ACT III

SCENE I. _Rome. Before the Capitol; the_ Senate _sitting_

_A crowd of people; among them_ ARTEMIDORUS _and the_ Soothsayer. _Flourish._ _Enter_ CaeSAR, BRUTUS, Ca.s.sIUS, CASCA, DECIUS, METELLUS, TREBONIUS, CINNA, ANTONY, LEPIDUS, POPILIUS, PUBLIUS, _and others_

CaeSAR. The Ides of March are come.

SOOTHSAYER. Ay, Caesar; but not gone.

ARTEMIDORUS. Hail, Caesar! read this schedule.

DECIUS. Trebonius doth desire you to o'er-read, At your best leisure, this his humble suit. 5

ARTEMIDORUS. O Caesar, read mine first; for mine's a suit That touches Caesar nearer: read it, great Caesar.

CaeSAR. What touches us ourself shall be last serv'd.

[Note: _Rome. Before_ ... PUBLIUS, _and others_ Capell (substantially)

Flourish. Enter Caesar ... Artimedorus, Publius, and the Soothsayer Ff

Ff omit Popilius.]

[Note 3: /schedule/ F3 F4

Scedule F1 F2.]

[Note 1-2: Cf. Plutarch, _Julius Caesar_: "There was a certain soothsayer, that had given Caesar warning long time afore, to take heed of the day of the Ides of March, which is the fifteenth of the month; for on that day he should be in great danger. That day being come, Caesar, going unto the Senate-house, and speaking merrily unto the soothsayer, told him 'the Ides of March be come.'--'So they be,' softly answered the soothsayer, 'but yet are they not past.'" Note Shakespeare's development of his material.]

[Note 8: /us ourself./ The plural of modern English royalty transferred to ancient Rome. Another of the famous anachronisms.]

[Page 80]

ARTEMIDORUS. Delay not, Caesar; read it instantly.

CaeSAR. What, is the fellow mad?

PUBLIUS. Sirrah, give place. 10

Ca.s.sIUS. What, urge you your pet.i.tions in the street?

Come to the Capitol.

CaeSAR _goes up to the Senate-house, the rest following_

POPILIUS. I wish your enterprise to-day may thrive.

Ca.s.sIUS. What enterprise, Popilius?

POPILIUS. Fare you well.

[_Advances to_ CaeSAR]

BRUTUS. What said Popilius Lena? 15

Ca.s.sIUS. He wish'd to-day our enterprise might thrive.

I fear our purpose is discovered.

BRUTUS. Look, how he makes to Caesar: mark him.

Ca.s.sIUS. Casca, be sudden, for we fear prevention.

Brutus, what shall be done? If this be known, 20 Ca.s.sius or Caesar never shall turn back, For I will slay myself.

[Note 13: CaeSAR _goes_ ...

Ff omit.]

[Note 14: _Advances_ ...

Ff omit.]

[Note 9: See quotation from Plutarch, _Julius Caesar_, above, p. 74.]

[Note 12: As already indicated (see note, p. 39, l. 126), the murder of Caesar did not take place in the Capitol, but Shakespeare, departing from Plutarch, followed a famous literary tradition. So in Chaucer, _The Monkes Tale_, ll.

713-720. Cf. the speech of Polonius, _Hamlet_, III, ii, 108-109: "I did enact Julius Caesar; I was kill'd i' the Capitol; Brutus kill'd me." See Introduction, Sources, p. xv.]

[Note 13: This is mainly Steevens's (1773) stage direction.

Capell's (1768) is interesting: "Artemidorus is push'd back.

Caesar, and the rest, enter the Senate: The Senate rises.

Popilius presses forward to speak to Caesar; and pa.s.sing Ca.s.sius, says, ..."]

[Note 18: /makes to:/ advances to, presses towards.--/mark./ No necessity to p.r.o.nounce this as dissyllabic. The pause has the effect of a syllable.]

[Page 81]

BRUTUS. Ca.s.sius, be constant: Popilius Lena speaks not of our purposes; For, look, he smiles, and Caesar doth not change.

Ca.s.sIUS. Trebonius knows his time; for, look you, Brutus, 25 He draws Mark Antony out of the way.

[_Exeunt_ ANTONY _and_ TREBONIUS]

[Note 26: [_Exeunt_ ANTONY ...] Ff omit.]

[Note 22: /constant:/ firm. So in ll. 60, 72, 73. Cf. II, i, 227, 299; iv, 6.]

[Note 23-26: So in Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_: "Another senator called Popilius Laena after he had saluted Brutus and Ca.s.sius more friendly than he was wont to do, he rounded[A] softly in their ears, and told them, 'I pray the G.o.ds you may go through with that you have taken in hand; but, withal, dispatch, I read[B] you, for your enterprise is bewrayed.' When he had said, he presently departed from them, and left them both afraid that their conspiracy would out.... When Caesar came out of his litter, Popilius Laena went ... and kept him a long time with a talk. Caesar gave good ear unto him; wherefore the conspirators ... conjecturing ... that his talk was none other but the very discovery of their conspiracy, they were afraid every man of them; and one looking in another's face, it was easy to see that they all were of a mind, that it was no tarrying for them till they were apprehended, but rather that they should kill themselves with their own hands. And when Ca.s.sius and certain other clapped their hands on their swords under their gowns, to draw them, Brutus marking the countenance and gesture of Laena, and considering that he did use himself rather like an humble and earnest suitor than like an accuser, he said nothing to his companion (because there were many amongst them that were not of the conspiracy), but with a pleasant countenance encouraged Ca.s.sius; and immediately after, Laena went from Caesar, and kissed his hand.... Trebonius on the other side drew Antonius aside, as he came into the house where the Senate sat, and held him with a long talk without." In the _Julius Caesar_ Plutarch makes Decius detain Antony in talk.]

[Note A: i.e. whispered.]

[Note B: i.e. advise.]

[Page 82]

DECIUS. Where is Metellus Cimber? Let him go, And presently prefer his suit to Caesar.

BRUTUS. He is address'd: press near and second him.

CINNA. Casca, you are the first that rears your hand. 30