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All Site ContentJulius CaesarAct 1Scene 2
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Trojan War
Context and Language Videos
Act 1,
Scene 2
Lines 90-131

An explanation of the reference to the Trojan War in Act 1, Scene 2 of myShakespeare's Julius Caesar. 

myShakespeare | Julius Caesar 1.2 Mythological Reference: Trojan War

Cassius

I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
As well as I do know your outward favor.
Well, honor is the subject of my story.
I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life; but for my single self,
I had as lief not be as live to be
In awe of such a thing as I myself.
I was born free as Caesar, so were you;
We both have fed as well, and we can both
Endure the winter's cold as well as he.
For once upon a raw and gusty day,
The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
Caesar said to me ‘Dar'st thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood
And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plungèd in
And bade him follow; so indeed he did.
The torrent roared, and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews, throwing it aside,
And stemming it with hearts of controversy.
But ere we could arrive the point proposed,
Caesar cried 'Help me, Cassius, or I sink!'
I, as Aeneas, our great ancestor,
Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder
The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber
Did I the tirèd Caesar. And this man
Is now become a god, and Cassius is
A wretched creature, and must bend his body,
If Caesar carelessly but nod on him.
He had a fever when he was in Spain,
And when the fit was on him I did mark
How he did shake.  'Tis true, this god did shake!
His coward lips did from their color fly,
And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world
Did lose his lustre.  I did hear him groan —
Ay, and that tongue of his that bade the Romans
Mark him, and write his speeches in their books,
Alas, it cried 'Give me some drink, Titinius,'
As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me
A man of such a feeble temper should
So get the start of the majestic world
And bear the palm alone.
Video Transcript: 

SERVILIA: Cassius is referring to a famous episode from the Trojan war of Greek mythology.

 

RALPH: After a ten-year siege of Troy, the Greeks finally succeeded in overrunning the city by tricking the Trojans with the Trojan horse.

 

SERVILIA: As the city was being sacked, the Trojan prince, Aeneas, saved his elderly father, Anchises, by carrying him on his shoulders from the burning city.

 

RALPH: According to Roman mythology, Aeneas eventually made his way to Italy where one of his descendants, Romulus, founded the city of Rome.

 

SERVILIA: Since Aeneas was considered the “father” of Rome, Cassius refers to him as “our great ancestor.”