Julius Caesar
Portraying the conspiracy against the Roman dictator, Julius Caesar, his assassination, and its aftermath, this drama is just one of several of Shakespeare's plays to be based on historical events.
Approx. 20,929 words.
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Go, go, good countrymen, and, for this fault,
Assemble all the poor men of your sort,
Draw them to Tiber banks, and weep your tears
Into the channel, till the lowest stream
Do kiss the most exalted shores of all.
[Exeunt CITIZENS.]
See whether their basest metal be not moved;
They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness.
Go you down that way towards the Capitol;
This way will I. Disrobe the images,
If you do find them deck'd with ceremonies.
MARULLUS.
May we do so?
You know it is the feast of Lupercal.
FLAVIUS.
It is no matter; let no images
Be hung with Caesar's trophies. I'll about
And drive away the vulgar from the streets;
So do you too, where you perceive them thick.
These growing feathers pluck'd from Caesar's wing
Will make him fly an ordinary pitch,
Who else would soar above the view of men,
And keep us all in servile fearfulness.
[Exeunt.]
SCEN
