SERVILIA: Mark Antony, welcome back. 

ANTONY: Thank you. Just me this time? 

SERVILIA: That's right. I hope that's Okay. 

ANTONY: Oh, sure. I would prefer to be with Caesar. 

SERVILIA: We're interviewing him separately just this once. 

ANTONY: He's Okay? 

SERVILIA: Yes, yes, of course. I mean it's the big day at the capitol. And he's on his way there with everyone in tow. And the streets are lined with people. 

ANTONY: Well, he is a popular man and for good reason. 

[LAUGHING] 

SERVILIA: Yes, well, before he can even get there, people are coming up to him, asking him all sorts of things—here read this letter, here sign this petition, that sort of stuff. 

ANTONY: That's his job to rule. 

SERVILIA: Well, he tells everyone to hold off at least until he can take a seat at the capitol. 

ANTONY: Don't you just love how he takes command of every situation even something as little as this. 

SERVILIA: Yes. Well, it's just then that Trebonius pulls you aside to talk to you privately. 

ANTONY: Hmm, privately about what? 

SERVILIA: I don't know honestly. But it must sound important because the two of you head off somewhere quieter. 

ANTONY: OK, well, if you don't know what he's asking me, I don't know what we're going to talk about. 

[LAUGHING] 

SERVILIA: Yes, well, it probably doesn't matter a whole lot because—and I'm sorry to be telling you this, but you start to hear a lot of yelling and shouting. And then people like Cinna and Cassius are screaming liberty, freedom. 

ANTONY: Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. 

SERVILIA: Now you're probably putting two and two together. And I'm actually not allowed to ask what you're thinking or feeling at this point. But pretty soon people come rushing out of the capitol saying that Caesar has been assassinated. 

ANTONY: Assassinated. 

SERVILIA: I'd really love to know what's going on in your head right now. But all I'm allowed to know is that you leave with your men in tow and go home. 

ANTONY: Okay, Okay, that sounds like a good move. Wow, this is very bad, Servilia. Very bad. 

SERVILIA: I can only imagine. Well, the next thing you know is you've sent a servant to ask Brutus—well, to be precise, to kneel before Brutus, praise Brutus, and then ask him if you can see him and find out why he's done this to Caesar. That is as long as he promises not to hurt you. As you have the servant put it, Mark Antony you shall not love Caesar dead so well as Brutus living. I'm sorry. That is a lot to absorb. 

ANTONY: No, no, no. It's Okay. I think I can see where we're going. I'm catching up now. What you've just described is the best course of action in my opinion. 

SERVILIA: Well, you came up with it after all. 

ANTONY: And what does Brutus say? Do I go back to the capitol? 

SERVILIA: Yes, actually. Brutus tells the servant to tell you that he's happy to explain what's happened and that he promises not to hurt you. 

ANTONY: Okay, very well. And what happens next? 

SERVILIA: Let's see. You arrive. All the conspirators are there, their arms covered in blood, Caesar's dead body on the floor at the base of Pompeii statue. And Brutus welcomes you. What the—wait. That's not good. 

ANTONY: Oh, mighty Caesar, dost thou lie so low? Are all thy conquests, glorious, triumphs spoils shrunk to this little measure? Fare thee well. 

SERVILIA: I know this must be shocking. 

ANTONY: Tell them I don't know what they intend, who else they planned to kill. But if am one of them, there is no hour or so for it as Caesar's death, nor no instrument of half that worth as those their swords made noble with the most noble blood of all this world. 

SERVILIA: Wow, so you want them to kill you. 

ANTONY: I begged them. If I'm on their list of enemies. They should kill me now while their hands smoke and steam with Caesar's blood. They have killed the great Caesar. They are now the master spirits of this age. I should die by their hands here beside Caesar. 

SERVILIA: Man, you Romans are a tough bunch. But Brutus is having none of it. He knows how this must look to you. But he says you don't know what's in his heart. He says they did this out of concern for Rome. And that concern for Rome outweighed their concern for Caesar. And he says, again, that they mean no harm to you. Anyway, he wants to tell you all about it. But he wants to gauge the reaction of the people first. The people of Rome need to be told what's going on before their reaction gets out of control. 

ANTONY: Okay, then I will make peace with them. I will shake their hands, all of them. 

SERVILIA: You want to shake their bloody hands? 

ANTONY: Yes, that's right. Look, between you and me Servilia, I'm in a tricky position. They can only think one of two things about me. And both things are bad. Either they think I'm a coward because I haven't stormed in to avenge Caesar's death. Or, they think that I'm a flatterer now sucking up to them that they're in power. That I did love thee, Caesar, oh, 'tis true. 

