Have struck but thus much show of fire from
Brutus. {Distant murmurs of R.)
Bru. The games are done and Casar is re-
turning.
Cas. As they pass by, pluck Casca by the
sleeve ;
And he will, after his sour fashion, tell you
Wha^ hath proceeded worthy note to-day.
Re-enter C^sar and his Train^ from R
Cces. (C). Antonius!
Ant. Cgesar?
C(ss. Let me have men about me that are fat :
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights:
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
Ant. Fear him not, Caesar; he's not danger-
ous;
He is a noble Roman and well given.*
27
^Ccesar looks over Antonys left shoulder at
Cassius occasionally. Antony faces Ccesar.
"^People are apt to sneer at Shakespeare's brief
outline of Julius Ccesar, hut I think this speech
alone defines the kind of man he was; it speaks
volumes, and makes the character very prominent.
It is astonishing how the interest of the play is
maintained to the end, merely on the wonderful
impression left on the mind of an audience, by the
ever-present memory of Ccesar.
^Ccesar turns in to Antony, who goes of on his
right side up steps and off L; all cheer and follow;
Casca crosses from R and is just going ojf when
Cassius stops him. (On the Elizabethan stage the
characters go through the L upper door, then pass
behind the wall and are seen in single file passing
the R upper door, which makes the crowd appear
enormous; some of the crowd go ojf Li door, and
join in at hack, all following off across to R behind
wall?)
"^As Casca goes up to follow Ccesar, Cassius
plucks his toga; he stops looks at them and grunts.
28
JULIUS C^SAR
CcBS.^ Would he were fatter ! But I fear him
not:
Yet if my name were liable to fear,
I do not know the man I should avoid
So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads
much;
He is a great observer, and he looks
Quite through the deeds of men; he loves no
plays,
As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music;
Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort
As if he mock'd himself and scorn'd his spirit
That could be mov'd to smile at any thing.
Such men as he be never at heart's ease
Whiles they behold a greater than themselves,
And therefore are they very dangerous.
I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd
Than what I fear; for always I am Caesar.^
{Antony salutes.)
Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf,^
And tell me truly what thou think'st of him.
[Sennet. Exeunt Ccesar and all his Train, but
Casca^
Casca (C). You puU'd me by the cloak ;^
would you speak with me?
29
CevscOk
Ca.33iU3
BrtJtuQ
^Casca prepares to sit on stool up L C.
"^During this speech Casca sits very casually;
he is an older and fatter man than either of the
others, so they just stand and listen.
30
JULIUS C^SAR
Bru. (L). Ay, Casca; tell us what hath
chanc'd to-day,
That Csesar looks so sad.
Casca. (L C) . Why, you were with him, were
you not?
Bru. (L). I should not then ask Casca what
had chanc'd.
Casca. Why, there was a crown offer'd him:^
and being offer'd him, he put it by with the
back of his hand, thus; and then the people fell
a-shouting. {Sits L C.)
Bru. (L). "What was the second noise for?
Casca. (LC). Why, for that too.
Cas. (R C) . They shouted thrice : what was the
last cry for?
Casca. Why, for that too.
Bru. Was the crown offer'd him thrice?
Casca. Ay, marry, was 't, and he put it by
thrice, every time gentler than other; and at
every putting-by mine honest neighbours
shouted.
Cas. Who offer'd him the crown?
Casca. Why, Antony.
Bru. Tell us the manner of it, gentle Casca.
Casca. ^ I can as well be hang'd as tell the
31
^Cassius moves up to him here.
^Casca is a bullet-headed, obstinate fellow and
crafty withal; but you couldn't insult him.
32
JULIUS C^SAR
manner of it: it was mere foolery; I did not
mark it. I saw Mark Antony offer him a crown
— yet 't was not a crown neither, 't was one of
these coronets; and, as I told you, he put it
by once: but, for all that, to my thinking, he
would fain have had it. Then he offer'd it to
him again; then he put it by again: but, to my
thinking, he was very loath to lay his fingers off
it. And then he offer'd it the third time; he
put it the third time by: and still as he refus'd it;
the rabblement shouted, and clapp'd their
chopt hands, because Caesar refus'd the crown,
that it had almost choked Csesar: for he
swounded and fell down at it: and for mine own
part, I durst not laugh, for fear of opening my
lips and receiving the bad air.
Cas. But, soft, I pray you: what, did Caesar
swound?
