BRUTUS
| Be patient till the last. | |
| Romans, countrymen, and lovers! hear me for my |
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| cause, and be silent, that you may hear: believe me | |
| for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour, that | |
| you may believe: censure me in your wisdom, and | |
| awake your senses, that you may the better judge. | |
| If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of | |
| Caesar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Caesar | |
| was no less than his. If then that friend demand | |
| why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: | |
| --Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved | |
| Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living and | |
| die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live | |
| all free men? As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; | |
| as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was | |
| valiant, I honour him: but, as he was ambitious, I | |
| slew him. There is tears for his love; joy for his |
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| fortune; honour for his valour; and death for his | |
| ambition. Who is here so base that would be a | |
| bondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. | |
| Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If | |
| any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so | |
| vile that will not love his country? If any, speak; | |
| for him have I offended. I pause for a reply. | |
All | None, Brutus, none. | |
BRUTUS | Then none have I offended. I have done no more to | |
| Caesar than you shall do to Brutus. The question of | |
| his death is enrolled in the Capitol; his glory not | |
| extenuated, wherein he was worthy, nor his offences | |
| enforced, for which he suffered death. | |
| Enter ANTONY and others, with CAESAR's body | |
| Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony: who, | |
| though he had no hand in his death, shall receive |
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| the benefit of his dying, a place in the | |
| commonwealth; as which of you shall not? With this | |
| I depart,--that, as I slew my best lover for the | |
| good of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself, | |
| when it shall please my country to need my death. | |
All | Live, Brutus! live, live! |