Act II
Calpurnia and her nurse indulge in the inevitable lengthy and tiresome discussion concerning the former’s terrible dream. The ghost of Caesar, horrible with wounds, had appeared to her that night. Almost half the act is devoted to Calpurnia’s expression of grief and to her nurse’s fruitless efforts at consolation. The Chorus declaims the fickleness of mankind, whereupon Brutus and Portia reappear. The former, believing that his wife has wounded herself in some domestic labor, reproves her for turning her hands to such work. She tells him that she has wounded herself to prove that she could commit suicide were her death necessary. She fears that her husband may perish in his attempt against Caesar and has resolved to restrain him. This dialogue, filled with mutual protestations of love and constancy, is terminated by the appearance of Calpurnia, whose perturbed countenance prompts them to overhear her. Calpurnia, in a long and tiresome speech, condemns the desire of men for dominion over others as the cause of all their sufferings. The nurse interjects the usual advice and consolation. Calpurnia voices her determination to persuade Caesar to abandon his contemplated visit to the Senate. Brutus petitions Jove to steel the tyrant’s heart to the appeals of his wife. Portia retires to pray for her husband’s success, while he goes to rejoin Cassius and the others in the plot. The Chorus sings the mutability of human happiness, and the act ends.