

Bru. I am not well in health, and that is all.
Por. Brutus is wife, and, were he not in health,
He would embrace the means to come by it.

Bru. Why, fo I do: good Porcia, go to bed.
Por. Is Brutus fick ? and is it phyfical
To walk unbraced, and fuck up the humours
Of the dank morning? what, is Brutus fick ?
And will he fteal out of his wholesome bed,
To dare the vile contagion of the night?
And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air,
To add unto his sickness ? no, my Brutus,
You have fome fick offence within your mind,
Which, by the Right and Virtue of my place,
I ought to know of: and, upon my knees,
I charm you, by my once-commended beauty,
By all your vows of love, and that great vow
Which did incorporate and make us one,
That you unfold to me, yourself, your half,
Why you are heavy: and what men to-night
Have had refort to you: for here have been
Some fix or seven, who did hide their faces
Even from darkness.

Bru. Kneel not, gentle Porcia.

Por. I fhould not need, if you were gentle Brutus.
Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus,
Is it excepted, I should know no fecrets

That appertain to you? am I yourself,

But, as it were, in fort or limitation?

To keep with you at meals, confort your bed, (8)

And

(1)

comfort your Bed,

And talk to you ? ------ -1

り

And talk to you sometimes? dwell I but in the suburbs Of your good pleasure? if it be no more,

Porcia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife.

Bru. You are my true and honourable wife; As dear to me, as are the ruddy drops

That vifit my fad heart.

Por. If this were true, then should I know this fecret. I grant, I am a woman; but withal,

A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife:

I grant, I am a woman; but withal,
A woman well reputed; Cato's daughter.
Think you, I am no ftronger than my fex,
Being fo father'd, and fo hufbanded?

Tell me your counfels, I will not disclose them:
I have made strong proof of my conftancy,
Giving myself a voluntary wound

Here, in the thigh: can I bear that with patience,
And not my husband's fecrets?

Bru. O ye Gods!

Render me worthy of this noble wife.

Hark, hark, one knocks: Porcia, go in a while;

And, by and by, thy bofom shall partake

The fecrets of my heart.

All my engagements I will conftrue to thee,

All the charactery of my fad brows.

Leave me with hafte.

Enter Lucius and Ligarius.

Lucius, who's there that knocks?

[Knock.

[Exit Porcią.

Luc. Here is a fick man, that would fpeak with you. Bru. Caius Ligarius, that Metellus fpake of. Boy, ftand afide. Caius Ligarius! how?

Cai. Vouchfafe good-morrow from a feeble tongue. Bru. O, what a time have you chofe out, brave Caius, To wear a kerchief? 'would, you were not fick!

This is but an odd Phrafe, and gives as odd an Idea. The Word, I have fubftituted, feems much more proper; and is one of our Poet's own Usage upon the like Occafions; which makes me fufpect, he employ'd it here.

B 4

Cai.

Cai. I am not fick, if Brutus have in hand Any exploit worthy the name of honour.

Bru. Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius,
Had you an healthful ear to hear it.

Cai. By all the Gods the Romans bow before,
I here difcard my fick nefs. Soul of Rome !
Brave fon, deriv'd from honourable loins!
Thou, like an Exorcift, haft conjur'd up
My mortified fpirit. Now bid me run,
And I will ftrive with things impoffible;
Yea, get the better of them. What's to do?

Bru. A piece of work, that will make fick men whole.
Cai. But are not fome whole, that we must make fick ?
Bru. That we must also. What it is, my Caius,
I fhall unfold to thee, as we are going,

To whom it must be done.

Cai. Set on your foot,

And with a heart new-fir'd I follow you,
To do I know not what: but it fufficeth,
That Brutus leads me on.

Bru. Follow me then.

Caf

[Exeunt.

SCENE changes to Cæfar's Palace.

Thunder and Lightning. Enter Julius Cæfar.

NOR

OR heav'n, nor earth, have been at peace tonight;

Thrice hath Calphurnia in her fleep cry'd out,

"Help, ho! they murder Cafar." Who's within ?

Serv. My Lord ?

Enter a Servant.

Caf. Go bid the priests do prefent facrifice,

And bring me their opinions of fuccefs.

Serv. I will, my Lord.

Enter Calphurnia.

[Exit.

Cal. What mean you, Cæfar? think you to walk forth?

You

You fhall not ftir out of your houfe to-day.

Caf. Cæfar fhall forth; the things, that threatned me,
Ne'er lookt but on my back: when they fhall fee
The face of Cafar, they are vanished.

Cal. Cæfar, I never food on ceremonies,
Yet now they fright me: there is one within,
(Befides the things that we have heard and feen)
Recounts moft horrid fights feen by the Watch.
A lionefs hath whelped in the streets,

And Graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead;
Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds,

In ranks and fquadrons and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol :

The noise of battle hurtled in the air;
Horfes did neigh, and dying men did groan;
And Ghofts did fhriek, and fqueal about the streets.
O Cafar! these things are beyond all ufe,
And I do fear them.

Caf. What can be avoided,

Whose end is purpos'd by the mighty Gods?
Yet Cæfar fhall go forth for these predictions
Are to the world in general, as to Cæfar.

Cal. When Beggars die, there are no comets feen ; The heav'ns themselves blaze forth the death of Princes. Caf. Cowards die many times before their deaths, The valiant never taste of death but once :

Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,

It seems to me moft ftrange, that men should fear:
Seeing that death, a neceffary end,

Will come, when it will come.

Enter a Servant.

What fay the Augurs?

Serv. They would not have you to fir forth to-day. Plucking the entrails of an Offering forth,

They could not find a heart within the beaft.

[Exit Servant.

Caf. The Gods do this in fhame of cowardife Cafar fhould be a beast without a heart,

If he should stay at home to-day for fear.
No, Cæfar fhall not; Danger knows full well,
That Cæfar is more dangerous than he.
(9) We were two lions litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible;

And Cæfar fhall

go forth.

Cal. Alas, my Lord,

Your wisdom is confum'd in confidence:
Do not go forth to-day; call it my fear,

That keeps you in the house, and not your own.
We'll fend Mark Antony to the Senate-house,
And he will fay, you are not well to-day:
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.

Caf. Mark Antony fhall fay, I am not well;
And, for thy humour, I will stay at home.
Enter Decius.

Here's Decius Brutus, he fhall tell them fo.

Dec. Cafar, all hail! good morrow, worthy Cafar; I come to fetch you to the Senate-house.

Caf. And you are come in very happy time,

To bear my Greeting to the Senators,
And tell them that I will not come to-day:
Cannot, is false; and that I dare not, falfer;
I will not come to-day; tell them fo, Decius.
Cul. Say, he is fick.

Caf. Shall Cæfar fend a lye?

Have I in conqueft ftretcht mine arm so far,
'To be afraid to tell Grey-beards the truth?
Decius, go tell them, Cæfar will not come.
Dec. Moft mighty Cafar, let me know fome cause,
Left I be laugh'd at, when I tell them fo.

Gaf. The caufe is in my will, I will not come;

We beare

(9) We heard two Lions] The firft FolioThe Copies have been all corrupt, and the Paffage, of course, unintelligible. But the flight Alteration, I have made, reftores Sense to the whole; and the Sentiment will neither be unworthy of ShakeSpeare, nor the boaft too extravagant for Cæfar in a Vein of Vanity to utter: that he and Danger were two Twin-whelps of a Lion, and be the Elder, and more terrible of the Two.