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Part II Roedy of Julius Caesar

The first Plutarchian play (see page I-213) written by Shakespeare (probably in 1599) concerned the time four and a half centuries after Coriolanus Roht of Hannibal of Carthage It had spread itself west and east over the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and now all those shores were either Ro

But Roer any serious question of conquest from without That was impossible and would remain impossible for several centuries Noever, there had cole For half a century there had been a sputtering string of conflicts, between generals, for control, and the play opens when the conflict seems to have been decided

The victor is the greatest Roman of them all-Julius Caesar

get you home

The events of the first scene, in the streets of the city of Rome, are those of October 45 bc Caesar has just returned from Spain, where he defeated the last arainst him

He was now undisputed master of all the Roman realm, from end to end of the Mediterranean Sea It seemed Rome was ready now to experience a rich and prosperous period of peace under the great Julius

Not all of Rohted by this turn of events, however Those who had opposed Caesar and his policies ht have been beaten into silence, but not into approval-and not even always into silence

Caesar stood for an utter and thoroughgoing reform of the political system of the Roman Republic, which in the last century had fallen into decay and corruption In this, he was supported chiefly by the commons and opposed chiefly by the senators and the aristocratic families

In the first scene, though, Shakespeare pictures not the aristocratic opposition, but that of a pair of tribunes, Flavius and Marullus This is odd, for the office of tribune was originally established to protect the coainst the aristocrats (an event which is at the core of the events in Cor-iolanus, see page I-222) One would have thought they would be more likely to support Caesar than oppose him

Actually, however, the matter of the tribunes is borrowed by Shakespeare from Plutarch, but is moved earlier in time If the incident had been left in its Plutarchian place, it would have seemed more apt

At any rate, in Shakespeare's version the populace is swar Caesar, when they are met by the tribunes One of them, Flavius, cries out:

Hence! Hoet you home!

- Act I, scene i, line 1

rejoice in his triumph

One of the populace, a cobbler, explains the activity:

indeed, sir, we make holiday to see Caesar

and to re joice in his triumph

- Act I, scene i, lines 33-34

The "triumph" was an old Roman custom borrowed from the ancient Etruscans centuries before Caesar's tieneral entered the city in state, preceded by government officials and followed by his ar decorated streets and between lines of cheering spectators to the Capitol, where religious services were held (It was rather analogous to the modem ticker tape procession down Fifth Avenue)

The day was a high festival, with plenty of food and drink for all at governhted partly with the aura of victory and partly with the fun For the general hihest possible honor

In My 46 bc, more than a year before the play opens, Caesar had returned to Rome after nine years of conquest in Gaul and three years of civil war in Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor, and Africa He had then broken all public records forfour triun eneyptians, the Pontines of Asia Minor, and the Numid-ians of Africa

After that, he went to Spain for one last victorious battle and noas returning for one last triumph

What tributaries

The cobbler's reply but further irritates the tribune Marullus, who cries out in anguish:

Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?

What tributaries follow him to Rome,

To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels?

- Act I, scene i, lines 35-37

Marullus has a point here The whole purpose of a triumph was to demonstrate the victories of Roners Civil wars in theht Roman so that a Roman victory necessarily implied a Roman defeat as well and a triumph was impossible

Caesar, in the course of the civil war, had beaten arenerals, but he had been careful not to celebrate such victories in specific triuht against hihting as allies of Roh the Roman soldiers who opposed him bore the brunt of the defeat

In his last battle in Spaht only Romans and if he had a triu home a true "conquest," no true "tributaries," and why, therefore, a triumph?

Knew you not Pompey

The tribunes can be even more specific Marullus says:

Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft

Have you climbed up to walls and battlements,

To tow'rs and s, yea, to chimney tops,

Your infants in your arms, and there have sat

The livelong day, with patient expectation,

To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome

- Act I, scene i, lines 40-45

Gnaeus Po people) was born in 106 bc and eneral at quite an early age, largely because of his talent for being on the right side in the right place at the right time He won iainst a rebellious Roeneral happened to be assassinated at the crucial moment

He was given the right to append "Magnus" ("the Great") to his name as a result of early victories, which accounts for the tribune's reference to "great Pompey"

In 67 bc he acco Pirates had been infesting the Mediterranean Sea for a long time They had evaded all Roman force and had all but made trade i thee of the entire Mediterranean coast to a distance of fifty miles inland for three years and was told to use that tied to clear them all out in three months!