Casca. He fell down in the market-place, and
foam'd at mouth, and was speechless.
Bru. 'Tis very like: he hath the falling
sickness.
Cas.^ No, Caesar hath it not; but you and I
and honest Casca; we have the falling sickness.
Casca.^ I know not what you mean by that;
33
^Cassius knows Casca had no command of any
language hut his own rough style.
34
JULIUS C^SAR
but, I am sure, Caesar fell down. If the tag-rag
people did not clap him and hiss him, according
as he pleas'd and displeas'd them, as they use
to do the players in the theatre, I am no true
man.
Bru. What said he when he came unto him-
self.
Casca. Marry, before he fell down, when he
perceiv'd the common herd was glad he refus'd
the crown, he pluck'd me ope his doublet and
offer'd them his throat to cut. An I had been
a man of any occupation, if I would not have
taken him at a word, I would I might go to hell
among the rogues. And so he fell. Three or
four wenches, where I stood, cried "Alas, good
soul!" and forgave him with all their hearts: but
there's no heed to be taken of them; if Ceesar
had stabb'd their mothers, they would have
done no less.
Bru. (L). And after that, he came, thus sad,
away.
Casca. (C). Ay. ('^^ A pause.)
Cas. (R). Did Cicero say any thing?
Casca. Ay; he spoke Greek.
Cas.^ To what effect?
35
^Casca is so self-satisfied he doesn't even see a
joke on himself; he is a very common type of man.
- ^He rises.
^Casca begins to go of up L; at each pause he
moves of a little; then stops and grunts.
^Ee goes of very slowly with a sort of familiar
nod.
^Brutus goes up, and looks after him.
^At Brutus' exit a distant storm is rising.
Thunder is best done, very carefully, on the big
drum. If a good thunder sheet of tin or iron can
be used, it helps a little, but the drum rumbled
and then beaten, is best. Lightning is done best by
an electric wire. Use as little of both kinds as
possible.
36
JULIUS C^SAR
Casca} Nay, an I tell you that, I'll ne'er look
you i' th' face again: but those that understood
him smil'd at one another and shook their heads;
but, for mine own part, it was Greek to me.^
Fare you well. There was more foolery yet, if
I could remember it.
Cas. (R C). Will you sup with me to-night,
Casca?
Casca. No, I am promis'd forth.
Cas. Will you dine with me to-morrow?
Casca} Ay, if I be alive — and your mind
hold — and your dinner worth the eating.
Cas. Good : I will expect you.
Casca.^ Do so. — Farewell, — ^both. [Exit up Li
Bru.^ What a blunt fellow is this grown to be !
He was quick metal when he went to school.
Cas. So is he now in execution
Of any bold or noble enterprise,
However he puts on this tardy form.
Bru. And so it is. For this time I will
leave you. {Crosses to L)
To-morrow, if you please to speak with me
I will come home to you: or, if you will,
Come home to me, and I will wait for you.^
[Exit Brutus, saluting down L
37
^He pauses; looks around.
"^As Cassius exits thunder should he heard and
continue during change of scene. If a scenery pro-
duction, I should advise omitting the next scene;
anyway it would he played as a front scene. If
Elizabethan, the speech and action should he so
rapid that it need not take more than a few minutes.
The division of scenes is not Shakespeare's; that
arrangement was made hy Nicholas Rowe a hundred
years after. The scene is fine for an exhibition
of oratory; otherwise the plot is not advanced from
the previous interview with Brutus.
^They stand under the canopy of the Elizabethan
stage as if it were a pent-house to shelter from the
rain. It is pouring.
38
JULIUS C^SAR
Cas. {saluting — pauses; looks after Brutus).
Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see,
Thy honourable metal may be wrought.
From that it is disposed: therefore it is meet.
That noble minds keep ever with their likes;
For who so firm that cannot be seduc'd?
Caesar doth bear me hard; but he loves Brutus:
If I were Brutus now, and he were Cassius,
He should not humour me.^ I will this night.
In several hands, in at his windows throw,
As if they came from several citizens.
Writings all tending to the great opinion
That Rome holds of his name; wherein obscurely
Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at:
And after this let Caesar seat him sure;
For we will shake him, or worse days endure.^
[Exit up R2
Scene III. The same. A street
Thunder and lightning. Enter, from opposite
sides, Casca, (R) with his sword drawn, and
Cicero,^ (L).
