SCENE I. The plains of Philippi. The Life and Death of Julius Caesar  Shakespeare homepage  |  Julius Caesar  | Act 5, Scene 1 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE I. The plains of Philippi. 

 Enter OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, and their army  OCTAVIUS  Now, Antony, our hopes are answered: 

 You said the enemy would not come down, 

 But keep the hills and upper regions; 

 It proves not so: their battles are at hand; 

 They mean to warn us at Philippi here, 

 Answering before we do demand of them. 

 ANTONY  Tut, I am in their bosoms, and I know 

 Wherefore they do it: they could be content 

 To visit other places; and come down 

 With fearful bravery, thinking by this face 

 To fasten in our thoughts that they have courage; 

 But 'tis not so. 



 Enter a Messenger  Messenger  Prepare you, generals: 

 The enemy comes on in gallant show; 

 Their bloody sign of battle is hung out, 

 And something to be done immediately. 

 ANTONY  Octavius, lead your battle softly on, 

 Upon the left hand of the even field. 

 OCTAVIUS  Upon the right hand I; keep thou the left. 

 ANTONY  Why do you cross me in this exigent? 

 OCTAVIUS  I do not cross you; but I will do so. 



 March 

 Drum. Enter BRUTUS, CASSIUS, and their Army; LUCILIUS, TITINIUS, MESSALA, and others  BRUTUS  They stand, and would have parley. 

 CASSIUS  Stand fast, Titinius: we must out and talk. 

 OCTAVIUS  Mark Antony, shall we give sign of battle? 

 ANTONY  No, Caesar, we will answer on their charge. 

 Make forth; the generals would have some words. 

 OCTAVIUS  Stir not until the signal. 

 BRUTUS  Words before blows: is it so, countrymen? 

 OCTAVIUS  Not that we love words better, as you do. 

 BRUTUS  Good words are better than bad strokes, Octavius. 

 ANTONY  In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good words: 

 Witness the hole you made in Caesar's heart, 

 Crying 'Long live! hail, Caesar!' 

 CASSIUS  Antony, 

 The posture of your blows are yet unknown; 

 But for your words, they rob the Hybla bees, 

 And leave them honeyless. 

 ANTONY  Not stingless too. 

 BRUTUS  O, yes, and soundless too; 

 For you have stol'n their buzzing, Antony, 

 And very wisely threat before you sting. 

 ANTONY  Villains, you did not so, when your vile daggers 

 Hack'd one another in the sides of Caesar: 

 You show'd your teeth like apes, and fawn'd like hounds, 

 And bow'd like bondmen, kissing Caesar's feet; 

 Whilst damned Casca, like a cur, behind 

 Struck Caesar on the neck. O you flatterers! 

 CASSIUS  Flatterers! Now, Brutus, thank yourself: 

 This tongue had not offended so to-day, 

 If Cassius might have ruled. 

 OCTAVIUS  Come, come, the cause: if arguing make us sweat, 

 The proof of it will turn to redder drops. Look; 

 I draw a sword against conspirators; 

 When think you that the sword goes up again? 

 Never, till Caesar's three and thirty wounds 

 Be well avenged; or till another Caesar 

 Have added slaughter to the sword of traitors. 

 BRUTUS  Caesar, thou canst not die by traitors' hands, 

 Unless thou bring'st them with thee. 

 OCTAVIUS  So I hope; 

 I was not born to die on Brutus' sword. 

 BRUTUS  O, if thou wert the noblest of thy strain, 

 Young man, thou couldst not die more honourable. 

 CASSIUS  A peevish schoolboy, worthless of such honour, 

 Join'd with a masker and a reveller! 

 ANTONY  Old Cassius still! 

 OCTAVIUS  Come, Antony, away! 

 Defiance, traitors, hurl we in your teeth: 

 If you dare fight to-day, come to the field; 

 If not, when you have stomachs. 



 Exeunt OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, and their army  CASSIUS  Why, now, blow wind, swell billow and swim bark! 

 The storm is up, and all is on the hazard. 

 BRUTUS  Ho, Lucilius! hark, a word with you. 

 LUCILIUS  [Standing forth]	My lord? 



 BRUTUS and LUCILIUS converse apart  CASSIUS  Messala! 

 MESSALA  [Standing forth]  What says my general? 

 CASSIUS  Messala, 

 This is my birth-day; as this very day 

 Was Cassius born. Give me thy hand, Messala: 

 Be thou my witness that against my will, 

 As Pompey was, am I compell'd to set 

 Upon one battle all our liberties. 

 You know that I held Epicurus strong 

 And his opinion: now I change my mind, 

 And partly credit things that do presage. 

 Coming from Sardis, on our former ensign 

 Two mighty eagles fell, and there they perch'd, 

 Gorging and feeding from our soldiers' hands; 

 Who to Philippi here consorted us: 

 This morning are they fled away and gone; 

 And in their steads do ravens, crows and kites, 

 Fly o'er our heads and downward look on us, 

 As we were sickly prey: their shadows seem 

 A canopy most fatal, under which 

 Our army lies, ready to give up the ghost. 

 MESSALA  Believe not so. 

 CASSIUS  I but believe it partly; 

 For I am fresh of spirit and resolved 

 To meet all perils very constantly. 

 BRUTUS  Even so, Lucilius. 

 CASSIUS  Now, most noble Brutus, 

 The gods to-day stand friendly, that we may, 

 Lovers in peace, lead on our days to age! 

 But since the affairs of men rest still incertain, 

 Let's reason with the worst that may befall. 

 If we do lose this battle, then is this 

 The very last time we shall speak together: 

 What are you then determined to do? 

 BRUTUS  Even by the rule of that philosophy 

 By which I did blame Cato for the death 

 Which he did give himself, I know not how, 

 But I do find it cowardly and vile, 

 For fear of what might fall, so to prevent 

 The time of life: arming myself with patience 

 To stay the providence of some high powers 

 That govern us below. 

 CASSIUS  Then, if we lose this battle, 

 You are contented to be led in triumph 

 Thorough the streets of Rome? 

 BRUTUS  No, Cassius, no: think not, thou noble Roman, 

 That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome; 

 He bears too great a mind. But this same day 

 Must end that work the ides of March begun; 

 And whether we shall meet again I know not. 

 Therefore our everlasting farewell take: 

 For ever, and for ever, farewell, Cassius! 

 If we do meet again, why, we shall smile; 

 If not, why then, this parting was well made. 

 CASSIUS  For ever, and for ever, farewell, Brutus! 

 If we do meet again, we'll smile indeed; 

 If not, 'tis true this parting was well made. 

 BRUTUS  Why, then, lead on. O, that a man might know 

 The end of this day's business ere it come! 

 But it sufficeth that the day will end, 

 And then the end is known. Come, ho! away! 



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