Plebeians

Give us some answers! We want answers!

Brutus

Then follow me and let me speak to you, friends. Cassius, you go into the other street and divide the crowd. Let anyone who wants to hear me speak stay here, and those who wish to hear you can go with you. We'll both give reasons before the public for Caesar's death.

First Plebeian

I want to hear Brutus speak.

Second Plebeian

I'll listen to Cassius, and we can compare their reasons when we have heard separately.

Third Plebeian

Noble Brutus has stepped up to speak. Silence!

Brutus

Be patient until I've finished. Romans, fellow citizens, and friends, listen to me explain my reasons, and be silent so that you can hear. Believe me on my honor, and respect that honor so that you will believe me. Judge me with appropriate wisdom, and awake your senses so that you can judge me more accurately. If among this assembly there is any dear friend of Caesar's, I say to him that my love for Caesar is no less than his own. If that friend then demands why I rose up against Caesar, this is my answer: it is not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Would you prefer that Caesar was alive and you all die as slaves, or that Caesar were dead and you live as free men?

Caesar loved me, so I weep for him; Caesar had good fortune, so I celebrated it; Caesar was valiant, so I honored him; but Caesar was also ambitious, so I killed him. Here are tears for his love, celebration for his good fortune, honor for his valor, and death for his ambition. Who here is so lowly that he would willingly be a slave? If any, let him speak for I've offended him. Who here is so barbaric he doesn't want to be a Roman? If there is any, let him speak for I've offended him. Who here is so vile that he doesn't love his country? If there is any, let him speak for I've offended him. I'll pause for a response.

All

None, Brutus, none.

Brutus

Then I have not offended any of you. I have done no more to Caesar than you would do to me. His death has been recorded in the Capitol. The glories he was worthy of in life have not been diminished, nor have the wrongs for which he was killed been exaggerated.

Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony who had no hand in his death, but he will receive the benefit of his death, citizenship in the republic—as indeed, who will not? With this final word I leave you—just as I killed my best friend for the good of Rome, I have the same dagger myself, when my country needs my death.

All

Live, Brutus! live, live!

First Plebeian

Bring him back to his house with triumph.

Second Plebeian

Give him a statue with his ancestors.

Third Plebeian

Let's make him Caesar.

Fourth Plebeian

All the best things about Caesar are also in Brutus, and we'll give him a crown.

First Plebeian

We'll bring him to his house with shouts and joyful noise!

Brutus

My countrymen—

Second Plebeian

Shh, silence! Brutus is speaking!

First Plebeian

Hey, quiet!

Brutus

Good countrymen, let me go alone, and for my sake, stay here and listen to Antony. Honor Caesar's body, and listen courteously to the speech about Caesar's glory that Mark Antony has our permission to make. I ask that no one, except me, leave until Antony is done speaking.

First Plebeian

Let's stay and hear Mark Antony.

Third Plebeian

Let him climb up onto the platform. We will hear him. Noble Antony, climb up.

Antony

For Brutus' sake I am indebted to you.

Fourth Plebeian

What did he say about Brutus?

Third Plebeian

He said for Brutus' sake he finds himself indebted to us all.

Fourth Plebeian

For his own sake he shouldn't say anything bad about Brutus here.

First Plebeian

Caesar was a tyrant.

Third Plebeian

Yes, that's for sure. We're blessed that Rome is rid of him.

Second Plebeian

Quiet! Let's hear what Antony is going to say.

Antony

You gentle Romans—

Plebeians

Hey, quiet! Let's listen to him.

Antony

Friends, Romans, countrymen, give me your attention. I've come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The bad things men do live on after their deaths, but the good things are often buried with their bones. Let that be the case with Caesar. Noble Brutus told you Caesar was ambitious. If that were true, it was a grave fault, and Caesar has gravely paid for it. With Brutus' permission—for Brutus is an honorable man; they all are honorable men—I come to speak at Caesar's funeral.

