No Fear Shakespeare
Julius Caesar
Get this No Fear to go!
Act 1, Scene 2, Page 13
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CASSIUS
So is he now in execution
Of any bold or noble enterprise,
However he puts on this tardy form.
This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit,
Which gives men stomach to digest his words
With better appetite.
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CASSIUS
He’s still sharp when it comes to carrying out a bold or
noble enterprise, though he puts on this show of stupidity. He
speaks roughly, but what he says is smart, and his roughness makes
other people enjoy listening to him.
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BRUTUS
And so it is. For this time I will leave you.
Tomorrow, if you please to speak with me,
I will come home to you. Or, if you will,
Come home to me, and I will wait for you.
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BRUTUS
You’re right, that’s how it is. I’ll
leave you for now. If you’d like to talk tomorrow,
I’ll come to your home. Or, if you don’t mind,
come to my home, and I’ll wait for you.
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CASSIUS
I will do so. Till then, think of the world.
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CASSIUS
I’ll do so. Until then, think about the well-being of
Rome.
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Exit BRUTUS
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BRUTUS exits. |
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Well, Brutus, thou art noble. Yet I see
Thy honorable mettle may be wrought
From that it is disposed. Therefore it is meet
That noble minds keep ever with their likes,
For who so firm that cannot be seduced?
Caesar doth bear me hard, but he loves Brutus.
If I were Brutus now and he were Cassius,
He should not humor me. I will this night,
In several hands, in at his windows throw,
As if they came from several citizens,
Writings all tending to the great opinion
That Rome holds of his name, wherein obscurely
Caesar’s ambition shall be glancèd at.
And after this let Caesar seat him sure,
For we will shake him, or worse days endure.
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Well, Brutus, you’re noble. Yet I see that your honorable
character can be bent from its usual shape, which proves that good
men should stick only to the company of other good men, because who
is so firm that he can’t be seduced? Caesar resents me, but
he loves Brutus. If I were Brutus now and Brutus were me, I
wouldn’t have let him influence me. Tonight I’ll
throw through his window a few letters in different
handwriting—as if they came from several
citizens—all testifying to the great respect Romans have
for Brutus, and all alluding to Caesar’s unseemly ambition.
And after this, let Caesar brace himself, for we’ll either
dethrone him or suffer even worse than now.
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Exit |
CASSIUS exits. |
