Look, he meditates.

CLITUS    Now is that noble vessel full of grief,

That it runs over even at his eyes.

BRUTUS    Come hither, good Volumnius, list17 a word.

VOLUMNIUS    What says my lord?

BRUTUS    Why this, Volumnius:

The ghost of Caesar hath appeared to me

Two several21 times by night: at Sardis once,

And this last night, here in Philippi fields:

I know my hour is come.

VOLUMNIUS    Not so, my lord.

BRUTUS    Nay, I am sure it is, Volumnius.

Thou seest the world, Volumnius, how it goes.

Our enemies have beat us to the pit27:

Low alarums

It is more worthy to leap in ourselves

Than tarry29 till they push us. Good Volumnius,

Thou know’st that we two went to school together:

Even for that our love of old31, I prithee

Hold thou my sword-hilts32, whilst I run on it.

VOLUMNIUS    That’s not an office33 for a friend, my lord.

Alarum still

CLITUS    Fly, fly, my lord, there is no tarrying here.

BRUTUS    Farewell to you, and you, and you, Volumnius.—

Addressing Clitus, Dardanius, Volumnius and Strato in turn

Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep:

Farewell to thee too, Strato.— Countrymen,

My heart doth joy that yet in all my life

I found no man but he was true to me.

I shall have glory by this losing day

More than Octavius and Mark Antony

By this vile42 conquest shall attain unto.

So fare you well at once, for Brutus’ tongue

Hath almost ended his life’s history:

Night hangs upon mine eyes, my bones would rest,

That have but laboured to attain this hour46.

Alarum. Cry within: ‘Fly fly fly!’

CLITUS    Fly, my lord, fly!

BRUTUS    Hence: I will follow.

[Exeunt Clitus, Dardanius and Volumnius]

I prithee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord.

Thou art a fellow of a good respect50:

Thy life hath had some smatch51 of honour in it.

Hold then my sword, and turn away thy face,

While I do run upon it. Wilt thou, Strato?

STRATO    Give me your hand first. Fare you well, my lord.

BRUTUS    Farewell, good Strato.—

Runs on his sword

Caesar, now be still55:

I killed not thee with half so good a will.

Dies

Alarum. Retreat. Enter Antony, Octavius, Messala, Lucilius and the army

OCTAVIUS    What man is that?

MESSALA    My master’s man58. Strato, where is thy master?

STRATO    Free from the bondage you are in, Messala,

The conquerors can but make a fire of him60:

For Brutus only overcame61 himself,

And no man else hath honour by his death.

LUCILIUS    So63 Brutus should be found. I thank thee, Brutus,

That thou hast proved Lucilius’ saying true.

OCTAVIUS    All that served Brutus, I will entertain65 them.

Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me?

STRATO    Ay, if Messala will prefer67 me to you.

OCTAVIUS    Do so, good Messala.

MESSALA    How died my master, Strato?

STRATO    I held the sword and he did run on it.

MESSALA    Octavius, then take him to follow thee,

That did the latest72 service to my master.

ANTONY    This was the noblest Roman of them all:

All the conspirators save only he

Did that they did in envy of75 great Caesar.

He only, in a general honest76 thought

And common good to all, made one of them.

His life was gentle, and the elements78

So mixed79 in him that Nature might stand up

And say to all the world ‘This was a man!’

OCTAVIUS    According to his virtue let us use81 him

With all respect and rites of burial.

Within my tent his bones tonight shall lie,

Most like a soldier, ordered84 honourably.

So call the field85 to rest, and let’s away,

To part86 the glories of this happy day.

Exeunt

TEXTUAL NOTES

F = First Folio text of 1623

F2 = a correction introduced in the Second Folio text of 1632

F3 = a correction introduced in the Third Folio text of 1663–64

Ed = a correction introduced by a later editor

SH = speech heading (i.e. speaker’s name)

List of parts = Ed

1.2.256 swoon spelled swound in F 302 digest = Ed. F = disgest

1.3.21 glazed = F. Sometimes emended to glared 134 In favour’s like = Ed. F = Is Fauors, like

2.1.257 wafture = Ed. F = wafter 278 his = Ed. F = hit 292 the = Ed. F = tho 327 SH LIGARIUS = Ed. F = Cai. (throughout scene)

2.2.48 are = Ed. F = heare

2.3.1 SH ARTEMIDORUS = Ed. Not in F

3.1.123 states = F2. F = State 125 lies = F2. F = lye 273 SH ANTONY = Ed. Not in F 294 SD Octavius’ = Ed. F = Octavio’s 302 for = F2. F = from

3.2.208 SH ALL = Ed. Lines assigned to the Second Plebeian in F 224 wit = F2. F = writ

4.2.37 SH FIRST SOLDIER = Ed. Not in F 38 SH SECOND SOLDIER = Ed. Not in F 39 SH THIRD SOLDIER = Ed. Not in F 105 budge spelled bouge in F 248 tenor spelled Tenure in F 339 will = F2.