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Brutus:
A piece of work that will make sick men whole.
Ligarius:
But are not some whole that we must make sick?
Brutus:
That must we also. What it is, my Caius,
I shall unfold to thee, as we are going,
To whom it must be done.
Ligarius:
Set on your foot,
And with a heart new-fir’d I follow you,
To do I know not what; but it sufficeth
That Brutus leads me on.
(Thunder.)
Brutus:
Follow me then.
(Exeunt.)
Scene Two: A room in Caesar’s palace.
Thunder and lightning. Enter Caesar, in his nightgown.
Caesar:
Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace tonight:
Thrice hath Calphurnia in her sleep cried out,
“Help, ho! They murder Caesar!” Who’s within?
Enter a Servant.
Servant:
My lord?
Caesar:
Go bid the priests do present sacrifice,
And bring me their opinions of success.
Servant:
I will, my lord.
(Exit.)
Enter Calphurnia.
Calphurnia:
What mean you, Caesar? Think you to walk forth?
You shall not stir out of your house today.
Caesar:
Caesar shall forth. The things that threaten’d me
Ne’er look’d but on my back; when they shall see
The face of Caesar, they are vanished.
Calphurnia:
Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies,
Yet now they fright me. There is one within,
Besides the things that we have heard and seen,
Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.
A lioness 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 squadrons and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol;
The noise of battle hurtled in the air,
Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan,
And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.
O Caesar, these things are beyond all use,
And I do fear them!
Caesar:
What can be avoided
Whose end is purpos’d by the mighty gods?
Yet Caesar shall go forth; for these predictions
Are to the world in general as to Caesar.
Calphurnia:
When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.
Caesar:
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 most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
Enter Servant.