Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

Why should that name be sounded more than your's?
Write them together; yours is as fair a name :
Sound them; it doth become the mouth as well;

Weigh them; it is as heavy conjure with them;
Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Cæsar.
Now, in the name of all the gods at once,

Upon what meat does this our Cæsar feed,

That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed:
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!
When went there by an age, since the great flood,
But it was famed with more than with one man?
When could they say, till now, that talked of Rome,
That her wide walks encompassed but one man?
O! you and I have heard our fathers say,

There was a Brutus once, that would have brooked
The eternal devil, to keep his state in Rome,
As easily as a king.

Bru. That you do love me, I am nothing jealous:
What you would work me to, I have some aim :
How I have thought of this, and of these times,
I shall recount hereafter; for this present,
I would not, so with love I might entreat you,
Be
any further moved. What you have said,

I will consider; what you have to say,

I will with patience hear, and find a time

Both meet to hear and answer such high things. "Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this; Brutus had rather be a villager,

Than to repute himself a son of Rome

Under such hard conditions as this time

Is like to lay upon us.

Cas. I am glad that my weak words,

Have struck but thus much show of fire from Brutus.

SHAKSPERE.

THE QUARREL OF BRUTUS AND CASSIUS.

Cassius. That you have wrong'd me, doth appear in this; You have condemn'd and noted Lucius Pella,

For taking bribes here of the Sardians;

Wherein, my letters, praying on his side,
Because I knew the man, were slighted of.

Brutus. You wrong'd yourself, to write in such a case.
Cas. In such a time as this, it is not meet
That every nice offence should bear its comment.
Bru. Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself
Are much condemned to have an itching palm;
To sell and mart your offices for gold,
To undeservers.

Cas. I an itching palm?

You know that you are Brutus that speak this,
Or, be assured, this speech were else your last.
Bru. The name of Cassius honors this corruption,
And chastisement doth therefore hide his head.

Cas. Chastisement !

Bru. Remember March, the Ides of March remember!

Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake?

What villain touched his body, that did stab
And not for justice? What, shall one of us,
That struck the foremost man of all this world,
But for supporting robbers; shall we now
Contaminate our fingers with base bribes?
And sell the mighty space of our large honors,
For so much trash, as may be grasped thus ?
I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon,
Than such a Roman.

Cas. Brutus, bay not me,

I'll not endure it: you forget yourself,

To hedge me in; I am a soldier, I,

Older in practice, abler than yourself

To make conditions.

Bru. Go to; you're not Cassius.

Cas. I am.

Bru. I say, you are not.

Cas. Urge me no more, I shall forget myself;

Have mind upon your health, tempt me no farther.

Bru. Away, slight man!

Cas. Is't possible?

Bru. Hear me, for I will speak.

Must I give way and room to your rash choler?

Shall I be frighted when a madman stares?

Cus. O ye gods! ye gods! Must I endure all this?

Bru. All this? ay, more: fret, till your proud heart break;

Go, show your slaves how choleric you are,

And make your bondmen tremble. Must I budge?
Must I observe you? Must I stand and crouch
Uuder your testy humor? Never, Cassius,
You shall digest the venom of your spleen,
Though it do split you: for, from this day forth,
I'll use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter,
When you are waspish.

Cas. Is it come to this?

Bru. You say, you are a better soldier :

Let it appear so; make your vaunting true,

And it shall please me well: For mine own part,

I shall be glad to learn of nobler men.

Cas. You wrong me every way, you wrong me, Brutus ;

I said, an elder soldier, not a better:

Did I say, better?

Bru. If you did, I care not.

Cas. When Cæsar lived, he durst not thus have moved me. Bru. Peace, peace: you durst not so have tempted him.

Cas. I durst not?

Bru. No.

Cas. What! durst not tempt him?

I

Bru. For your life you durst not.

Cas. Do not presume too much upon my love,

may do that I shall be sorry for.

Bru. You have done that you should be sorry for.

There is no terror Cassius, in your threats:
For I am arm'd so strong in honesty,
That they pass by me as the idle wind,
Which I respect not. I did send to you

For certain sums of gold, which you denied me;
For I can raise no money by vile means:
No, Cassius, I had rather coin my heart,

And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring
From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash,
By any indirection. I did send

To you for gold to pay my legions,

Which you denied me: Was that done like Cassius?
Should I have answer'd Caius Cassius so?

When Marcus Brucus grows so covetous,
To lock such rascal counters from his friends,
Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts,
Dash him to pieces.

Cas. I denied you not.

Bru. You did.

Cas. I did not: - he was but a fool,

That brought my answer back

- Brutus hath rived my heart:

A friend should bear a friend's infirmities,

But Brutus makes mine greater than they are.
Bru. I do not till you practice them on me.
Cas. You love me not.

Bru. I do not like your faults.

Cas. A friendly eye could never see such faults.
Bru. A flatterer's would not, though they do appear

As huge as high Olympus.

Cas. Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come,

Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius,

For Cassius is a weary of the world:

Hated by one he loves; braved by his brother;
Check'd like a bondman; all his faults observed,
Set in a note-book, learn'd and conn'd by rote,
To cast into my teeth. O, I could weep
My spirit from mine eyes ! - There is my dagger,
And here my naked breast; within, a heart
Dearer than Plutus' mine, richer than gold:
If that thou be'st a Roman, take it forth;
I, that denied thee gold, will give my heart:
Strike, as thou didst at Cæsar; for, I know,

When thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him better
Than ever thou lovedst Cassius.

Bru. Sheath your dagger:

Be angry when you will, it shall have scope ;
Do what you will, dishonor shall be humor.
O Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb
That carries anger, as the flint bears fire;
Who, much enforced, shows a hasty spark,
A straight is cold again.

Cas. Hath Cassius lived

To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus,
When grief, and blood ill-temper'd, vexeth him?
Bru. When I spoke that, I was ill-temper'd too.
Cas. Do you confess so much? Give me your hand.
Bru. And my heart too.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

Cas. Have you not love enough to bear with me, When that rash humor, which my mother gave me, Makes me forgetful?

Bru. Yes, Cassius; and, henceforth,

When you are over earnest with your Brutus,

He'll think your mother chides, and leave you so.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
« PředchozíPokračovat »