Julius Caesar: Act 2, Scene 4 Translation

A side-by-side translation of Act 2, Scene 4 of Julius Caesar from the original Shakespeare into modern English.

Original Text	Translated Text
Source: Folger Shakespeare Library
Enter Portia and Lucius. PORTIA I prithee, boy, run to the Senate House. Stay not to answer me, but get thee gone. Why dost thou stay? LUCIUS To know my errand, madam. PORTIA I would have had thee there and here again 5 Ere I can tell thee what thou shouldst do there. Aside. O constancy, be strong upon my side; Set a huge mountain ’tween my heart and tongue. I have a man’s mind but a woman’s might. How hard it is for women to keep counsel!— 10 Art thou here yet? LUCIUS Madam, what should I do? Run to the Capitol, and nothing else? And so return to you, and nothing else?	Portia, Brutus' wife, is a mess. She tells Lucius, the servant, to run to the Capitol, then yells at him for not leaving, even though she hasn't yet given him any instruction on what to do when he gets there.
PORTIA Yes, bring me word, boy, if thy lord look well, 15 For he went sickly forth. And take good note What Caesar doth, what suitors press to him. Hark, boy, what noise is that? LUCIUS I hear none, madam. PORTIA Prithee, listen well. 20 I heard a bustling rumor like a fray, And the wind brings it from the Capitol. LUCIUS Sooth, madam, I hear nothing.	Portia is worried, because Brutus didn't look so hot when he left the house that morning. She tells Lucius should look after her husband and see what Caesar is up to and whom he's surrounded by. Though she hasn't heard the murder plan directly from Brutus' mouth, it's clear she suspects something awful. She's barely got the instructions out when she starts with a fright, thinking she has heard a noise, though Lucius claims he's heard nothing.
Enter the Soothsayer. PORTIA Come hither, fellow. Which way hast thou been? SOOTHSAYER At mine own house, good lady. 25 PORTIA What is ’t o’clock? SOOTHSAYER About the ninth hour, lady. PORTIA Is Caesar yet gone to the Capitol? SOOTHSAYER Madam, not yet. I go to take my stand To see him pass on to the Capitol. 30 PORTIA Thou hast some suit to Caesar, hast thou not? SOOTHSAYER That I have, lady. If it will please Caesar To be so good to Caesar as to hear me, I shall beseech him to befriend himself.	A soothsayer (they pop up a lot in ancient Rome) arrives at Brutus' house to tell Portia that Caesar hasn't come to the Capitol yet. The soothsayer hopes to meet him on the way there, with an offer to befriend him.
PORTIA Why, know’st thou any harm’s intended towards 35 him? SOOTHSAYER None that I know will be, much that I fear may chance. Good morrow to you.—Here the street is narrow. The throng that follows Caesar at the heels, 40 Of senators, of praetors, common suitors, Will crowd a feeble man almost to death. I’ll get me to a place more void, and there Speak to great Caesar as he comes along. He exits.	Portia worries about this and asks whether something is being plotted against Caesar—why does he need more friends? The soothsayer says he hasn't heard of anything, but he fears something will happen. Then he heads off in hopes of finding a place to speak with Caesar himself and not be crushed by the crowd.
PORTIA I must go in. Aside. Ay me, how weak a thing 45 The heart of woman is! O Brutus, The heavens speed thee in thine enterprise! Sure the boy heard me. To Lucius. Brutus hath a suit That Caesar will not grant. Aside. O, I grow 50 faint.— Run, Lucius, and commend me to my lord. Say I am merry. Come to me again And bring me word what he doth say to thee. They exit separately.	Portia grows even more faint. She asks that heaven speed Brutus in his "enterprise." Worrying that Lucius has overheard her, she covers herself with a paltry lie, pretending that the "enterprise" is some small request Brutus has made that Caesar won't grant. Oho! Looks like she does know something, but she's not saying what Finally Portia tells Lucius to tell Brutus that she's "merry," and that she'd like Lucius to bring back news of Brutus. She clearly isn't merry, dear reader, and seems to suspect the worst.