Your wisdom is consumed in confidence.

Do not go forth today. Call it my fear

That keeps you in the house, and not your own.

We’ll send Mark Antony to the Senate House,

And he shall say you are not well today.

Let me upon my knee prevail in this.

She kneels

CAESAR

Mark Antony shall say I am not well,

And for thy humour I will stay at home.

Enter Decius

Here’s Decius Brutus; he shall tell them so.

⌈Calpurnia rises⌉

DECIUS

Caesar, all hail! Good morrow, worthy Caesar.

I come to fetch you to the Senate House.

CAESAR

And you are come in very happy time

To bear my greeting to the senators

And tell them that I will not come today.

Cannot is false, and that I dare not, falser.

I will not come today; tell them so, Decius.

CALPURNIA

Say he is sick.

CAESAR Shall Caesar send a lie?

Have I in conquest stretched mine arm so far,

To be afeard to tell greybeards the truth?

Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come.

DECIUS

Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause,

Lest I be laughed at when I tell them so.

CAESAR

The cause is in my will; I will not come.

That is enough to satisfy the Senate.

But for your private satisfaction,

Because I love you, I will let you know.

Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at home.

She dreamt tonight she saw my statue,

Which like a fountain with an hundred spouts

Did run pure blood; and many lusty Romans

Came smiling and did bathe their hands in it.

And these does she apply for warnings and portents

Of evils imminent, and on her knee

Hath begged that I will stay at home today.

DECIUS

This dream is all amiss interpreted.

It was a vision fair and fortunate.

Your statue spouting blood in many pipes,

In which so many smiling Romans bathed,

Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck

Reviving blood, and that great men shall press

For tinctures, stains, relics, and cognizance.

This by Calpurnia’s dream is signified.

CAESAR

And this way have you well expounded it.

DECIUS

I have, when you have heard what I can say.

And know it now: the Senate have concluded

To give this day a crown to mighty Caesar.

If you shall send them word you will not come,

Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock

Apt to be rendered for someone to say

‘Break up the Senate till another time,

When Caesar’s wife shall meet with better dreams.’

If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper

‘Lo, Caesar is afraid’?

Pardon me, Caesar; for my dear dear love

To your proceeding bids me tell you this,

And reason to my love is liable.

CAESAR

How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnial

I am ashamed I did yield to them.

Give me my robe, for I will go.

Enter ⌈Cassius,⌉ Brutus, Ligarius, Metellus, Casca, Trebonius, and Cinna

And look where Cassius is come to fetch me.

⌈CASSIUS⌉

Good morrow, Caesar.

CAESAR Welcome, Cassius.—

What, Brutus, are you stirred so early too?—

Good morrow, Casca.—Caius Ligarius,

Caesar was ne‘er so much your enemy

As that same ague which hath made you lean.

What is’t o’clock?

BRUTUS Caesar, ’tis strucken eight.

CAESAR

I thank you for your pains and courtesy.

Enter Antony

See, Antony that revels long a-nights

Is notwithstanding up. Good morrow, Antony.

ANTONY

So to most noble Caesar.

CAESAR ⌈to Calpurnia⌉ Bid them prepare within.

I am to blame to be thus waited for. ⌈Exit Calpurnia⌉

Now, Cinna.—Now, Metellus.—What, Trebonius!

I have an hour’s talk in store for you.

Remember that you call on me today.

Be near me, that I may remember you.

TREBONIUS

Caesar, I will, ⌈aside⌉ and so near will I be

That your best friends shall wish I had been further.

CAESAR

Good friends, go in and taste some wine with me,

And we, like friends, will straightway go together.

BRUTUS (aside)

That every like is not the same, O Caesar,

The heart of Brutus ernes to think upon. Exeunt

2.3 Enter Artemidorus, reading a letter

ARTEMIDORUS ’Caesar, beware of Brutus. Take heed of Cassius. Come not near Casca. Have an eye to Cinna. Trust not Trebonius. Mark well Metellus Cimber. Decius Brutus loves thee not. Thou hast wronged Caius Ligarius. There is but one mind in all these men, and it is bent against Caesar. If thou beest not immortal, look about you. Security gives way to conspiracy. The mighty gods defend thee!

Thy lover,

Artemidorus.’

Here will I stand till Caesar pass along,

And as a suitor will I give him this.

My heart laments that virtue cannot live

Out of the teeth of emulation.

If thou read this, O Caesar, thou mayst live.

If not, the fates with traitors do contrive. Exit

2.4 Enter Portia and Lucius

PORTIA

I prithee, boy, run to the Senate House.

Stay not to answer me, but get thee gone.—

Why dost thou stay?

LUCIUS To know my errand, madam.

PORTIA

I would have had thee there and here again

Ere I can tell thee what thou shouldst do there.

(Aside) O constancy, be strong upon my side;