Julius Caesar — Act 5, Scene 1

original text and modern English, side by side

The plains of Philippi · Octavius, Antony, Messenger, Brutus, Cassius, Lucilius, Messala

On the plains of Philippi, Octavius and Antony are surprised to find the enemy has come down to meet them, and quarrel briefly over who takes which wing. The two sides trade insults before fighting: Antony throws the assassination in Brutus's face, Octavius draws his sword and swears not to sheathe it until Caesar's wounds are avenged. Left alone, Cassius tells Messala it is his birthday and that eagles have deserted their standards for carrion birds, and he and Brutus say a permanent goodbye in case they lose.

Enter Octavius, Antony and their Army.

Octavius

Now, Antony, our hopes are answered.

Well, Antony, we've got what we hoped for.

You said the enemy would not come down,

But keep the hills and upper regions.

You said the enemy wouldn't come down but would hold the hills and high ground.

It proves not so; their battles are at hand,

It turns out otherwise — their forces are right here.

They mean to warn us at Philippi here,

Answering before we do demand of them.

They mean to challenge us at Philippi, answering us before we've even asked.

Antony

Tut,

Nonsense.

I am in their bosoms, and I know

Wherefore they do it.

I know what's in their hearts and why they're doing it.

They could be content

To visit other places, and come down

With fearful bravery, thinking by this face

To fasten in our thoughts that they have courage;

They'd much rather be somewhere else, but they've come down with a show of nerve, hoping the display will convince us they're brave.

But ’tis not so.

They aren't.

Enter a Messenger.

Messenger

Prepare you, generals.

Get ready, generals.

The enemy comes on in gallant show;

The enemy is advancing in impressive order.

Their bloody sign of battle is hung out,

And something to be done immediately.

Their red battle flag is up, and something has to be done at once.

Antony

Octavius, lead your battle softly on

Upon the left hand of the even field.

Octavius, take your division forward slowly on the left side of the level ground.

Octavius

Upon the right hand I.

I'll take the right.

Keep thou the left.

You take the left.

Antony

Why do you cross me in this exigent?

Why are you contradicting me at a moment like this?

Octavius

I do not cross you;

I'm not contradicting you.

but I will do so.

But that is what I intend to do.

March.

Octavius

Drum. Enter Brutus, Cassius and their Army; Lucilius, Titinius, Messala

and others.

The armies advance to the sound of drums: Brutus, Cassius, Lucilius, Titinius, Messala and their soldiers enter opposite.

Brutus

They stand, and would have parley.

They've halted. They want to talk.

Cassius

Stand fast, Titinius;

Hold your position, Titinius.

we must out and talk.

We'll go out and talk.

Octavius

Mark Antony, shall we give sign of battle?

Mark Antony, do we give the signal to attack?

Antony

No, Caesar, we will answer on their charge.

No, Caesar — we'll counter when they charge.

Make forth; the generals would have some words.

Move forward; their generals want a word.

Octavius

Stir not until the signal.

Nobody move until the signal.

Brutus

Words before blows: is it so, countrymen?

Talk before fighting, then, countrymen?

Octavius

Not that we love words better, as you do.

Not because we prefer talk, the way you do.

Brutus

Good words are better than bad strokes, Octavius.

Good words beat bad blows, Octavius.

Antony

In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good words;

Witness the hole you made in Caesar’s heart,

Crying, “Long live! Hail, Caesar!”

You give good words along with your bad blows, Brutus — as witness the hole you cut in Caesar's heart while shouting "Long live Caesar! Hail, Caesar!"

Cassius

Antony,

The posture of your blows are yet unknown;

Antony, we still don't know what your blows are like.

But for your words, they rob the Hybla bees,

And leave them honeyless.

As for your words, they've stripped the bees of Hybla and left them without any honey.

Antony

Not stingless too.

But not without their stings.

Brutus

O yes, and soundless too,

For you have stol’n their buzzing, Antony,

And very wisely threat before you sting.

Without their buzzing too — because you've stolen that, Antony, and very sensibly you make your threats before you sting.

Antony

Villains, you did not so when your vile daggers

Hack’d one another in the sides of Caesar:

You criminals, you didn't do that when your filthy daggers were knocking against each other in Caesar's ribs.

