That struck the foremost man of all this world,
But for supporting robbers; shall we now
Contaminate our fingers with base bribes ?
And sell the mighty space of our large honours,
For so much trash as may be grasped thus ?-
I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon,
Than such a Roman,

CASSIUS.

Brutus, bay not me,
I'll not endure it: you forget yourself
To hedge me in; I am a soldier, I,
Older in practice, abler than yourself
To make conditions.

BRUTUS.
CASSIUS. I am.

Go to; you're not, Cassius.

BRUTUS. I say, you are not.

CASSIUS. Urge me no more, I shall forget myself: Have mind upon your health, tempt me no further. BRUTUS. Away, slight man!

CASSIUS. Is 't possible?

BRUTUS.

Hear me, for I will speak.

Must I give way and room to your rash choler?

Shall I be frighted when a madman stares?

CASSIUS. O, ye gods! ye gods! must I endure all this!

BRUTUS. All this? ay, more: fret till your proud heart break;

Go, show your slaves how choleric you are,

And make your bondmen tremble. Must I budge?
Must I observe you? Must I stand and crouch
Under your testy humour? By the gods
You shall digest the venom of your spleen

Though it do split you: for, from this day forth,

I'll use for

mirth, yea,

you my When you are waspish.

for

my laughter,

CASSIUS.

Is it come to this?

BRUTUS. You say you are a better soldier:
Let it appear so; make your vaunting true,
And it shall please me well: for mine own part,

I shall be glad to learn of noble men.

CASSIUS. You wrong me, every way you wrong me, Brutus ;

I said an elder soldier, not a better :

Did I say better?

I

BRUTUS.

If you did, I care not.

CASSIUS. When Cæsar liv'd, he durst not thus have

For your life you durst not.

CASSIUS. Do not presume too much upon my love,

BRUTUS. You have done that you should be sorry for. There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats :

For I am arm'd so strong in honesty,
That they pass by me, as the idle wind,

Which I respect not. I did send to you

For certain sums of gold, which you denied me ;-
For I can raise no money by vile means:

By heaven, I had rather coin my heart,

And drop my blood for drachmas,* than to wring
From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash
By any indirection. I did send

To you for gold to pay my legions,

Which you denied me was that done like Cassius?

* Money.

Should I have answer'd Caius Cassius so?
When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous,
To lock such rascal counters from his friends,
Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts,
Dash him to pieces!

CASSIUS.

I did not he was but a fool

That brought my answer back.-Brutus hath rived*

my heart:

A friend should bear his friend's infirmities,

But Brutus makes mine greater than they are.

BRUTUS. I do not, till you practise them on me.
CASSIUS. You love me not.

BRUTUS.

I do not like your faults. CASSIUS. A friendly eye could never see such faults. BRUTUS. A flatterer's would not, though they do

appear

As huge as high Olympus.

CASSIUS. Come, Antony, and young Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius, For Cassius is aweary of the world:

Octavius come,

Hated by one he loves; braved by his brother;
Check'd like a bondman; all his faults observed,
Set in a note-book, learn'd, and conn'd by rote,
To cast into my teeth. O, I could weep
My spirit from mine eyes!—There is my dagger,
And here my naked breast; within, a heart
Dearer than Plutus' mine, richer than gold;
If that thou be 'st a Roman, take it forth :
I, that denied thee gold, will give my heart:
Strike, as thou didst at Cæsar; for, I know,

* Riven.

When thou didst hate him worst, thou lov'dst him

better

Than ever thou lov'dst Cassius.

BRUTUS.

Sheath your dagger:

Be angry when you will, it shall have scope;
Do what you will, dishonour shall be humour.
O Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb

That carries anger as the flint bears fire;
Who, much enforced, shows a hasty spark,
And straight is cold again.

CASSIUS.

Hath Cassius lived

To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus,

When grief and blood ill-temper'd vexeth him?

BRUTUS. When I spoke that I was ill-temper'd too.

CASSIUS. Do you confess so much?

Give me your

CASSIUS. Have you not love enough to bear with me, When that rash humour, which my mother gave me, Makes me forgetful?

BRUTUS.

Yes, Cassius; and henceforth,

When you are over-earnest with your Brutus,
He'll think your mother chides, and leave you so.

Chances occur for Success in Life.

There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,

And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.

ACT V.

The Parting of Brutus and Cassius before the
Battle of Philippi.

CASSIUS.

Then, if we lose this battle,

You are contented to be led in triumph

Through the streets of Rome?

BRUTUS. No, Cassius, no: think not, thou noble Roman,

That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome:

He bears too great a mind. But this same day
Must end that work the ides of March begun;
And whether we shall meet again I know not.
Therefore our everlasting farewell take :-
For ever, and for ever, farewell Cassius!
If we do meet again, why we shall smile;
If not, why then this parting was well made.

CASSIUS. For ever, and for ever, farewell, Brutus! If we do meet again, we'll smile indeed;

If not, 'tis true, this parting was well made.

BRUTUS. Why, then, lead on.-O, that a man might

know

The end of this day's business ere it come?
But it sufficeth that the day will end,

And then the end is known.

Antony's Description of Brutus.

This was the noblest Roman of them all

;

All the conspirators, save only he,
Did that they did in envy of great
Cæsar ;
He, only, in a general honest thought,
And common good to all, made one of them.
His life was gentle; and the elements

So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up,
And say to all the world "This was a man!"