Chapter: SCENE II.

A room in Caesar's palace.

[Thunder and lightning. Enter Caesar, in his nightgown.]

CAESAR.
Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace tonight:
Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out,
"Help, ho! They murder Caesar!"--Who's within?

[Enter a Servant.]

SERVANT.
My lord?

CAESAR.
Go bid the priests do present sacrifice,
And bring me their opinions of success.

SERVANT.
I will, my lord.

[Exit.]

[Enter Calpurnia.]

CALPURNIA.
What mean you, Caesar? Think you to walk forth?
You shall not stir out of your house to-day.

CAESAR.
Caesar shall forth: the things that threaten me
Ne'er look but on my back; when they shall see
The face of Caesar, they are vanished.

CALPURNIA.
Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies,
Yet now they fright me. There is one within,
Besides the things that we have heard and seen,
Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.
A lioness hath whelped in the streets;
And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead;
Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds,
In ranks and squadrons and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol;
The noise of battle hurtled in the air,
Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan;
And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.
O Caesar,these things are beyond all use,
And I do fear them!

CAESAR.
What can be avoided
Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?
Yet Caesar shall go forth; for these predictions
Are to the world in general as to Caesar.

CALPURNIA.
When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.

CAESAR.
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.--

[Re-enter Servant.]

What say the augurers?

SERVANT.
They would not have you to stir forth to-day.
Plucking the entrails of an offering forth,
They could not find a heart within the beast.

CAESAR.
The gods do this in shame of cowardice:
Caesar should be a beast without a heart,
If he should stay at home today for fear.
No, Caesar shall not: danger knows full well
That Caesar is more dangerous than he:
We are two lions litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible;
And Caesar shall go forth.

CALPURNIA.
Alas, my lord,
Your wisdom is consumed in confidence!
Do not go forth to-day: 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 to-day:
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.

CAESAR.
Mark Antony shall say I am not well,
And, for thy humor, I will stay at home.

[Enter Decius.]

Here's Decius Brutus, he shall tell them so.

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 to-day.
Cannot, is false; and that I dare not, falser:
I will not come to-day. Tell them so, Decius.

CALPURNIA.
Say he is sick.

CAESAR.
Shall Caesar send a lie?
Have I in conquest stretch'd mine arm so far,
To be afeard to tell grey-beards the truth?--
Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come.

DECIUS.
Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause,
Lest I be laugh'd 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 to-night she saw my statua,
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
And evils imminent; and on her knee
Hath begg'd that I will stay at home to-day.

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 render'd, 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, Calpurnia!
I am ashamed I did yield to them.
Give me my robe, for I will go.

[Enter Publius, Brutus, Ligarius, Metellus, Casca,
Trebonius, and Cinna.]

And look where Publius is come to fetch me.

PUBLIUS.
Good morrow, Caesar.

CAESAR.
Welcome, Publius.--
What, Brutus, are you stirr'd 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 o'nights,
Is notwithstanding up.--Good morrow, Antony.

ANTONY.
So to most noble Caesar.

CAESAR.
Bid them prepare within:
I am to blame to be thus waited for.--
Now, Cinna;--now, Metellus;--what, Trebonius!
I have an hour's talk in store for you:
Remember that you call on me to-day;
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 yearns to think upon!

[Exeunt.]

 The scene is set in Caesar's house during a night of thunder and lightning, and Caesar is commenting on the tumultuous weather and upon Calphurnia's having dreamed of his being murdered. He sends a servant to instruct his augurers, men designated to interpret signs and appease the gods, to perform a sacrifice. Calphurnia enters and implores Caesar not to leave home for the day. She describes the unnatural phenomena that have brought her to believe in the validity of omens. Caesar replies that no one can alter the plans of the gods and that he will go out. When Calphurnia says that the heavens proclaim the deaths of princes, not beggars, Caesar contends that the fear of death is senseless because men cannot avoid its inevitability. The servant returns with information that the priests suggest Caesar stay at home today because they could not find a heart in the sacrificed beast. Caesar rejects their interpretation, but Calphurnia does finally persuade him to stay at home and have Antony tell the senators that he is sick. Decius then enters, and Caesar decides to send the message by him; Decius asks what reason he is to give to the senators for Caesar's failure to attend today's session, and Caesar says to tell them simply that he "will not come. / That is enough to satisfy the Senate." Privately, however, he admits to Decius that it is because of Calphurnia's dream in which many "smiling Romans" dipped their hands in blood flowing from a statue of him. Decius, resorting to the flattery to which he knows Caesar is susceptible, reinterprets the dream and says that Calphurnia's dream is symbolic of Caesar's blood reviving Rome; the smiling Romans are seeking distinctive vitality from the great Caesar. When Decius suggests that the senate will ridicule Caesar for being governed by his wife's dreams, Caesar expresses shame for having been swayed by Calphurnia's foolish fears. He declares that he will go to the Capitol. Publius and the remaining conspirators -- all except Cassius -- enter, and Brutus reminds Caesar that it is after eight o'clock. Caesar heartily welcomes Antony, commenting on his habit of partying late into the night. Caesar then prepares to leave and requests that Trebonius "be near me" today to conduct some business. Trebonius consents, and in an aside states that he will be closer than Caesar's "best friends" would like for him to be. In another aside, Brutus grieves when he realizes that all of Caesar's apparent friends are not true friends.