You show’d your teeth like apes, and fawn’d like hounds,

And bow’d like bondmen, kissing Caesar’s feet;

Whilst damned Casca, like a cur, behind

Struck Caesar on the neck.

You bared your teeth like apes and cringed like dogs and bowed like slaves, kissing Caesar's feet — while that damned Casca, like a mongrel, struck him in the neck from behind.

O you flatterers!

You flatterers.

Cassius

Flatterers!

Now, Brutus, thank yourself.

Well, Brutus, you have yourself to thank.

This tongue had not offended so today,

If Cassius might have rul’d.

That tongue wouldn't be insulting us today if Cassius had had his way.

Octavius

Come, come, the cause.

Enough — get to the point.

If arguing makes us sweat,

The proof of it will turn to redder drops.

If arguing makes us sweat, settling it will draw redder drops than sweat.

Look, I draw a sword against conspirators.

Look: I draw my sword against conspirators.

When think you that the sword goes up again?

When do you think it goes back in the scabbard?

Never, till Caesar’s three and thirty wounds

Be well aveng’d; or till another Caesar

Have added slaughter to the sword of traitors.

Never — not until Caesar's thirty-three wounds are properly avenged, or until another Caesar has been slaughtered by traitors' swords.

Brutus

Caesar, thou canst not die by traitors’ hands,

Unless thou bring’st them with thee.

Caesar, you can't die at traitors' hands unless you bring the traitors with you.

Octavius

So I hope.

That's what I expect.

I was not born to die on Brutus’ sword.

I wasn't born to die on Brutus's sword.

Brutus

O, if thou wert the noblest of thy strain,

Young man, thou couldst not die more honourable.

Young man, even if you were the finest of your family, you couldn't die more honourably than that.

Cassius

A peevish school-boy, worthless of such honour,

Join’d with a masker and a reveller.

A bad-tempered schoolboy who doesn't deserve the honour, teamed up with a party-going playboy.

Antony

Old Cassius still!

The same old Cassius.

Octavius

Come, Antony; away!

Come on, Antony, let's go.

Defiance, traitors, hurl we in your teeth.

Traitors, we throw our defiance in your teeth.

If you dare fight today, come to the field;

If not, when you have stomachs.

If you dare fight today, come out on the field; if not, come when you've found the stomach for it.

Exeunt Octavius, Antony and their Army.

Cassius

Why now, blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark!

Now let the wind blow, the waves rise, and the ship sail on.

The storm is up, and all is on the hazard.

The storm has broken and everything is at stake.

Brutus

Ho, Lucilius!

Lucilius!

Hark, a word with you.

A word with you.

Lucilius

My lord?

Brutus and Lucilius talk apart.

Cassius

Messala.

Messala

What says my General?

What does my general want?

Cassius

Messala,

This is my birth-day; as this very day

Was Cassius born.

Messala, today is my birthday — Cassius was born on this very day.

Give me thy hand, Messala:

Be thou my witness that against my will

As Pompey was, am I compell’d to set

Upon one battle all our liberties.

Give me your hand, and be my witness that I'm being forced, against my judgement and just as Pompey was, to stake all our liberties on a single battle.

You know that I held Epicurus strong,

And his opinion.

You know I was a firm believer in Epicurus and his teaching.

Now I change my mind,

And partly credit things that do presage.

Well, I've changed my mind, and I half believe in omens now.

Coming from Sardis, on our former ensign

Two mighty eagles fell, and there they perch’d,

Gorging and feeding from our soldiers’ hands,

Who to Philippi here consorted us.

On the way from Sardis, two great eagles came down on our leading standard and perched there, gorging themselves out of our soldiers' hands, and they escorted us all the way here to Philippi.

This morning are they fled away and gone,

And in their steads do ravens, crows, and kites

Fly o’er our heads, and downward look on us,

As we were sickly prey:

This morning they've flown off and gone, and in their place ravens, crows and kites circle over our heads, looking down on us as if we were dying prey.

their shadows seem

A canopy most fatal, under which

Our army lies, ready to give up the ghost.

Their shadows make a kind of death-canopy, and our army lies underneath it, ready to die.

Messala

Believe not so.

Don't believe that.

Cassius

I but believe it partly,

I only half believe it.

