Scene summary
On the morning of the Ides, Julius Caesar wakes uneasy: Calpurnia cried out three times in her sleep that they were killing him, and he orders the priests to sacrifice an animal to learn the omen. Calpurnia arrives and forbids him to go out; he answers that threats have only ever seen his back. She recounts the portents the night watch saw, such as a lioness giving birth in the streets, opened graves, and fiery warriors in the clouds who made it rain blood over the Capitol, and says the heavens announce the death of princes. Caesar replies that cowards die many times before their deaths and that death comes when it comes. A servant reports that the augurs, on opening the animal, found no heart; Caesar says it would be a beast with no heart if it stayed home out of fear.
Calpurnia kneels and asks that the blame fall on her fear rather than his, and Caesar yields: Antony will tell the Senate he is ill. Decius arrives to fetch him, and Caesar refuses to lie, saying that his reason is his own will; but he tells of his wife's dream of his statue gushing blood, where smiling Romans bathed their hands. Decius reinterprets the dream as a good omen, says the Senate will give him a crown that day, and that if he stays home they will say Caesar is afraid. Caesar is ashamed of having yielded and asks for his cloak. Brutus, Ligarius, Metellus, Casca, Trebonius, Cinna, and Publius arrive, and then Antony; Caesar invites them to drink wine, and Trebonius and Brutus comment aside on what this friendship hides.
Analysis
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