Caesar was my friend, faithful and just to me. But Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man. He brought many captives home to Rome whose ransoms enriched us all. Did this seem like ambition in Caesar? When the poor would cry, Caesar would weep—ambition should be made of sterner stuff than that. Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man. You all saw that during the feast of Lupercal I presented him with a kingly crown three times, which he refused three times. Was that ambition?

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and he is surely an honorable man. I am not speaking to disprove what Brutus spoke, I'm just here to speak what I know. You all loved Caesar once, and with good cause. What reason then is holding you back from mourning him? Oh judgment, you've fled to brutish animals while men have lost their reason! Bear with me; my heart is in the coffin with Caesar, and I must pause until it returns to me.

First Plebeian

I think what he's saying is very reasonable.

Second Plebeian

If you think about it correctly, Caesar's been terribly wronged.

Third Plebeian

Has he, masters? I fear someone worse might take his place.

Fourth Plebeian

Did you pay attention to his words? Caesar wouldn't take the crown. So it's clear he wasn't ambitious.

First Plebeian

If that's true, then some people will pay dearly for it.

Second Plebeian

Poor soul, Antony's eyes are as red as fire from weeping.

Third Plebeian

There's not a nobler man in Rome than Antony.

Fourth Plebeian

Pay attention to him now, he's starting to speak again.

Antony

Just yesterday Caesar's word was the most important in the world. Now he lies dead here, and there is no one humble enough to mourn him. Oh sirs, if I wanted to stir your hearts and minds into rebellion and rage, then I would wrong Brutus and Cassius, who—you all know—are honorable men. I won't wrong them. I would rather wrong the dead, wrong myself and you, than to wrong such honorable men.

But here's a document with Caesar's seal which I found it in his private room; it's his will. If only the common people could hear his last will and testament—which, excuse me, I don't intend to read—they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds. They'd dip their handkerchiefs in his sacred blood as keepsakes, beg to have one of his hairs as a memento, and leave those hairs to their children in their wills as precious heirlooms.

Fourth Plebeian

Let's hear the will! Read it, Mark Antony.

All

The will! The will! We want to hear Caesar's will!

Antony

Have patience, noble friends; I should not read it. It isn't appropriate that you know how much Caesar loved you. You are not made of wood or stone; you are men, and being men, hearing the will of Caesar, you will become enraged. It will make you mad. It's good that you don't know that you are his heirs, for if you did, oh, what would come of that?

Fourth Plebeian

Read the will! We want to hear it, Antony! Read us the will, Caesar's will!

Antony

Will you be patient? Will you wait a minute? I have gone further than I should have in telling you of the will. I fear I may wrong the honorable men whose daggers stabbed Caesar, I do fear it.

Fourth Plebeian

They were traitors. 'Honorable men'!

All

The will! The testament!

Second Plebeian

They were villains, murderers! The will! Read the will!

Antony

You will force me, then, to read the will? Then make a ring around the corpse of Caesar and let me show you the one who made the will. Should I step down from the platform? Will you let me?

Several Plebeians

Come down.

Second Plebeian

Descend.

Third Plebeian

We will let you.

Fourth Plebeian

Make a ring around him. Stand around him.

First Plebeian

Stand back from the hearse; stand back from the body.

Second Plebeian

Make room for Antony, most noble Antony!

Antony

No, don't crowd around me so much. Stand a bit further off.

Several Plebeians

Stand back! Make room! Stand back!

Antony

If you have tears within you, prepare to shed them now. You all know this cloak. I remember the first time Caesar ever put it on. It was on a summer evening in his tent, the same day he personally saved his outnumbered army from defeat by the the Nervii tribe in France. Look, Cassius' dagger cut through the cloak here. Look at what a tear envious Casca made. This rip is where the well-loved Brutus stabbed him. And look, as he pulled his cursed blade out of Caesar's body, see how the drops of blood followed the dagger back outside. It's as though they rushed outside their home to see whether it was really Brutus banging on their door in so harsh a fashion—for Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's favorite. Oh gods, judge how dearly Caesar loved him!

