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Authors: William Shakespeare

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BOOK: Julius Caesar
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Line Numbers
are editorial, for reference and to key the explanatory and textual notes.

Explanatory Notes
explain allusions and gloss obsolete and difficult words, confusing phraseology, occasional major textual cruces, and so on. Particular attention is given to nonstandard usage, bawdy innuendo, and technical terms (e.g. legal and military language). Where more than one sense is given, commas indicate shades of related meaning, slashes alternative or double meanings.

Textual Notes
at the end of the play indicate major departures from the Folio. They take the following form: the reading of our text is given in bold and its source given after an equals sign, with “F2” indicating a correction that derives from the Second Folio of 1632, “F3” a correction introduced in the Third Folio of 1664, and “Ed” one that derives from the subsequent editorial tradition. The rejected Folio (“F”) reading is then given. Thus for Act 5 Scene 4 line 18: “
tell the
= Ed. F = tell thee” means that the Folio text’s “tell thee” has been rejected in favor of the editorial correction “tell the,” which makes better sense of the rest of the First Soldier’s speech.

KEY FACTS

MAJOR PARTS:
(with percentage of lines/number of speeches/scenes on stage) Marcus Brutus (28%/194/12), Caius Cassius (20%/140/8), Mark Antony (13%/51/8), Julius Caesar (5%/42/4), Casca (5%/39/4), Portia (4%/16/2), Octavius Caesar (2%/19/3), Decius Brutus (2%/12/3).

LINGUISTIC MEDIUM:
95% verse, 5% prose.

DATE:
1599. Not mentioned by Meres in 1598, seen at the Globe by Swiss visitor Thomas Platter in September 1599. Alluded to in several plays and poems by other writers in the period 1599–1601.

SOURCES:
Based on the biographies of Julius Caesar and Marcus Brutus, with brief reference to the life of Cicero, in Sir Thomas North’s English translation of Plutarch’s
Lives of the Most Noble Grecians and Romanes
(1579).

TEXT:
1623 Folio is the only early printed text. Exceptionally good quality of printing, perhaps set from the theater promptbook or a transcription of it. Some editors have detected signs of revision in the fact that Brutus is told twice of Portia’s suicide, and proposed that one or other account should be deleted, but in the theater this double testing of his Stoic response is highly effective.

LIST OF PARTS

Julius
CAESAR

CALPURNIA
, his Wife

Marcus
BRUTUS
, sometime friend of Caesar, then conspirator against him

PORTIA
, his wife

other conspirators against Caesar

Caius
CASSIUS

CASCA

DECIUS
Brutus

CINNA

METELLUS
Cimber

TREBONIUS

Caius
LIGARIUS

triumvirs of Rome after Caesar’s death

Mark
ANTONY

OCTAVIUS
Caesar

LEPIDUS

A
SOOTHSAYER

ARTEMIDORUS
, a teacher of rhetoric

CINNA
, a poet

Another
POET

senators

CICERO

PUBLIUS

POPILIUS

tribunes of the people

MURELLUS

FLAVIUS

A CARPENTER

A
COBBLER

FIRST, SECOND, THIRD, FOURTH
and
FIFTH PLEBEIANS

LUCIUS
, Brutus’ young servant

PINDARUS
, Cassius’ bondman

supporters of Brutus and Cassius

LUCILIUS

TITINIUS

MESSALA

CATO

STRATO

CLAUDIO

VARRUS

CLITUS

DARDANIUS

VOLUMNIUS

SERVANT
, to Caesar

SERVANT
, to Antony

SERVANT
, to Octavius

A
MESSENGER

FIRST, SECOND
and
THIRD SOLDIERS
, members of Brutus and Cassius’ army

FIRST
and
SECOND SOLDIERS
, members of Antony’s army

GHOST
, Caesar’s ghost

Other Commoners, Senators and Soldiers

 
Act 1 Scene 1

running scene 1

Enter Flavius, Murellus and certain Commoners over the stage

FLAVIUS
    
Hence!
1
Home, you idle creatures, get you home:

Is this a holiday? What, know you not,

Being
mechanical
, you ought not
walk
3

Upon a labouring day, without the
sign
4

Of your profession?— Speak, what trade art thou?

CARPENTER
    Why, sir, a carpenter.

MURELLUS
    Where is thy leather apron, and thy
rule
7
?

What dost thou with thy best apparel on?—

You, sir, what trade are you?

COBBLER
    Truly, sir,
in respect of
a
fine workman
, I am
but
10
as

you would say, a
cobbler
11
.

MURELLUS
    But what trade art thou? Answer me
directly
12
.

COBBLER
    A trade, sir, that I hope, I may use with a safe

conscience, which is indeed, sir, a mender of bad
soles
14
.

