SHAKESPEARE: JULIUS CAESAR EN TREINTA Y DOS (32) FRAGMENTOS. 1

Me he suscrito al recibo de textos  por Internet. Se trata de la empresa Dailylit.com, que los facilita gratis por fragmentos. La iniciativa me ha parecido estupenda y creo que pronto podrán recibirse también en el teléfono móvil, lo cual vendrá muy bien para poder leerlos allí donde se esté. Leer es un placer y todo lo que contribuya a difundir ese placer entre la población (en este caso, mundial) me parece plausible y aprobechable. Desde hoy les invito a leer el "Julio Caesar" de Shakespeare. Pondré cada día el fragmento que  llegue a mi correo electrónico.

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JULIUS CAESAR

by William Shakespeare




PERSONS REPRESENTED

JULIUS CAESAR
OCTAVIUS CAESAR, Triumvir after his death.
MARCUS ANTONIUS,    "          "     "
M. AEMIL. LEPIDUS   "          "     "
CICERO, PUBLIUS, POPILIUS LENA, Senators.
MARCUS BRUTUS, Conspirator against Caesar.
CASSIUS,             "          "     "
CASCA,               "          "     "
TREBONIUS,           "          "     "
LIGARIUS,            "          "     "
DECIUS BRUTUS,       "          "     "
METELLUS CIMBER,     "          "     "
CINNA,               "          "     "
FLAVIUS, tribune 
MARULLUS, tribune
ARTEMIDORUS, a Sophist of Cnidos.
A Soothsayer
CINNA, a poet. Another Poet.
LUCILIUS, TITINIUS, MESSALA, young CATO, and VOLUMNIUS, Friends
to Brutus and Cassius.

VARRO, CLITUS, CLAUDIUS, STRATO, LUCIUS, DARDANIUS, Servants to
Brutus
PINDARUS, Servant to Cassius
The Ghost of Caesar
Senators, Citizens, Soldiers, Commoners, Messengers, and
Servants

CALPURNIA, wife to Caesar
PORTIA, wife to Brutus

SCENE: Rome, the conspirators' camp near Sardis, and the plains
of Philippi.


ACT I.

SCENE I.

Rome. A street.

[Enter Flavius, Marullus, and a Throng of Citizens.]

FLAVIUS.
Hence! home, you idle creatures, get you home!
Is this a holiday? What! know you not,
Being mechanical, you ought not walk
Upon a laboring day without the sign
Of your profession?--Speak, what trade art thou?

FIRST CITIZEN.
Why, sir, a carpenter.

MARULLUS.
Where is thy leather apron and thy rule?
What dost thou with thy best apparel on?--
You, sir; what trade are you?

SECOND CITIZEN.
Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am but, as you
would say, a cobbler.

MARULLUS.
But what trade art thou? Answer me directly.

SECOND CITIZEN.
A trade, sir, that, I hope, I may use with a safe
conscience, which is indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles.

MARULLUS.
What trade, thou knave? Thou naughty knave, what trade?

SECOND CITIZEN.
Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me; yet,
if you be out, sir, I can mend you. 

MARULLUS.
What mean'st thou by that? Mend me, thou saucy fellow!

SECOND CITIZEN.
Why, sir, cobble you.

FLAVIUS.
Thou art a cobbler, art thou?

SECOND CITIZEN.
Truly, Sir, all that I live by is with the awl; I meddle with
no tradesman's matters, nor women's matters, but with awl.
I am indeed, sir, a surgeon to old shoes; when they are in
great danger, I re-cover them. As proper men as ever trod upon
neat's-leather have gone upon my handiwork.

FLAVIUS.
But wherefore art not in thy shop today?
Why dost thou lead these men about the streets?

SECOND CITIZEN.
Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes to get myself into more
work. But indeed, sir, we make holiday to see Caesar and to
rejoice in his triumph.

MARULLUS.
Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?
What tributaries follow him to Rome,
To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels?
You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!
O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,
Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft
Have you climb'd up to walls and battlements, 
To towers and windows, yea, to chimney tops,
Your infants in your arms, and there have sat
The livelong day with patient expectation
To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome.
And when you saw his chariot but appear,
Have you not made an universal shout
That Tiber trembled underneath her banks
To hear the replication of your sounds
Made in her concave shores?
And do you now put on your best attire?
And do you now cull out a holiday?
And do you now strew flowers in his way
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood?
Be gone!
Run to your houses, fall upon your knees,
Pray to the gods to intermit the plague
That needs must light on this ingratitude.

FLAVIUS.
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.]
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