Chapter: SCENE IV.

Another part of the same street, before the house of Brutus.

[Enter Portia and Lucius.]

PORTIA.
I pr'ythee, 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!
Set a huge mountain 'tween my heart and tongue!
I have a man's mind, but a woman's might.
How hard it is for women to keep counsel!--
Art thou here yet?

LUCIUS.
Madam, what should I do?
Run to the Capitol, and nothing else?
And so return to you, and nothing else?

PORTIA.
Yes, bring me word, boy, if thy lord look well,
For he went sickly forth: and take good note
What Caesar doth, what suitors press to him.
Hark, boy! what noise is that?

LUCIUS.
I hear none, madam.

PORTIA.
Pr'ythee, listen well:
I heard a bustling rumour, like a fray,
And the wind brings it from the Capitol.

LUCIUS.
Sooth, madam, I hear nothing.

[Enter Artemidorus.]

PORTIA.
Come hither, fellow:
Which way hast thou been?

ARTEMIDORUS.
At mine own house, good lady.

PORTIA.
What is't o'clock?

ARTEMIDORUS.
About the ninth hour, lady.

PORTIA.
Is Caesar yet gone to the Capitol?

ARTEMIDORUS.
Madam, not yet: I go to take my stand
To see him pass on to the Capitol.

PORTIA.
Thou hast some suit to Caesar, hast thou not?

ARTEMIDORUS.
That I have, lady: if it will please Caesar
To be so good to Caesar as to hear me,
I shall beseech him to befriend himself.

PORTIA.
Why, know'st thou any harm's intended towards him?

ARTEMIDORUS.
None that I know will be, much that I fear may chance.
Good morrow to you.--Here the street is narrow:
The throng that follows Caesar at the heels,
Of Senators, of Praetors, common suitors,
Will crowd a feeble man almost to death:
I'll get me to a place more void, and there
Speak to great Caesar as he comes along.

[Exit.]

PORTIA.
I must go in.--[Aside.] Ah me, how weak a thing
The heart of woman is!--O Brutus,
The heavens speed thee in thine enterprise!--
Sure, the boy heard me.--Brutus hath a suit
That Caesar will not grant.--O, I grow faint.--
Run, Lucius, and commend me to my lord;
Say I am merry: come to me again,
And bring me word what he doth say to thee.

[Exeunt.]

 Portia, Brutus' wife, is a mess. She tells Lucius, the servant, to run to the Capitol, then yells at him for not leaving, even though she hasn't yet given him any instruction on what to do when he gets there. Portia is worried, but she doesn't even know what Lucius should look for. Brutus didn't look well when he left the house that morning, and she decides Lucius should look after her husband and see what Caesar is up to and whom he's surrounded by. Though she hasn't heard the murder plan directly from Brutus' mouth, it's clear she suspects something awful. Portia then starts with a fright, thinking she has heard a noise, though Lucius claims he's heard nothing. A soothsayer arrives at Brutus' house to tell Portia that Caesar hasn't come to the Capitol yet. The soothsayer hopes to meet him on the way there, with an offer to befriend him. Portia worries about this and asks whether something is being plotted against Caesar - why does he need more friends? The soothsayer says he hasn't heard of anything, but he fears something will happen. The soothsayer heads off in hopes of finding a place to speak with Caesar himself and not be crushed by the crowd. Portia grows even more faint. She asks that heaven speed Brutus in his "enterprise." Worrying that Lucius has overheard her, she covers herself with a paltry lie, pretending that the "enterprise" is some small request Brutus has made that Caesar won't grant. She does know something, and she's not saying what. Finally Portia tells Lucius to tell Brutus that she's "merry," and that she'd like Lucius to bring back news of Brutus. She clearly isn't merry, dear reader, and seems to suspect the worst.

