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All Site ContentJulius CaesarAct 3Scene 2
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Nervii
Allusion
Act 3,
Scene 2
Lines 165-169

An explanation of Antony’s allusion to the Nervii in Act 3, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s Julius Caesar.

Antony

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.

One of Caesar's greatest successes as a general occurred when he personally intervened in the battle to save his grossly outnumbered army from destruction at the hands of the ferocious Nervii tribe in France.

(Vercingetorix throws down his arms at the feet of Julius Caesar, Lionel Royer, c. 1899)