Page:Julius Caesar (1919) Yale.djvu/30

18  And, thus unbraced, Casca, as you see, Have bar'd my bosom to the thunder-stone; And, when the cross blue lightning seem'd to open The breast of heaven, I did present myself Even in the aim and very flash of it.

Casca. But wherefore did you so much tempt the heavens? It is the part of men to fear and tremble When the most mighty gods by tokens send Such dreadful heralds to astonish us.

Cas. You are dull, Casca, and those sparks of life That should be in a Roman you do want, Or else you use not. You look pale, and gaze, And put on fear, and cast yourself in wonder, To see the strange impatience of the heavens; But if you would consider the true cause Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts, Why birds and beasts, from quality and kind, Why old men, fools, and children calculate, Why all these things change from their ordinance, Their natures, and pre-formed faculties, To monstrous quality,—why, you shall find That heaven hath infus'd them with these spirits To make them instruments of fear and warning Unto some monstrous state. Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man Most like this dreadful night, That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars As doth the lion in the Capitol, A man no mightier than thyself or me  48 unbraced: with doublet open 49 thunder-stone: supposedly cast from the sky by thunder 60 put on: exhibit the signs of cast in: give way to; cf. n. 63 Why: i.e., why we have (or, are acting so) 64 from kind: far from their proper character and nature 65 calculate: prophesy; cf. n. 66 ordinance: ordinary conduct 71 monstrous state: unnatural state of affairs 