Module 2: "Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, Act 3

Trebonius doth desire you to o’erread,
At your best leisure, this his humble suit.

Trebonius doth desire you to o’erread,
At your best leisure, this his humble suit.

Fare you well.

Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Caesar,
Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat
An humble heart.

If thou dost bend and pray and fawn for him,
I spurn thee like a cur out of my way.

If thou dost bend and pray and fawn for him,
I spurn thee like a cur out of my way.

If thou dost bend and pray and fawn for him,
I spurn thee like a cur out of my way.

But I am constant as the Northern Star,
Of whose true fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.

So in the world: ’tis furnished well with men,
And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive.

Yet in the number I do know but one
That unassailable holds on his rank,
Unshaked of motion;

Here, quite confounded with this mutiny.

Here, quite confounded with this mutiny.

How many ages hence
Shall this our lofty scene be acted over
In states unborn and accents yet unknown!

Thus did Mark Antony bid me fall down,
And, being prostrate, thus he bade me say:
Brutus is noble, wise, valiant, and honest;
Caesar was mighty, bold, royal, and loving.

Thus did Mark Antony bid me fall down,
And, being prostrate, thus he bade me say:
Brutus is noble, wise, valiant, and honest;
Caesar was mighty, bold, royal, and loving.

I wish we may; but yet have I a mind
That fears him much, and my misgiving still
Falls shrewdly to the purpose.

Live a thousand years,
I shall not find myself so apt to die.

Our arms in strength of malice, and our hearts
Of brothers’ temper, do receive you in
With all kind love, good thoughts, and reverence.

Let each man render me his bloody hand.

But what compact mean you to have with us?

O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers.

Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!

Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;

Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice
Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war,
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men groaning for burial.

There shall I try,
In my oration, how the people take
The cruel issue of these bloody men,
According to the which thou shalt discourse
To young Octavius of the state of things.

There shall I try,
In my oration, how the people take
The cruel issue of these bloody men,
According to the which thou shalt discourse
To young Octavius of the state of things.

I will hear Cassius, and compare their reasons
When severally we hear them rendered.

Cassius exits with some of the Plebeians.

Brutus goes into the pulpit.

Censure me in your wisdom,
and awake your senses that you may the better
judge.

The question of his death is enrolled in the Capitol, his
glory not extenuated wherein he was worthy, nor
his offenses enforced for which he suffered death.

Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony,
who, though he had no hand in his death, shall
receive the benefit of his dying—a place in the
commonwealth—as which of you shall not?

The good is oft interred with their bones.

If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answered it.

He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill.

Let but the commons hear this testament,
Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read,

You all do know this mantle.

O, now you weep, and I perceive you feel
The dint of pity.

And thither will I straight to visit him.

Tear him, tear him! Come, brands, ho,
firebrands!