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ANTONY'S ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE ON THE

DEATH OF CESAR

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

NOTE. Every student of Shakespeare is familiar with the ringing words of Mark Antony's famous speech. They are as fine an example of the rhetorical figure of irony as English literature furnishes. Antony has been permitted to speak by those whom he hates and distrusts. It is in his heart to inflame the people against these men, but he must be careful 5 to utter no word of protest or rebellion, lest his opportunity be taken from him. So, under the mask of simple grief for Cæsar's death, Antony contrives to fill the minds of his hearers with "mutiny and rage," without uttering a single charge against the conspirators.

In reading this selection orally the effect is heightened by giving no 10 ironical inflection to the words "For Brutus is an honorable man," until they are reiterated.

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Cæsar, not to praise him:
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interrèd with their bones;

So let it be with Cæsar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Cæsar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Cæsar answered it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest-

For Brutus is an honorable man;

So are they all, all honorable men —
Come I to speak in Cæsar's funeral.

He was my friend, faithful and just to me:

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But Brutus says he was ambitious;

And Brutus is an honorable man.

He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Cæsar seem ambitious?

When that the poor have cried, Cæsar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;

And Brutus is an honorable man.

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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 honorable 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 Cæsar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.

But yesterday the word of Cæsar might

Have stood against the world; now lies he there, 25 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 honorable men:

I will not do them wrong; I rather choose

To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you,
Than I will wrong such honorable men.

But here's a parchment with the seal of Cæsar;
I found it in his closet, 't is 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 Cæsar's wounds
And dip their napkins in his sacred blood,

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Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,
And, dying, mention it within their wills,
Bequeathing it as a rich legacy

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5 All. The will! the testament!

Sec. Cit. They were villains, murderers: the will! read the will!

Antony. You will compel me, then, to read the will? Then make a ring about the corpse of Cæsar,

10 And let me show you him that made the will. Shall I descend? and will you give me leave? Several Cit. Come down.

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Sec. Cit.

Third Cit.

Fourth Cit.

Descend.

You shall have leave. [ANTONY comes down.]
A ring; stand round.

First Cit. Stand from the hearse, stand from the body.
Sec. Cit. Room for Antony, most noble Antony.
Ant. Nay, press not so upon me; stand far off.
Several Cit. Stand back; room; bear back.

Ant. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. You all do know this mantle: I remember

The first time ever Cæsar put it on;

'T was on a summer's evening, in his tent, That day he overcame the Nervii:

25 Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through: See what a rent the envious Casca made:

Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabbed;

And as he plucked his cursèd steel away,
Mark how the blood of Cæsar followed it,
As rushing out of doors, to be resolved

If Brutus so unkindly knocked or no;

For Brutus, as you know, was Cæsar's angel:
Judge, O you gods, how dearly Cæsar loved him!
This was the most unkindest cut of all;

For when the noble Cæsar saw him stab,
Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms,

Quite vanquished 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 Cæsar fell.
O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!
Then I, and you, and all of us fell down,
Whilst bloody treason flourished 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 Cæsar's vesture wounded? Look you here,
Here is himself, marred, as you see, with traitors.
First Cit. O piteous spectacle!

Sec. Cit. O noble Cæsar!
Third Cit. O woeful day!
Fourth Cit. O traitors, villains!
First Cit. O most bloody sight!
Sec. Cit. We will be revenged.

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