Page:Julius Caesar (1919) Yale.djvu/65

Julius Cæsar, III. i  Over thy wounds now do I prophesy,— Which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips, To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue,— A curse shall light upon the limbs of men; Domestic fury and fierce civil strife Shall cumber all the parts of Italy; Blood and destruction shall be so in use, And dreadful objects so familiar, That mothers shall but smile when they behold Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war,— All pity chok'd with custom of fell deeds; And Cæsar's spirit, ranging for revenge, With Ate by his side come hot from hell, Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice Cry 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial.

You serve Octavius Cæsar, do you not?

Serv. I do, Mark Antony.

Ant. Cæsar did write for him to come to Rome.

Serv. He did receive his letters, and is coming; And bid me say to you by word of mouth—

[Seeing the body.]

O Cæsar!—

Ant. Thy heart is big, get thee apart and weep. Passion, I see, is catching; for mine eyes, Seeing those beads of sorrow stand in thine, Began to water. Is thy master coming?  268 quarter'd: hewn into pieces 269 custom deeds: the mere frequency of cruel actions 271 Ate: goddess of discord 272 confines: regions 273 Havoc: the signal for killing without sparing let slip: unleash dogs of war; cf. n. 274 That: so that 275 With rotting corpses, too numerous for the burial that they grievously demand 283 Passion: emotion 