Cic. (L). Good even, Casca: brought you
Caesar home?
39
JULIUS CESAR
Why are you breathless? and why stare you so?
Casca (R). Are not you mov'd, when all
the sway of earth
Shakes like a thing unfirm? O Cicero,
I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds
Have riv'd the knotty oaks, and I have seen
The ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam,
To be exalted with the threat'ning clouds:
But never till to-night, never till now,
Did I go through a tempest dropping fire.
Either there is a civil strife in heaven,
Or else the world, too saucy with the gods.
Incenses them to send destruction.
Cic. Why, saw you any thing more wonder-
ful?
Casca. A common slave — you know him
well by sight —
Held up his left hand, which did flame and burn
Like twenty torches join'd, and yet his hand,
Not sensible of fire, remain'd unscorched.
And yesterday the bird of night did sit
Even at noon-day upon the market-place.
Hooting and shrieking. When these prodigies
Do so conjointly meet, let not men say
"These are their reasons; they are natural";
41
^Cicero wraps himself in his toga and goes off
R quickly.
^Loud thunder.
42
JULIUS CJESAR
For, I believe, they are portentous things
Unto the climate that they point upon.
Cic. Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time :
But men may construe things after their fashion,
Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.
Comes Cassar to the Capitol to-morrow?
Casca. He doth; for he did bid Antonius
Send word to you he would be there to-morrow.
Cic. Good night then, Casca: this disturbed
sky {crosses over to R).
Is not to walk in.^
Casca. Farewell, Cicero. [Exit Cicero R
Enter Cassius Li
Cas. (L). Who's there?
Casca (R). A Roman.
Cas. Casca, by your voice.
Casca. Your ear is good. Cassius, what night
is thisP
Cas. A very pleasing night to honest men.
Casca. Who ever knew the heavens menace
so?
Cas. Those that have known the earth so
full of faults.
43
JULIUS C^SAR
For my part, I have walk'd about the streets,
Submitting me unto the perilous night,
And, thus unbraced, Casca, as you see,
Have bar'd my bosom to the thunder-stone.
Casca. But wherefore did you so much tempt
the heavens?
Cas. You are dull, Casca, and those sparks
of hf e
That should be in a Roman you do want,
Or else you use not. You look pale and gaze
And put on fear and case yourself in wonder.
To see the strange impatience of the heavens :
Why, you shall find
That heaven hath infus'd them with these spirits.
To make them instruments of fear and warning
Unto some monstrous state.
Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man
Most like this dreadful night.
That thunders, Hghtens, opens graves, and roars
As doth the lion in the Capitol,
A man no mightier than thyself or me
In personal action, yet prodigious grown
And fearful, as these strange eruptions are.
Casca. 'Tis Csesar that you mean; is it not,
Cassius?
45
^Casca gets the first indication of the murder
here; his dagger is a Roman sword.
46
JULIUS C^SAR
Cas. Let it be who it is: for Romans now
Have thews and limbs Uke to their ancestors;
But, woe the while, our fathers' minds are dead,
And we are govern'd with our mothers' spirits;
Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish.
Casca. Indeed, they say, the senators tOr
morrow
Mean to establish Cassar as a king;
And he shall wear his crown by sea and land,
In every place, save here in Italy.
Cas} I know where I will wear this dagger
then;
Cassius from bondage will dehver Cassius:
[Thunder still
Casca. So every bondman in his own hand
bears
The power to cancel his captivity.
Cas. And why should Csesar be a tyrant then
Poor man! I know he would not be a wolf.
But that he sees the Romans are but sheep-
He were no lion, were not Romans hinds.
Those that with haste will make a mighty fire
Begin it with weak straws: what trash is Rome!
What rubbish and what offal, when it serves
For the base matter to illuminate
47
" ^Casca here touches him, or looks at Cassius with
such wonder, as to make him pause in the ferocity
oj his speech.
^Casca is a match for Cassius even, and he is
vulgar withal.
^As they shake hands there should be a tremen-
dous crash of thunder. It was one of the worst
bargains ever made, and the heavens were angry I
^Thunder more distant.
^They get closer under the canopy.
48
JULIUS C^SAR
So vile a thing as Caesar!^ But, grief,
Where hast thou led me? I, perhaps, speak this
Before a willing bondman; then I know
My answer must be made. But I am arm'd,
And dangers are to me indifferent.
