SCENE I.-Rome. A Room in ANTONY'S House
ANTONY, OCTAVIUS, and LEPIDUS, seated at a table
ANT. These many, then, shall die; their names are prick'd.
OCT. Your brother too must die; consent you, Lepidus?
LEP. I do consent,-
LEP. Upon condition Publius shall not live,
Who is your sister's son, Mark Antony.
ANT. He shall not live; look, with a spot I damn him.
But, Lepidus, go you to Cæsar's house;
Fetch the will hither, and we shall determine
How to cut off some charge in legacies.
LEP. What, shall I find you here?
OCT. Or here, or at the Capitol.
ANT. This is a slight unmeritable man,
Meet to be sent on errands: is it fit,
The three-fold world divided, he should stand
One of the three to share it?
So you thought him;
And took his voice who should be prick'd to die,
In our black sentence and proscription.
ANT. Octavius, I have seen more days than
you:
And though we lay these honours on this man,
To ease ourselves of divers slanderous loads,
He shall but bear them as the ass bears gold,
To groan and sweat under the business,
Either led or driven, as we point the way;
And having brought our treasure where we will,
Then take we down his load, and turn him off,
Like to the empty ass, to shake his ears,
And graze in commons.
But he's a tried and valiant soldier.
ANT. So is my horse, Octavius; and for that
I do appoint him store of provender:
It is a creature that I teach to fight,
To wind, to stop, to run directly on,-
His corporal motion govern'd by my spirit.
And, in some taste, is Lepidus but so;
He must be taught, and train'd, and bid go
A barren-spirited fellow; one that feeds
On abject orts and imitations,
Which, out of use and stal'd by other men,
Begin his fashion: do not talk of him,
But as a property. And now, Octavius,
Listen great things:-Brutus and Cassius
Are levying powers: we must straight make head :
Therefore let our alliance be combin'd,
Our best friends made, our means stretch'd;
And let us presently go sit in council,
How covert matters may be best disclos'd,
And open perils surest answered.
OCT. Let us do so: for we are at the stake,
And bay'd about with many enemies;
And some that smile have in their hearts, I fear,
Millions of mischiefs.
SCENE II.--Before BRUTUS' Tent, in the Camp near Sardis
Drum. Enter BRUTUS, LUCILIUS, LUCIUS, and Soldiers; TITINIUS and PINDARUS meeting them
LUCIL. Give the word, ho! and stand.
BRU. What now, Lucilius! is Cassius near?
LUCIL. He is at hand; and Pindarus is come
To do you salutation from his master.
[PINDARUS gives a letter to BRUTUS.
BRU. He greets me well.-Your master, Pindarus,
In his own change, or by ill officers,
Hath given me some worthy cause to wish
Things done, undone: but, if he be at hand,
I shall be satisfied.
But that my noble master will appear
Such as he is, full of regard and honour.
BRU. He is not doubted.-A word, Lucilius ;
How he receiv'd you, let me be resolv'd.
LUCIL. With courtesy and with respect enough;
But not with such familiar instances,
Nor with such free and friendly conference,
As he hath us'd of old.
A hot friend cooling: ever note, Lucilius,
When love begins to sicken and decay,
It useth an enforced ceremony.
There are no tricks in plain and simple faith :
But hollow men, like horses hot at hand,
Make gallant show and promise of their mettle;
But when they should endure the bloody spur,
They fall their crests, and, like deceitful jades,
Sink in the trial. Comes his army on?
LUCIL. They mean this night in Sardis to be quarter'd ;
The greater part, the horse in general,
Are come with Cassius.
March gently on to meet him.
Enter CASSIUS and Soldiers
BRU. Stand, ho! Speak the word along.
Within. Stand!
Within. Stand!
Within. Stand!
CAS. Most noble brother, you have done me wrong.
BRU. Judge me, you gods! wrong I mine enemies?
And, if not so, how should I wrong a brother?
CAS. Brutus, this sober form of yours hides wrongs;
And when you do them—
BRU.
Cassius, be content;
Speak your griefs softly,-I do know you well;—
Before the eyes of both our armies here,
Which should perceive nothing but love from us,
Let us not wrangle: bid them move away;
Then in my tent, Cassius, enlarge your griefs,
And I will give you audience.
Bid our commanders lead their charges off
A little from this ground.
BRU. Lucilius, do you the like; and let no man
Come to our tent till we have done our conference.
Let Lucius and Titinius guard our door.
SCENE III. Within the Tent of BRUTUS
CAS. That you have wrong'd me doth appear in this,—
You have condemn'd and noted Lucius Pella
For taking bribes here of the Sardians;
Wherein my letters, praying on his side,
Because I knew the man, were slighted off.
BRU. You wrong'd yourself to write in such a case.
CAS. In such a time as this it is not meet
That every nice offence should bear his comment.
BRU. Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself
Are much condemn'd to have an itching palm ;
To sell and mart your offices for gold
You know that you are Brutus that speak this,
Or, by the gods, this speech were else your last.
BRU. The name of Cassius honours this corruption,
And chastisement doth therefore hide his head.
Cas. Chastisement !
BRU. Remember March, the ides of March remember:
Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake?
What villain touch'd his body, that did stab,
And not for justice? What, shall one of us,
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 graspèd thus?
I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon,
Than such a Roman.
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.
Go to; you are not, Cassius.
CAS. Urge me no more, I shall forget myself;
Have mind upon your health, tempt me no further. BRU. Away, slight man!
Hear me, for I will speak.
Must I give way and room to your rash choler?
Shall I be frighted when a madman stares?
CAS. O ye gods, ye gods! must I endure all this?
BRU. 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 you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter,
When you are waspish.
BRU. 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.
CAS. You wrong me every way; you wrong me, Brutus;
I said, an elder soldier, not a better:
CAS. When Cæsar liv'd, he durst not thus have mov'd me.
BRU. Peace, peace! you durst not so have tempted him.
CAS. I durst not!
CAS. What, durst not tempt him!
BRU.
For your life you
CAS. Do not presume too much upon my love;
I may do that I shall be sorry for.
BRU. You have done that you should be sorry
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 ?
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!
BRU. You did.
CAS. I did not:—he was but a fool that brought
My answer back.-Brutus hath riv'd my heart:
A friend should bear his friend's infirmities,
But Brutus makes mine greater than they are.
BRU. I do not, till you practise them on me.
CAS. You love me not.
BRU.
I do not like your faults.
CAS. A friendly eye could never see such faults.
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