University of Virginia Library

SCENE THE THIRD.

Brutus, Cicero, Cassius, Cimber.
Cic.
Does Brutus come
So late to such a lofty conference? ...

Bru.
Ah! I had been the first there, if erewhile
I had not been prevented ...

Cim.
And by whom?

Bru.
Not one of you could guess.—'Twas Anthony
That would at length address me.

Cic.
Anthony!

Cas.
And the vile satellite of Cæsar gain'd
An audience from Brutus?

Bru.
Yes, he gain'd it,
And in his Cæsar's name. He would confer
With me, at all events; and he invites me,
If I consent to it, to come to him;
Or he to me ...

Cim.
His offer was rejected? ...

Bru.
No. Cæsar as a friend, in my pure heart
Wakes no more fear, than Cæsar as a foe.
Hence I will hear him, and ere long, and in
This very temple.

Cas.
What can be his wish?

Bru.
Perhaps, to bribe me.—But ye still, I hope,
Confide in Brutus.

Cas.
More than in ourselves.

Cim.
In Brutus all confide; e'en the most vile.

Bru.
And to provoke me, in respect of deeds,
(As if I slept) I met with on my road
Exciting exhortations scatter'd round me,
Strong, brief, and Roman; and at once expressive
Of praise and blame towards me, as if I were
Slow to do that which Rome expected of me.
This I am not: and every stimulus
Applied to me is idle.

Cas.
But, I pray thee,
What hop'st thou from this interview with Cæsar?

Cic.
Thou hop'st perhaps to change him ...

Bru.
I am pleased
That the sagacity of the great Cicero,
My scheme in part conjectures.

Cas.
Oh! what say'st thou?
We all, long time expecting thee, have here
At length express'd our sentiments: we all,
In hating Cæsar, and in loving Rome,
In being willing for her sake to die,
Were as one man: the end of all the same.
But in the best means to obtain that end
Our sentiments were threefold. To resort
To legislative strife; to rouse from sleep
The people, by imposture drugg'd, to arms;
Or with the private sword to immolate
Cæsar in Rome: now which of these would be
The choice of Brutus?

Bru.
Mine?—Not one of these
At present. If mine afterwards proved vain,
I would undoubtedly adopt the last.

Cas.
And thine?—What other then remains to us?

Bru.
To you I'm known: I am not wont to speak
In vain; be pleased to hear me.—Rome is now
Far too infirm to be in one day cured.
The people might be roused, but briefly roused,
To virtue: never with the bait of gold
Are they, as they are drawn to baseness, drawn
To rectitude. Can real excellence
Be ever purchased? The corrupted people
Would form a treacherous basis for fresh freedom.
Perhaps the senators are less infected?
One may enumerate the upright ones;
The guilty also in their hearts hate Cæsar,
Not because he robs all of liberty;
But because he prevents, (a single tyrant,)
Their being tyrants in their turn. To him
They would succeed; they envy, hence, and hate him.

Cic.
Ah, were this not, as 'tis indeed, too true!

Bru.
Amid such vices the good citizen
Should steer with care, lest he to bad add worse.
Cæsar, though now a tyrant, was not once so.
The impious wish to be lord paramount
Hath only lately risen in his heart:
And the vile Anthony, by stratagems,
Adds fuel to his flame, to drag him on
To his perdition, that he thus may rise
Upon his ruin'd fortunes. Friends like these
Fall to the lot of tyrants.

Cas.
In his breast,
Connatural with his being, evermore
Cæsar possess'd the thirst to be supreme.

Bru.
No; not to reign supreme: he never dared
To wish for so much. Now thou deemest him
More bold, more lofty, than he ever was.
Ambition, a necessity for fame,
An ardent spirit, and no lofty wish
To be avenged on private enemies,
And lucky opportunity, at last,
More than aught else, have to that height impell'd him,
At which when now arrived, he feels himself
Astonish'd at his own temerity.
A thirst for honour more than thirst for power
Still, in his heart, maintains ascendency.
Should I prove this to you? Does he not now
Pant to attack the Parthians, and to quit
Rome where he still possesses many foes?

