Page:Julius Caesar (1919) Yale.djvu/35

Julius Cæsar, II. i  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 Cæsar, 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 Cæsar 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.

Enter Lucius.

Luc. 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.

Bru. Get you to bed again; it is not day. Is not to-morrow, boy, the ides of March?

Luc. I know not, sir.

Bru. Look in the calendar, and bring me word.  15 Crown him that; cf. n. 19 Remorse: mercy, conscience 20 affections: passions 21 proof: proved experience 26 degrees: steps, rungs 28 prevent: be beforehand quarrel: attack on him, accusation 29 colour: justification 30 Fashion: put, formulate 31 these and these: such and such 33 as his kind: as is the nature of his species 35 closet: study 