…. He would be crowned.
How that might change
his nature, there’s the question.
It is the bright day
that brings forth the adder
And that craves wary walking.
Crown him that,
And then I grant we put
a sting in him
That at his will he may
do danger with.
Th' abuse of
greatness is when it disjoins
Remorse from
power. And, to speak truth of Caesar,
I have not
known when his affections swayed
More than
his reason. But ’tis a common proof
That
lowliness is young ambition’s ladder,
Whereto the
climber upward turns his face.
But when he
once attains the upmost round,
He then unto
the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the
clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he
did ascend.
Shakespeare
Julius Caesar Act II, scene 1.
