JULIUS CAESAR

A monologue from Act I, Scene ii

by: William Shakespeare

CASSIUS: I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,

As well as I do know your outward favor.

Well, honor is the subject of my story.

I cannot tell what you and other men

Think of this life; but for my single self,

I had as lief [1] not be as live to be

In awe of such a thing as myself.

I was born free as Caesar; so were you.

We both have fed as well, and we can both

Endure the winter's cold as well as he.

For once, upon a raw and gusty day,

The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,

Caesar said to me, 'Dar'st thou, Cassius, now

Leap in with me into this angry flood

And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word,

Accoutred as I was, I plungèd in

And bade him follow. So indeed he did.

The torrent roared, and we did buffet it

With lusty sinews, throwing it aside

And stemming it with hearts of controversy [2].

But ere we could arrive the point proposed,

Caesar cried, 'Help me, Cassius, or I sink!'

I, as Aeneas [3], our great ancestor,

Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder

The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber

Did I the tirèd Caesar. And this man

Is now become a god, and Cassius is

A wretched creature and must bend his body

If Caesar carelessly but nod on him.

He had a fever when he was in Spain,

And when the fit was on him, I did mark

How he did shake. 'Tis true, this god did shake.

His coward lips did from their color fly [4],

And that same eye whose bend [5] doth awe the world

Did lose his luster. I did hear him groan.

Ay, and that tongue of his that bade the Romans

Mark him and write his speeches in their books,

'Alas,' it cried, 'give me some drink, Titinius,'

As a sick girl! Ye gods it doth amaze me

A man of such feeble temper [6] should

So get the start of the majestic world

And bear the palm [7] alone.

Purchase this play!

1 as rather

2 making progress in competition with one another

3 a Trojan hero; reputed ancestor of the Romans

4 grow pale

5 glance

6 constitution

7 victor's prize