FLAVIUS
    What trade, thou knave? Thou
naughty
15
knave, what trade?

COBBLER
    Nay I beseech you, sir,
be not out
16
with me: yet if you

be out, sir, I can
mend you
17
.

MURELLUS
    What mean’st thou by that? Mend me, thou saucy fellow?

COBBLER
    Why sir,
cobble
20
you.

FLAVIUS
    Thou art a cobbler, art thou?

COBBLER
    Truly sir, all that I live by is with the
awl
. I
meddle
21

with no
tradesman’s matters
, nor
women’s matters
22
; but

withal
I am indeed, sir, a surgeon to old
shoes
23
: when they are

in great danger, I
recover
them. As
proper
men as ever
trod
24

upon
neat’s
leather
have
gone upon
my
handiwork
25
.

FLAVIUS
    But
wherefore
26
art not in thy shop today?

Why dost thou lead these men about the streets?

COBBLER
    Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get myself into

more work. But indeed, sir, we make holiday to see Caesar

and to rejoice in his
triumph
30
.

MURELLUS
    Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?

What
tributaries
32
follow him to Rome

To
grace
33
in captive bonds his chariot wheels?

You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things:

O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,

Knew you not
Pompey
36
? Many a time and oft

Have you climbed up to walls and battlements,

To towers and windows? Yea, to chimney-tops,

Your infants in your arms, and there have sat

The
livelong
40
day, with patient expectation,

To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome:

And when you saw his chariot but appear,

Have you not made an universal shout,

That
Tiber
44
trembled underneath her banks

To hear the
replication
45
of your sounds

Made in her
concave
46
shores?

And do you now put on your best attire?

And do you now
cull out
48
a holiday?

And do you now strew flowers in his way

That comes in triumph over Pompey’s
blood
50
?

Be gone!

Run to your houses, fall upon your knees,

Pray to the gods to
intermit
53
the plague

That needs must light on this ingratitude.

FLAVIUS
    Go, go, good countrymen, and for this fault

Assemble all the poor men of your sort;

Draw them to Tiber banks, and weep your tears

Into the channel
till the lowest stream
58

Do kiss the most exalted shores of all.—

Exeunt all the Commoners

See where their
basest mettle
be not
moved
60
:

They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness.

Go you down that way towards the
Capitol
62
,

This way will I: disrobe the
images
63

If you do find them decked with
ceremonies
64
.

MURELLUS
    May we do so?

You know it is the
feast of Lupercal
66
.

FLAVIUS
    It is no matter. Let no images

Be hung with Caesar’s
trophies
. I’ll
about
68

And drive away the
vulgar
69
from the streets;

So do you too, where you perceive them
thick
70
.

These growing feathers plucked from Caesar’s wing

Will make him fly an ordinary
pitch
72
,

Who
else
73
would soar above the view of men,

And keep us all in servile fearfulness.

Exeunt

[Act 1 Scene 2]

running scene 1 continues

Enter Caesar, Antony
for
the
course
, Calpurnia, Portia, Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Cassius, Casca, a
Soothsayer
, after them Murellus and Flavius

CAESAR
    Calpurnia.

CASCA
    Peace,
ho
2
! Caesar speaks.

CAESAR
    Calpurnia.

CALPURNIA
    Here, my lord.

CAESAR
    
Stand you directly in Antonio’s way
5

When he doth run his course. Antonio!

ANTONY
    Caesar, my lord.

CAESAR
    Forget not in your speed, Antonio,

To touch Calpurnia, for our elders say,

The barren touchèd in this holy chase

Shake off their sterile curse.

ANTONY
    I shall remember.

When Caesar says ‘Do this’ it is performed.

CAESAR
    Set on, and leave no ceremony out.

Music

SOOTHSAYER
    Caesar!

CAESAR
    Ha? Who calls?

CASCA
    Bid every noise be still: peace yet again!

Music stops

CAESAR
    Who is it in the
press
18
that calls on me?

I hear a tongue shriller than all the music,

Cry ‘Caesar!’ Speak, Caesar is turned to hear.

SOOTHSAYER
    Beware the
Ides of March
21
.

CAESAR
    What man is that?

BRUTUS
    A soothsayer bids you beware the Ides of March.

CAESAR
    Set him before me: let me see his face.

CASSIUS
    Fellow, come from the throng: look upon Caesar.

Soothsayer comes forward

CAESAR
    What say’st thou to me now? Speak once again.

SOOTHSAYER
    Beware the Ides of March.

CAESAR
    He is a dreamer. Let us leave him: pass.

Sennet
. Exeunt. Brutus and Cassius remain

CASSIUS
    Will you go see the
order
29
of the course?