For I am fresh of spirit, and resolv’d

To meet all perils very constantly.

My spirits are good and I'm determined to face every danger steadily.

Brutus

Even so, Lucilius.

Just so, Lucilius.

Cassius

Now, most noble Brutus,

The gods today stand friendly, that we may,

Lovers in peace, lead on our days to age!

Now, noble Brutus — may the gods be on our side today, so that we can live out our lives into old age as friends in peacetime.

But, since the affairs of men rest still incertain,

Let’s reason with the worst that may befall.

But since human affairs are always uncertain, let's think through the worst that could happen.

If we do lose this battle, then is this

The very last time we shall speak together:

If we lose this battle, this is the last conversation we'll ever have.

What are you then determined to do?

What have you decided to do in that case?

Brutus

Even by the rule of that philosophy

By which I did blame Cato for the death

Which he did give himself, I know not how,

But I do find it cowardly and vile,

For fear of what might fall, so to prevent

The time of life, arming myself with patience

To stay the providence of some high powers

That govern us below.

Following the same philosophy that made me criticize Cato for killing himself — I can't quite explain it, but I find it cowardly and contemptible to cut your own life short out of fear of what might happen, instead of arming yourself with patience and waiting for whatever the powers above have decided for us down here.

Cassius

Then, if we lose this battle,

You are contented to be led in triumph

Thorough the streets of Rome?

So if we lose this battle, you're content to be paraded as a prisoner through the streets of Rome?

Brutus

No, Cassius, no:

No, Cassius, no.

think not, thou noble Roman,

That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome;

He bears too great a mind.

Never think, noble Roman, that Brutus will go to Rome in chains — his mind is too great for that.

But this same day

Must end that work the Ides of March begun;

And whether we shall meet again I know not.

But today has to finish what the Ides of March started, and I don't know whether we'll meet again.

Therefore our everlasting farewell take.

So let's take a permanent farewell of each other.

For ever, and for ever, farewell, Cassius.

For ever and for ever, goodbye, Cassius.

If we do meet again, why, we shall smile;

If we do meet again, we'll smile about this.

If not, why then this parting was well made.

If not, then this parting was done properly.

Cassius

For ever and for ever farewell, Brutus.

For ever and for ever, goodbye, Brutus.

If we do meet again, we’ll smile indeed;

If we meet again we really will smile.

If not, ’tis true this parting was well made.

If not, then it's true — this parting was done properly.

Brutus

Why then, lead on.

Lead on, then.

O, that a man might know

The end of this day’s business ere it come!

If only a man could know how the day's work ends before it happens.

But it sufficeth that the day will end,

And then the end is known.

But it's enough that the day will end, and then we'll know how.

Come, ho! away!

Come on — away!

Exeunt.

Julius Caesar Act 5, Scene 1 summary

Who appears in this scene

Octavius, Antony, Messenger, Brutus, Cassius, Lucilius, Messala — The plains of Philippi.

Famous lines in Julius Caesar Act 5, Scene 1, explained

“For ever, and for ever, farewell, Cassius. / If we do meet again, why, we shall smile; / If not, why then this parting was well made.” (line 128): Knowing the battle may kill them both, Brutus insists on saying goodbye properly rather than pretending it isn't final — and Cassius answers by repeating the words almost exactly back to him. After the vicious quarrel two scenes earlier, this quiet symmetry is how Shakespeare shows the friendship fully restored. It is also the last time they speak: both are dead by the end of the act.
“But it sufficeth that the day will end, / And then the end is known. Come, ho! away!” (line 136): Brutus wishes he could know how the battle turns out, then settles for the one certainty available: the day will finish, and then he will know. It is stoicism reduced to its plainest form, the philosophy he has leaned on all play, and it carries a note of exhaustion rather than confidence. Coming just after the ghost's promise and Cassius's omens, it reads less like courage than like a man who has stopped expecting to be spared.

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About this translation: the original text follows the public-domain Project Gutenberg Globe edition; the modern English translation was written in-house for Polytranslator and is reviewed on an ongoing basis (last revised August 2026). Free to print and photocopy for classroom use. Cite as: “Julius Caesar, Act 5, Scene 1. Polytranslator side-by-side translation, polytranslator.com/shakespeare/julius-caesar/act-5-scene-1.”

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