Cim.
He hopes to purchase with the Parthian laurels
The royal crown.

Bru.
Then he would rather be
To valour than to force indebted for it:
He is thence more ambitious than corrupt ...

Cas.
Dost thou to us pronounce his eulogy? ...

Bru.
Hear the conclusion.—Cæsar wavers still
Within himself; he wishes yet for fame;
He is not therefore yet, in heart at least,
Consummately a tyrant: but, he now
Begins to tremble, and a short time since
He knew not fear; He then approaches near
The brink of tyranny. A few days since
Terror assail'd him, when he saw the crown
By his bribed people from his grasp withheld.
But Cæsar, be he what he may, as yet
Is not contemptible, is not unworthy
That others should facilitate for him
The path of reformation—For myself
I must despise myself, or him esteem,
Since I consented for the gift of life
To be indebted to him, on the day
When, in Pharsalia's fields, a vanquish'd foe,
Within his power I fell.—I live; and this
My life is a sufficient blot to Brutus;
But without baseness or ingratitude
I will devise the means that blot to cancel.

Cic.
Such often is the fate of war: thou thus
Hadst also used thy victory o'er him,
If thou had'st conquer'd. Did not he himself,
Once as a gift receive that life, to Rome
Now so disastrous? Yes, did not he also
Receive it as a gift from Scylla's hands
By express grace, and far more express error?

Bru.
'Tis true; but never does my mind forego
The recollection of a benefit.
Yet at the same time do my country's claims,
And my own duties, in my heart sink deep.
In short, to Brutus, Cæsar such appears,
That, (as he is, as now from day to day
He more becomes,) a tyrannous dictator,
Brutus, on no condition, will permit
His life to be prolong'd; or he will kill him,
Or he himself in the attempt will fall ...
But such to Brutus Cæsar also seems,
That he alone to Rome can now restore,
If he once more become a citizen,
Liberty, empire, energy, and life.
He is e'en now the idol of the people;
Let him become a model to the good;
Let him against the guilty arm the laws
With added terrors; till the whole returns
To its original state, be all his power
Concentred to prevent those sons of faction,
From ruining those laws. He was endow'd
With lofty thoughts; he was a citizen:
For fame he burns yet: he is blinded, yes;
But such from prosperous fate, and impious friends,
Who have alone made him forsake the path
Of real glory, such from these alone
Is he become.—Or nothing is my speech,
Or I shall know how from my breast to draw
Such strenuous and impressive words, to use
To him such true, such strong, tremendous reasons,
And in such numbers use them, that I hope,
Yes I indulge the hope, to force e'en Cæsar;
To make him great indeed, so pure in virtue,
That he o'er every man, o'er every Roman,
Will rise unparallel'd in excellence,
Yet be a simple citizen of Rome.—
I only do prefer his fame to mine,
Hoping that fame may benefit his country:
And this my enterprize, methinks, affords
Convincing proof of my sincerity.—
But, if in vain Brutus speaks now to Cæsar,
Thou seest it, Cassius, thus I ever wear it;
Behold the dagger, which will be more swift
To slay him than thy sword ...

Cic.
Oh genuine patriot!
Thou art too great; ill canst thou comprehend
The tyrant Cæsar, judging from thyself.

Cas.
Illustrious Brutus, an impossible thing,
But worthy of thee, thou projectest: one
Thou only could'st attempt. I oppose not
Myself to thee. Ah, Cæsar fully can,
And he alone, divest thee of thy error.
To change a tyrant to a citizen?
'Tis in itself proof, this thy generous hope,
Oh Brutus, that thou ne'er could'st be a tyrant.

Bru.
That will be soon made clear: myself hereafter
Will give you full account of all my deeds.
If I, a vain, abortive orator,
Oh Cassius, prove; so much more shalt thou have me,
I swear to thee, obedient to thy orders,
A lusty and a fierce tyrannicide.