What mean you, Caesar? think you to walk forth?CAESAR
You shall not stir out of your house to-day.
Caesar shall forth: the things that threaten'd meCALPURNIA
Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they shall see
The face of Caesar, they are vanished.
Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies,CAESAR
Yet now they fright me. There is one within,
Besides the things that we have heard and seen,
Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.
A lioness hath whelped in the streets;
And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead;
Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds,
In ranks and squadrons and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol;
The noise of battle hurtled in the air,
Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan,
And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.
O Caesar! these things are beyond all use,
And I do fear them.
What can be avoidedCALPURNIA
Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?
Yet Caesar shall go forth; for these predictions
Are to the world in general as to Caesar.
When beggars die, there are no comets seen;CAESAR
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.
Cowards die many times before their deaths;Servant
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard.
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.Re-enter Servant
What say the augurers?
They would not have you to stir forth to-day.CAESAR
Plucking the entrails of an offering forth,
They could not find a heart within the beast.
The gods do this in shame of cowardice:
Caesar should be a beast without a heart,
If he should stay at home to-day for fear.
No, Caesar shall not: danger knows full well
That Caesar is more dangerous than he:
We are two lions litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible:
And Caesar shall go forth.Context:
Calpurnia is begging Caesar to not go to the Capitol. They are at their house and this occurs on the morning of the Ides of March, which is the day the soothsayer had warned Caesar. The night before, there had been strange omens in a terrible storm and Calpurnia is also concerned and frightened by her dream of Ceasar's death (fountain of blood).
Significance:
The significance of this passage is that through Calpurnia's begging, we can see another characterization of women. In the earlier scenes, Portia had kneeled down to Brutus to get what she wants. This portrays women as kneeling down to men easily to get their way and what they need. Also, through Calpurnia's dreams, there is foreshaowing of Caesar's death. The things that she describes happened in her dream happens in Caesar's murder. This passage of Calpurnia's speech increases the audience's tension and creates mood for suspense before Caesar's great death scene (the climax).