SERVILIA: Oh dear. I don't think you should look at him. Can we get this body removed? 

ANTONY: Look, if then his spirit look upon us now, should it not grieve him dearer than his death to see his Antony making his peace, shaking the bloody fingers of his foes most noble in the presence of his corpse? If then his spirit to look upon us now, do you all believe in ghosts? Had I as many eyes as he has wounds, weeping as fast as they streamed forth his blood, it would become me better than to close in terms of friendship with his enemies. 

SERVILIA: Better to bawl like a baby than make friends with these guys. But that's not what you're doing for some reason. 

ANTONY: Pardon me, Julius. How like a deer, strucken by many princes, dost thou here lie. 

SERVILIA: Antony, sir, back to the question at hand. 

ANTONY: Oh, all right. 

SERVILIA: Cassius wants to know if you're going to be a friend or an enemy. 

ANTONY: Look, I shook all their hands, didn't I? I'm sorry. It's just when I look at his body. 

SERVILIA: Yeah, maybe you shouldn't do that. 

ANTONY: I just want to know why. I mean what was so dangerous about Caesar that they thought they should kill him? 

SERVILIA: Right. Well, Brutus says he can give you a full explanation. 

ANTONY: That is all I'm asking. 

SERVILIA: But only after he talks to the crowd outside. Apparently, he needs to calm them down first. 

ANTONY: Okay, that sounds good. And I should probably talk to the crowd too. Actually, I'd like to bring Caesar's body to the marketplace and give my own speech just as a friend would at a funeral. 

SERVILIA: And do you want to bring the body? 

ANTONY: Yes, that's right. 

SERVILIA: Well, Okay. Let's see. Brutus doesn't seem to have a problem with it. Though Cassius pulls him aside for a little conversation. Let's see. Do, do, do, do, do, ooh. Oh, yeah, here we go. Brutus says it's fine. You can't blame them for anything that's happened in your speech. You can say all the good stuff you want about Caesar. And you have to make it clear that they've given you permission to speak. 

ANTONY: No problem. 

SERVILIA: Well, then head out. Brutus is going to speak first. He says you should get Caesar's body ready, and then follow them out. 

ANTONY: Follow them out. So they're all already gone? 

SERVILIA: Yes. Why? What are you thinking? Ooh, Oh Okay. Oh, no, remember, don't look at the dead body. 

ANTONY: Oh, pardon me thou bleeding piece of earth that I am meek and gentle with these butchers. Thou art the ruins of the noblest man that ever lived in the tide of times. Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood. Over thy wounds now do I prophesy, which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips to beg the voice and utterance of my tongue. A curse shall light upon the limbs of men. Domestic fury and fierce civil strife shall cumber all the parts of Italy. Blood and destruction shall be so in use and dreadful object so familiar that mothers shall but smile when they behold their infants quartered with the hands of war, all pity choked with custom of fell deeds. Then Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge, with Ate by his side come hot from hell, shall in these confines with a monarch's voice cry, havoc, and let slip the dogs of war. That this foul deed shall smell above the earth with carrion men, groaning for burial. 

SERVILIA: Oh, my goodness. 

ANTONY: Someone's here. 

SERVILIA: What? Oh. 

ANTONY: Who's coming? 

SERVILIA: Right, a servant from a guy named Octavia shows up. He's like a nephew of Caesar's, right? 

ANTONY: Oh yes, yes. That's right. Caesar wrote him a letter to tell him to come to Rome. That's right. 

SERVILIA: Right. The servant says that Octavius is on his way. 

ANTONY: Okay. 

SERVILIA: But then the servant notices Caesar's body and starts getting teary eyed. Can we just get this body covered up now? 

ANTONY: He has a big heart that servant. Oh, now he's going to make me cry all over again. So Octavius is almost here. 

SERVILIA: I guess. He says Octavius is camped out about seven leagues from Rome. 

ANTONY: Mm-hm. 

SERVILIA: Whatever a league is. 

ANTONY: Okay. 

SERVILIA: Do you know what a league is? 

ANTONY: I need the servant to go back to Octavius immediately and tell him not to come yet. He needs to hold off. Rome is in a place of mourning. Here is a mourning Rome, a dangerous Rome. No Rome of safety for Octavius yet. 

SERVILIA: Because he's such a close ally of Caesar's, you mean? 

ANTONY: That's right. Actually, wait. No, he shouldn't go yet. Let him wait until I bring Caesar's body to the marketplace so we can see how the people respond. We need to know what the people think about the cruel behavior of these bloody men. Can you help me with the body? 

SERVILIA: I'm not going close to that body. I don't even want to look at that body again.