Friends, Romans, Countrymen...

September 13, 2014

I was rummaging through my archives in search of something when I came across my copy of this speech credited by Shakespeare to Antony following the assassination of Julius Caesar. I have always been impressed by the diplomatic skills which the man employed in dressing up mischief and personal ambition in garbs of grief for a fallen hero - a quality that seems to have been improved upon by successive generations of politicians.

I have used ellipses to indicate portions where his speech was occasionally interrupted by the conversation of members of his audience. Happy reading.

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them;

The good is oft interred with their bones:

So let it be with Caesar. 

The noble Brutus

Hath told you 

Caesar was ambitious:

If it were so, it was a grievous fault;

And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.

Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest,

—For Brutus is an honourable man; So are they all, all honorable men,—

Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.

He was my friend, faithful and just to me:

But Brutus says he was ambitious;

And Brutus is an honourable man.

He hath brought many captives home to Rome,

Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:

Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?

When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:

Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;

And Brutus is an honourable man.

You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,

Which he did thrice refuse: 

Was this ambition?

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;

And, sure, he is an honourable man.

I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,

But here I am to speak what I do know.

You all did love him once,

—not without cause:

What cause withholds you, then, to mourn for him?

—O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,

And men have lost their reason!

—Bear with me;

My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,

And I must pause till it come back to me.

... ... ...

But yesterday

The word of Caesar might have stood against the world: 

Now lies he there

And none so poor to do him reverence.

O masters,

If I were disposed to stir your hearts and minds 

To mutiny and rage,

I should do Brutus wrong and Cassius wrong,

Who, you all know, are honourable men

I will not do them wrong

I rather choose to wrong the dead, to wrong myself, and you

Than I will wrong such honourable men.

But here's a parchment with the seal of Caesar,

—I found it in his closet,—

'tis his will:

Let but the commons hear this testament,

—Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read,—

And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds,

And dip their napkins in his sacred blood;

Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,

And, dying, mention it within their wills,

Bequeathing it as a rich legacy

Unto their issue.

... ... ...

Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it;

It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you.

You are not wood, you are not stones, but men;

And, being men, hearing the will of Caesar,

It will inflame you, it will make you mad.

'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs;

For if you should, O, what would come of it!

... ... ...

Will you be patient? will you stay awhile?

I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it:

I fear I wrong the honorable men

Whose daggers have stabb'd Caesar; I do fear it.

... ... ...

You will compel me, then, to read the will?

Then make a ring about the corpse of Caesar,

And let me show you him that made the will.

Shall I descend? and will you give me leave?

... ... ...

If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.

You all do know this mantle: 

I remember the first time ever Caesar put it on;

'Twas on a Summer's evening, in his tent,

That day he overcame the Nervii.

Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through:

See what a rent the envious Casca made:

Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd;

And as he pluck'd his cursed steel away,

Mark how the blood of Caesar follow'd it,

—As rushing out of doors, to be resolved 

if Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no;

For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel:

Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him!

This was the most unkindest cut of all;

For when the noble Caesar saw him stab,

Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms,

Quite vanquish'd him:

Then burst his mighty heart;

And, in his mantle muffling up his face,

Even at the base of Pompey's statua,

Which all the while ran blood, 

great Caesar fell.

O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!

Then I, and you, and all of us fell down,

Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us.

O, now you weep; and, I perceive, you feel

The dint of pity: 

These are gracious drops.

Kind souls, what, weep you when you but behold

Our Caesar's vesture wounded? 

Look you here, Here is himself, 

Marr'd, as you see, with traitors.

... ... ...

Stay, countrymen

... ... ...

Good friends, 

Sweet friends, 

Let me not stir you up

To such a sudden flood of mutiny.

They that have done this deed are honourable:

What private griefs they have, alas, I know not,

That made them do it; 

They're wise and honourable,

And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you.

I come not, friends, 

to steal away your hearts:

I am no orator, as Brutus is;

But, as you know me all, 

a plain blunt man,

That love my friend; and that they know full well

That gave me public leave to speak of him:

For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,

Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,

To stir men's blood: 

I only speak right on;

I tell you that which you yourselves do know;

Show you sweet Caesar's wounds, 

poor dumb mouths,

And bid them speak for me: 

but were I Brutus,

And Brutus Antony, 

there were an Antony

Would ruffle up your spirits, 

and put a tongue

In every wound of Caesar, 

that should move

The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.

... ... ... 

Yet hear me, countrymen; hear me speak.

... ... ...

Why, friends, you go to do you know not what.

Wherein hath Caesar thus deserved your loves?

Alas, you know not; I must tell you then:

You have forgot the will I told you of.

... ... ...

Here is the will, and under Caesar's seal.

To every Roman citizen he gives,

To every several man, seventy-five drachmas.

... ... ...

Hear me with patience.

... ... ...

Moreover, he hath left you all his walks,

His private arbors, and new-planted orchards,

On this side Tiber: he hath left them you,

And to your heirs forever; common pleasures,

To walk abroad, and recreate yourselves.

Here was a Caesar! when comes such another?