IOC 3 Act 2 sc 1
BRUTUS
It must be by his death: and for my part,
I know no personal cause to spurn at him,
But for the general. He would be crown'd:
How that might change his nature, there's the question.
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder;
And that craves wary walking. Crown him?--that;-And then, I grant, we put a sting in him,
That at his will he may do danger with.
The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins
Remorse from power: and, to speak truth of Caesar,
I have not known when his affections sway'd
More than his reason. But 'tis a common proof,
That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber-upward turns his face;
But when he once attains the upmost round.
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend. So Caesar may.
Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel
Will bear no colour for the thing he is,
Fashion it thus; that what he is, augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities:
And therefore think him as a serpent's egg
Which, hatch'd, would, as his kind, grow mischievous,
And kill him in the shell.
*Re-enter LUCIUS*
LUCIUS
The taper burneth in your closet, sir.
Searching the window for a flint, I found
This paper, thus seal'd up; and, I am sure,
It did not lie there when I went to bed.
*Gives him the letter*
BRUTUS
Get you to bed again; it is not day.
Is not to-morrow, boy, the ides of March?
LUCIUS
I know not, sir.
BRUTUS
Look in the calendar, and bring me word.
LUCIUS
I will, sir.
*Exit LUCIUS*
BRUTUS
The exhalations whizzing in the air
Give so much light that I may read by them.
*Opens the letter and reads*
BRUTUS
'Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake, and see thyself.
Shall Rome, & c. Speak, strike, redress!
Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake!'
Such instigations have been often dropp'd
Where I have took them up.
'Shall Rome, & c.' Thus must I piece it out:
Shall Rome stand under one man's awe? What, Rome?
My ancestors did from the streets of Rome
The Tarquin drive, when he was call'd a king.
'Speak, strike, redress!' Am I entreated
To speak and strike? O Rome, I make thee promise:
If the redress will follow, thou receivest
Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus!
1. The soliloquy opens in just the right way to throw us back upon his
antecedent meditations.
2. The general meaning of this somewhat obscure passage is, Since we
have no show or pretext of a cause, no assignable ground or
apparent ground of complaint, against Csar, in what he is, or in
anything he has yet done, let us assume that the further addition
of a crown will quite upset his nature, and metamorphose him into a
serpent. The strain of casuistry used in this speech is very
remarkable.
3. BRUTUS, unable to sleep, paces in his courtyard. He orders his
servant LUCIUS to light a candle in his study. Alone, Brutus admits
that the only possible course of action is to kill CAESAR. He adds
that, while Caesar's behaviour so far gives no excuse for murder, it
seems likely that absolute power will change him.
4. LUCIUS returns and hands BRUTUS a letter he found. Brutus asks
him to go check whether the next day is the ides of March, and
reads the letter by the light of a meteor shower. It asks "Shall
Rome, et cetera?" and urges him to "Speak, strike, redress"
(2.1.46-7). Brutus takes this to mean that Rome must not have a
king, and that he, like his ancestor, must prevent this.
5. While the other conspirators fear reprisal and punishment, Brutus
only fears whether killing Caesar is in the best interests of Rome.
Ironically, Brutus is the first of them to explicitly state that
Caesar must be killed.
6. Meteors were supposed, even in Shakespeare's time, to herald
important events. As he does in conversation, Cassius leaves blanks
in his letter. Brutus fills in the gapswithout his interpretation,
the letter is meaningless
7. The possession of dictatorial power is apt to stifle or sear the
conscience, so as to make a man literally remorseless.
8. Brutus here symbolizes all of Romesleep represents peace,
physical abilities represent governmental powers, and indecision,
here brought on by a crisis of conscience, represents rebellion.