Casca.^ You speak to Casca, and to such a
man
That is no fleering tell-tale. Hold, my hand:
Be factious for redress of all these griefs,
And I will set this foot of mine as far
As who goes farthest.
Cas. There's a bargain made.^
Now know you, Casca, I have mov'd already,
Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans
To undergo with me an enterprise
Of honourable-dangerous consequence;
And I do know, by this, they stay for me
In Pompey's porch: for now this fearful
night,4
There is no stir or walking in the streets^
And the complexion of the element
Is favours, like the work we have in hand,
Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible.
Casca. Stand close awhile,^ for here comes
one in haste.
49
^Ginna enters from R and hobbles across stage
wrapped in his toga; they watch him from under
the canopy {or if a scenery stage from just up
stage) until he gets nearly across to L; then call to
him. Cinna and the others wear hats or caps
{Elizabethan) and have also their togas over their
heads.
^Cinna turns, goes up to them as if to make sure;
they are all three, more or less, muffled.
^Be sure Cassius has all the scrolls in an in-
visible pocket under the toga.
50
JULIUS C^SAR
Cas. 'Tis Cinna; I do know him by his gait;
He is a friend. {Crosses to L C.)
Enter Cinna from Ri^
Cinna, where haste you so?
Cin. {L C). To find out you.^ Who's
that? Metellus Cimber?
Cas. (C). No, it is Casca; one incorporate
To our attempts. Am I not stay'd for, Cinna?
Cin. I am glad on 't. What a fearful night
is this! {Distant thunder.)
There's two or three of us have seen strange
sights.
Cas. Am I not stay'd for? tell me.
Cin. {under canopy). Yes, you are.
O Cassius, if you could
But win the noble Brutus to our party —
Cas. 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.
51
^The dialogue is all quick and hushed, hut in-
tense and full of meaning.
^Slight thunder and lightning as scene closes
until next scene begins. In changing scenes it is
advisable to use a gong, deep toned if possible,
and then to lower lights, gradually letting the light
dissolve. The same plan for opening a scene;
let the light gradually grow to whatever degree of
light is needed. Don't have a white stage.
52
JULIUS C^SAR
Is Decius Brutus and Trebonius there?
Cin} 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.
Cas. That done, repair to Pompey's theatre.
[Exit Cinna L
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.
Casca. O, he sits high in all the people's
hearts:
And that which would appear offence in us.
His countenance, like richest alchemy.
Will change to virtue and to worthiness.
Cas. 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.
[Exeunt both of V"
S3
^Brutus' orchard should he a cloth with wall
painted as if it surrounded the villa. The villa is
R, either set or wings, or better still a back cloth with
trees, with a '^cut^' cloth with archway to give the
idea of an inner garden; villa R, seat C. ^ At
opening of scene thunder rumbles and a little faint
lightning. Brutus calls Lucius with soft voice, as if
afraid of waking any one else. Lucius is sleepy
and rubs his eyes. He is quite a small lad, about
twelve or fourteen.
54
• ACT II
Scene I. Rome. Brutus' orchard^
Enter Brutus as if from house R
Bru. 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! {Goes over to RC.)
Enter Lucius R
Luc. Call'd you, my lord?
Bru. Get me a taper in my study, Lucius:
When it is Hghted, come and caU me here.
Luc. I will, my lord. [Exit R
Bru. It must be by his death: and for my
part,
I know no personal cause to spurn at him,
5§
^Brutus is restless during this speech. ^
^Sits.
-^"Then lest he may'^rise and pause)" prevent "—
this is said significantly as if Brutus had decided
in his mind what should be done in case of Ccesar^s
resistance.
Lucius
S6
JULIUS C^SAR
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, — {hesitating) . .
And then, I grant, we put a sting in him,
That at his will he may do danger with.^
The 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 lowHness 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 colour for the thing he is,
Fashion it thus; that what he is, augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities:
57
^Lucius' entrance makes Brutus almost start.
Brutus is almost unheedful till the boy takes him
the paper. Lucius knows his master, watches
him, and decides to give the paper. The little
lad's character is beautifully drawn, like all the
Shakespeare children.
^Brutus pats the boy on the head. Lucius would
stay with him, but reluctantly goes. As. he gets to
door, Brutus speaks again.
^Lucius yawns.
^Brutus smiles.
