Page 2164 - Shakespeare - Vol. 2

CASSIUS

Casca will tell us what the matter is.

CAESAR
Antonius! [190]

ANTONY
Caesar?

CAESAR
Let me have men about me that are fat,
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep a-nights.

Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous. [195]

ANTONY
Fear him not, Caesar, he’s not dangerous;
He is a noble Roman, and well given.

CAESAR
Would he were fatter! But I fear him not.

Yet if my name were liable to fear,
I do not know the man I should avoid [200]
So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much,
He is a great observer, and he looks

Quite through the deeds of men. He loves no plays,
As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music.
Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort [205]
As if he mocked himself, and scorned his spirit

That could be moved to smile at anything.
Such men as he be never at heart’s ease
Whiles they behold a greater than themselves,
And therefore are they very dangerous. [210]

I rather tell thee what is to be feared
Than what I fear; for always I am Caesar.
Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf,
And tell me truly what thou think’st of him.

Sennet. Exeunt Caesar and his train, except Casca.