BRUTUS
    Not I.

CASSIUS
    I pray you do.

BRUTUS
    I am not
gamesome
32
: I do lack some part

Of that
quick
33
spirit that is in Antony.

Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires;

I’ll leave you.

CASSIUS
    Brutus, I do observe you
now of late
36
:

I have not from your eyes that gentleness

And show of love as I was
wont
38
to have:

You
bear too stubborn and too strange a hand
39

Over your friend, that loves you.

BRUTUS
    Cassius,

Be not deceived:
if I have veiled my look,
42

I turn the trouble of my countenance

Merely
44
upon myself. Vexed I am

Of late with
passions of some difference
45
,

Conceptions
only proper
46
to myself

Which give some
soil
47
, perhaps, to my behaviours.

But let not therefore my good friends be grieved—

Among which number, Cassius, be you one—

Nor
construe
50
any further my neglect

Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,

Forgets the
shows
52
of love to other men.

CASSIUS
    Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion,

By means whereof
this breast of mine hath
buried
54

Thoughts of great value, worthy
cogitations
55
.

Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?

BRUTUS
    No, Cassius, for the eye sees not itself

But
58
by reflection, by some other things.

CASSIUS
    ’Tis
just
59
,

And it is very much lamented, Brutus,

That you have no such mirrors as will
turn
61

Your hidden worthiness into your eye,

That you might see your
shadow
63
: I have heard,

Where many
of the best respect
64
in Rome—

Except immortal Caesar — speaking of Brutus,

And groaning underneath this age’s
yoke
66
,

Have wished that noble Brutus
had his eyes
67
.

BRUTUS
    Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius,

That you would have me seek into myself

For that which is not in me?

CASSIUS
    
Therefore
71
, good Brutus, be prepared to hear:

And since you know you cannot see yourself

So well as by reflection, I your
glass
73

Will
modestly
discover
74
to yourself

That of yourself which you yet know not of
75
.

And be not
jealous on
me,
gentle
76
Brutus:

Were I a
common laughter
, or
did use
77

To
stale
with
ordinary
78
oaths my love

To every new
protester
79
, if you know

That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard,

And after
scandal
81
them, or if you know

That I
profess myself
82
in banqueting

To all the
rout
83
, then hold me dangerous.

Flourish
, and shout

BRUTUS
    What means this shouting? I do fear the people

Choose Caesar for their king.

CASSIUS
    Ay, do you fear it?

Then must I think you would not have it so.

BRUTUS
    I would not, Cassius, yet I love him well.

But wherefore do you hold me here so long?

What is it that you would impart to me?

If it be
aught
91
toward the general good,

Set honour in one eye, and death i’th’other
92
,

And I will look on both
indifferently
93
.

For let the gods so
speed
94
me, as I love

The name of honour more than I fear death.

CASSIUS
    I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,

As well as I do know your outward
favour
97
.

Well, honour is the subject of my story:

I cannot tell what you and other men

Think of this life, but for my single self,

I had
as lief
not
be
101
as live to be

In awe of
such a thing as I myself
102
.

I was born free as Caesar, so were you:

We both have fed as well, and we can both

Endure the winter’s cold as well as he,

For once, upon a raw and gusty day,

The troubled Tiber
chafing with
107
her shores,

Caesar said to me, ‘Dar’st thou, Cassius, now

Leap in with me into this angry
flood
109

And swim to yonder point?’ Upon the word,

Accoutrèd
111
as I was, I plungèd in

And
bade
112
him follow: so indeed he did.

The torrent roared, and we did
buffet it
113

With
lusty sinews
114
, throwing it aside,

And
stemming
it with
hearts of controversy
115
.

But
ere
116
we could arrive the point proposed,

Caesar cried, ‘Help me, Cassius, or I sink!’

I — as
Aeneas
118
, our great ancestor,

Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder

The old Anchises bear — so from the waves of Tiber

Did I the tired Caesar: and this man

Is now become a god, and Cassius is

A wretched creature, and must
bend his body
123

If Caesar carelessly but nod on him.

He had a fever when he was in Spain,

And when the fit was on him I did
mark
126

How he did shake: ’tis true, this god did shake,

His coward lips did
from their colour fly
128
,

And that same eye, whose
bend
129
doth awe the world,

Did lose his lustre: I did hear him groan:

Ay, and that tongue of his that
bade
131
the Romans

Mark him, and write his speeches in their books,

‘Alas’, it cried, ‘Give me some drink, Titinius’,

As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me

A man of such a feeble temper should

So get the
start of
136
the majestic world

And bear the
palm
137
alone.

Shout. Flourish

BRUTUS
    Another general shout?

I do believe that these applauses are

For some new honours that are heaped on Caesar.

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