The Plains of Philippi. | |
| |
Enter OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, and their Army. | |
| Oct. Now, Antony, our hopes are answered: | |
| You said the enemy would not come down, | 4 |
| But keep the hills and upper regions; | |
| It proves not so; their battles are at hand; | |
| They mean to warn us at Philippi here, | |
| Answering before we do demand of them. | 8 |
| Ant. Tut! I am in their bosoms, and I know | |
| Wherefore they do it: they could be content | |
| To visit other places; and come down | |
| With fearful bravery, thinking by this face | 12 |
| To fasten in our thoughts that they have courage; | |
| But ’tis not so. | |
| |
Enter a Messenger. | |
| Mess. Prepare you, generals: | 16 |
| The enemy comes on in gallant show; | |
| Their bloody sign of battle is hung out, | |
| And something to be done immediately. | |
| Ant. Octavius, lead your battle softly on, | 20 |
| Upon the left hand of the even field. | |
| Oct. Upon the right hand I; keep thou the left. | |
| Ant. Why do you cross me in this exigent? | |
| Oct. I do not cross you; but I will do so. [March. | 24 |
| |
Drum. Enter BRUTUS, CASSIUS, and their Army; LUCILIUS, TITINIUS, MESSALA, and Others. | |
| Bru. They stand, and would have parley. | |
| Cas. Stand fast, Titinius: we must out and talk. | |
| Oct. Mark Antony, shall we give sign of battle? | 28 |
| Ant. No, Cæsar, we will answer on their charge. | |
| Make forth; the generals would have some words. | |
| Oct. Stir not until the signal. | |
| Bru. Words before blows: is it so, countrymen? | 32 |
| Oct. Not that we love words better, as you do. | |
| Bru. Good words are better than bad strokes, Octavius. | |
| Ant. In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good words: | |
| Witness the hole you made in Cæsar’s heart, | 36 |
| Crying, ‘Long live! hail, Cæsar!’ | |
| Cas. Antony, | |
| The posture of your blows are yet unknown; | |
| But for your words, they rob the Hybla bees, | 40 |
| And leave them honeyless. | |
| Ant. Not stingless too. | |
| Bru. O! yes, and soundless too; | |
| For you have stol’n their buzzing, Antony, | 44 |
| And very wisely threat before you sting. | |
| Ant. Villains! you did not so when your vile daggers | |
| Hack’d one another in the sides of Cæsar: | |
| You show’d your teeth like apes, and fawn’d like hounds, | 48 |
| And bow’d like bondmen, kissing Cæsar’s feet; | |
| Whilst damned Casca, like a cur, behind | |
| Struck Cæsar on the neck. O you flatterers! | |
| Cas. Flatterers! Now, Brutus, thank yourself: | 52 |
| This tongue had not offended so to-day, | |
| If Cassius might have rul’d. | |
| Oct. Come, come, the cause: if arguing make us sweat, | |
| The proof of it will turn to redder drops. | 56 |
| Look; | |
| I draw a sword against conspirators; | |
| When think you that the sword goes up again? | |
| Never, till Cæsar’s three-and-thirty wounds | 60 |
| Be well aveng’d; or till another Cæsar | |
| Have added slaughter to the sword of traitors. | |
| Bru. Cæsar, thou canst not die by traitors’ hands, | |
| Unless thou bring’st them with thee. | 64 |
| Oct. So I hope; | |
| I was not born to die on Brutus’ sword. | |
| Bru. O! if thou wert the noblest of thy strain, | |
| Young man, thou couldst not die more honourable. | 68 |
| Cas. A peevish schoolboy, worthless of such honour, | |
| Join’d with a masquer and a reveller. | |
| Ant. Old Cassius still! | |
| Oct. Come, Antony; away! | 72 |
| Defiance, traitors, hurl we in your teeth. | |
| If you dare fight to-day, come to the field; | |
| If not, when you have stomachs. [Exeunt OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, and their Army. | |
| Cas. Why now, blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark! | 76 |
| The storm is up, and all is on the hazard. | |
| Bru. Ho! | |
| Lucilius! hark, a word with you. | |
| Lucil. My lord? [BRUTUS and LUCILIUS talk apart. | 80 |
| Cas. Messala! | |
| Mes. What says my general? | |
| Cas. Messala, | |
| This is my birth-day; as this very day | 84 |
| Was Cassius born. Give me thy hand, Messala: | |
| Be thou my witness that against my will, | |
| As Pompey was, am I compell’d to set | |
| Upon one battle all our liberties. | 88 |
| You know that I held Epicurus strong, | |
| And his opinion; now I change my mind, | |
| And partly credit things that do presage. | |
| Coming from Sardis, on our former ensign | 92 |
| Two mighty eagles fell, and there they perch’d, | |
| Gorging and feeding from our soldiers’ hands; | |
| Who to Philippi here consorted us: | |
| This morning are they fled away and gone, | 96 |
| And in their stead do ravens, crows, and kites | |
| Fly o’er our heads, and downward look on us, | |
| As we were sickly prey: their shadows seem | |
| A canopy most fatal, under which | 100 |
| Our army lies, ready to give up the ghost. | |
| Mes. Believe not so. | |
| Cas. I but believe it partly, | |
| For I am fresh of spirit and resolv’d | 104 |
| To meet all perils very constantly. | |
| Bru. Even so, Lucilius. | |
| Cas. Now, most noble Brutus, | |
| The gods to-day stand friendly, that we may, | 108 |
| Lovers in peace, lead on our days to age! | |
| But since the affairs of men rest still incertain, | |
| Let’s reason with the worst that may befall. | |
| If we do lose this battle, then is this | 112 |
| The very last time we shall speak together: | |
| What are you then, determined to do? | |
| Bru. Even by the rule of that philosophy | |
| By which I did blame Cato for the death | 116 |
| Which he did give himself; I know not how, | |
| But I do find it cowardly and vile, | |
| For fear of what might fall, so to prevent | |
| The time of life: arming myself with patience, | 120 |
| To stay the providence of some high powers | |
| That govern us below. | |
| Cas. Then, if we lose this battle, | |
| You are contented to be led in triumph | 124 |
| Thorough the streets of Rome? | |
| Bru. 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 | 128 |
| 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! | 132 |
| If we do meet again, why, we shall smile; | |
| If not, why then, this parting was well made. | |
| Cas. For ever, and for ever, farewell, Brutus! | |
| If we do meet again, we’ll smile indeed; | 136 |
| If not, ’tis true this parting was well made. | |
| Bru. 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, | 140 |
| And then the end is known. Come, ho! away! [Exeunt. | |