This was the unkindest wound of them all, for when Brutus stabbed him, it was Brutus' ingratitude, more than the stabs of the traitors arms which finished him off. It was then that his mighty heart burst; and there at the base of Pompey's statue—which all this time was streaming blood—the great Caesar fell. Oh what a demise that was, my countrymen! You and I and all of us were defeated along with him, while bloody treason has triumphed. Now you're weep, feeling the pity; these are gracious tears you shed. Kinds souls, what, are you weeping when you only see Caesar's bloody cloak. Look here!

Here is Caesar himself, as you can see, wounded by traitors.

First Plebeian

Oh pitiful spectacle!

Second Plebeian

Oh noble Caesar!

Third Plebeian

Oh what a woeful day!

Fourth Plebeian

Oh traitors! Villains!

First Plebeian

Oh what a bloody sight!

Second Plebeian

We will be revenged.

All

Revenge! Search! Find them! Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay! Don't let a traitor live!

Antony

Wait, countrymen.

First Plebeian

Quiet there! Listen to the noble Antony.

Second Plebeian

We'll listen to him, we'll follow him, we'll die with him!

Antony

Good friends, sweet friends, don't let me stir you up to such a sudden flood of rebellion. The ones who did this deed are honorable. Alas, I don't know what kind of private grudges they held against Caesar that made them do it. They are wise and honorable, and they will no doubt give you good reasons why. Friends, I haven't come here to steal your hearts away from them. I'm no orator like Brutus is, but just a plain blunt man who loved my friend, as you all know; and as they know also, those who gave me permission to speak publicly of Caesar.

I don't have the wit, the vocabulary, the authority, the gestures, the phrases, nor the figures of speech to stir men up, I just speak directly. I just tell you that which already know, show you sweet Caesar's wounds, and ask these poor speechless mouths to speak for me. But if I were Brutus, and Brutus me, that would be an Antony who could rustle up your spirits and put a tongue in every wound of Caesar's so they could make the very stones of Rome rise up in rebellion.

All

We'll rebel!

First Plebeian

We'll burn Brutus' house down!

Third Plebeian

Let's go then! Let's search for the conspirators!

Antony

Yet listen to me, countrymen, listen to me speak.

All

Hey, quiet! Listen to Antony, most noble Antony.

Antony

Why, friends, you don't know what you're rushing off to do. Why did Caesar deserve your love? Alas, you don't even know. Then I must tell you—you've forgotten the will I told you about.

All

Very true! The will! Let's wait and hear the will.

Antony

Here's the will, with Caesar's seal on it. He gives seventy-five drachmas, a significant sum, to every individual Roman citizen.

Second Plebeian

Most noble Caesar! We'll revenge his death!

Third Plebeian

Oh royal Caesar!

Antony

Listen to me patiently.

All

Hey, quiet!

Antony

In addition, he left to the public all his parks, private gardens, and new orchards on this side of the Tiber River. He left them to you and your heirs in perpetuity—public land for pleasant strolls and recreation. What a Caesar! When will there be another like him?

First Plebeian

Never, never! Let's go away! We'll cremate his body in the holy place, and with the burning branches from his funeral pyre we'll set fire to the traitor's houses! Carry the body.

Second Plebeian

Go fetch a flame!

Third Plebeian

Grab some wooden shutters, anything!

Fourth Plebeian

Get wood frames, shutters, anything!

Antony

Now let it all happen! Evil plight, you have started; take whatever course you want.

How goes it, fellow?

Servant

Sir, Octavius has already arrived in Rome.

Antony

Where is he?

Servant

He and Lepidus are at Caesar's house.

Antony

And I'll go there directly to visit them. I could not have wished for better. Fortune is smiling on us in this good mood, she'll give us anything.

Servant

I heard Octavius say that Brutus and Cassius rode like madmen out the gates of Rome.

Antony

They probably observed the crowds and how I stirred them up. Take me to Octavius.