^The reading of the scroll is very important.
s8
JULIUS C^SAR
And therefore think him as a serpent's egg
Which, hatch'd, would, as his kind, grow mis-
chievous,
And kill him in the shell. {Goes a little L.)
Re-enter Lucius B}
Luc. 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.
[Gives him the letter
Bru} Get you to bed again; it is not day.
Is not to-morrow, boy, the first of March?
LucJ^ I know not, sir.
Bru.^ Look in the calendar, and bring me
word.
Luc. I will, sir. [Exit R. Lightning
Bru. The exhalations whizzing in the air
Give so much Hght that I may read by them.
[Opens the letter and reads^
" Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake, and see thyself.
Shall Rome, etc. Speak, strike, redress!
Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake "
Such instigations have been often dropp'd
Wliere I have took them up.
59
^He puts up his hands as if in invocation of the
Roman gods.
^When Lucius re-enters he pauses a moment,
watching his master, then says ''Sir" and waits
for Brutus to attend.
^The knocking is important, a deep thud once,
as if on an iron gate. It is not so important as in
" Macbeth," but the knock is significant.
'^Pause — almost with a look of anticipated
doom. Lucius goes up somewhat unwillingly.
His boyish love is annoyed that his master should
be disturbed, especially so early.
^Make this important; nearly all Shakespeare's
men who should be great, have troubled minds.
60
JULIUS C^SAR
''Shall Rome, etc." 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
To speak and strike? Rome,^ I make thee
promise :
If the redress will follow, thou receivest
Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus!
Re-enter Lucius^
Luc. Sir, March is wasted fifteen days.
[Knocking within,^ up stage R
Bru. 'Tis good.^ — Go to the gate — some-
body knocks. [Exit Lucius
Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar,
I have not slept.^ (Goes over to L.)
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.
6i
'^Lucius calls again, "Sir" and waits till Brutus
attends.
^Lucius does not like this intrusion.
^He gets suspicious too, and evidently he has tried
hard to identify them.
63
JULIUS C^SAR
Re-enter Lucius from up R
Luc} Sir, — 'tis your brother Cassius at the
door,
Who doth desire to see you.
Bru. Is he alone?
Luc.^ No, sir, there are more with him.
Bru. Do you know them?
Luc. No, sir; — their hats are pluck'd about
their ears,^
And half their faces buried in their cloaks,
That by no means I may discover them
By any mark of favour.
Bru Let them enter. [Exit Lucius up R
They are the faction. O conspiracy,
Sham'st thou to show thy dang'rous brow by
night,
When evils are most free? O, then by day
Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough
To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none,
conspiracy;
Hide it in smiles and affability:
For if thou path thy native semblance on,
Not Erebus itself were dim enough
To hide thee from prevention. (Crosses to L C.)
63
"^The conspirators stay up R except Cassius,
who comes C.
^Each man salutes, with the right hand, then goes
down to R and R C as he speaks.
^Cassius draws Brutus well over to L.
Brutus Cnnbep Ti-tboniua
â– u.c
64
JULIUS C^SAR
Enter the conspirators,^ Cassius, Casca, Decius,
CiNNA, Metellus Cimber, and Trebonius
Cas. (R C). I think we are too bold upon
your rest:
Good morrow, Brutus; do we trouble you?
Bru. {L C). I have been up this hour, awake
all night.
Know I these men that come along with you?
Cas. Yes, every man of them, and no man
here
But honours you; and every one doth wish
You had but that opinion of yourself
Which every noble Roman bears of you.
This is Trebonius.^
Bru. (L C). He is welcome hither.
Cas. (C). This, Decius Brutus.
Bru. {L C). He is welcome too.
Cas. (C). This, Casca; this, Cinna; and this,
Metellus Cimber.
Bru. (L C). They are all welcome.
What watchful cares do interpose themselves
Betwixt your eyes and night?
Cas. Shall I entreat a word?'
[Brutus and Cassius whisper going up stage.
6s
^Cinna, Casca, and Decius are arguing down R,
pointing in front of them to the sky.
^Brutus crosses to C, Cassius to L C. Brutus
takes each man's hand quickly; first Casca, who
goes down R; then Metellus, who crosses over to L;
then Trebonius, who goes R; then Cinna, who
hobbles over to L; then Decius, who stays R C.
^It is difficult to cut this speech, but the play will
get very long.
66
JULIUS CiESAR
Dec. (R). Here lies the east: doth not the
day break here?