He was then put in charge of the Roain, this was a treeneral, competent but unpopular, had almost completed the job when his troops rebelled Po forces of the eneot all the credit

In 61 bc he returned to Ronificent triumph Rome had seen up to that time It is presumably partly with reference to this triureat Pompey

Poreat aristocratic family himself and would have been proud to be accepted by the senators as one of their own The senators, however, had learned froenerals of the non-aristocratic classes could be dangerous, and they watched Pompey carefully

Yet Pompey had done his best to earn senatorial approval On returning to Italy in 61 bc after his victories, he had disbanded his army and had taken his place in Roained him a total loss of influence He could not even persuade the Senate to approve the award of bonuses to his faithful soldiers

Pompey was forced to turn elsewhere He formed an alliance with Marcus Licinius Crassus, the richestorator and politician, Julius Caesar Caesar was then an impoverished aristocrat (who nevertheless opposed the Senators) in the employ of Crassus

The three together, in 60 bc, formed the First Triumvirate (triumvir means "three men") and ruled Rome

The three took advantage of their power to parcel out provinces for themselves Caesar, born in 100 bc, and by far the overnorship of that portion of Gaul ruled by Rome (a portion that included what is now northern Italy and southern France) He used that as a base fro his first battles at the age of forty-four, he surprised everyone by showing hienius of the first rank

Poovernorship of Spain, but who let deputies run it while he himself remained in Rome, was not entirely pleased by Caesar's sudden development of a h to take an arht the Parthians, who ruled over what had once been the eastern part of the Persian Empire In 53 bc he lost a catastrophic battle to them at Carrhae, and lost his life as well

Pompey and Caesar now shared the poith no third party to serve as intermediary

By now the senatorial conservatives, frightened by Caesar's success and recognizing Poerous of the two, had lined up solidly behind the latter

Pompey, flattered by aristocratic attentions, let himself be wooed into open opposition to his erstwhile ally When Caesar's terovernor of Gaul caantly ordered Caesar to return to Rome at once without his army This was technically in order since it was treason for any Ro a provincial army into Italy

Caesar, however, knew that if he arrived in Rome without his are or other, and ht well be executed

So after hesitating at the Rubicon River (the little Italian creek which was the boundary of Italy proper, in the Roman view) he made his decision On January 10, 49 bc, he crossed the Rubicon with a legion of troops and a civil war began

Pompey found, much to his own surprise, that Caesar was far more popular than he, and that soldiers flocked to Caesar and not to himself He was forced to flee to Greece and the senatorial party fled with him Caesar followed and at a battle in Pharsalia, Greece, on June 29, 48 bc, Caesar's army smashed that of Pompey

Poypt, which was then still independent of Roovernht displease Caesar, as clearly the co man They therefore assassinated Poyptian soil

Caesar followed, and reypt for a while There hequeen

Caesar next traveled to Asia Minor, and then to Africa, to defeat die-hard armies allied to those who shared the views of the dead Pompey and the senatorial party Only then did he return to Rome for his quadruple triumph

Pompey's blood

In no part of that quadruple triumph did Caesar commemorate his victory over Pompey hiave such of the Pompeian partisans as he could and did his best to erase hard feelings His mission, as far as possible, was to unite Roh conciliation

And yet the Ro up Pompey, reproachfully, in connection with this last triuathered people:

And do you now put on your best attire?

And do you now cull out a holiday?

And do you now streers in his way

That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood?

- Act I, scene i, lines 51-54

By "Poht seem, but Pompey's kinsmen

Pompey had two sons, the elder of whonus also We can call him Gnaeus Pompeius to differentiate him from his father, e can still call simply Pompey

Gnaeus Pompeius remained with the senatorial party after his father's death He had a fleet in his charge and he brought it to Africa (where theit at the service of the largest re senatorial army When Caesar defeated it in April 47 bc, Gnaeus Pompeius escaped to Spain

After the quadruple triuions there and in March 45 bc a battle took place at Munda in southern Spain

The senatorial arht remarkably well and Caesar's forces were driven back For a tiht that years of invariable victory were going to be brought to ruin in one last battle (as had been the case of Hannibal of Carthage a century and a half earlier) So desperate was he that he seized a shield and sword himself, rushed into battle (he was fifty-five years old then), and shouted to his retreating eneral be delivered up to the enemy?"

Stung into action, the retiring legions lunged forward once more and carried the day The last senatorial army iped out Gnaeus Poht, and killed (Poer son escaped and lived to play a part in the events that took place some six years later, and in another of Shakespeare's plays, Antony and Cleopatra)

Now, returning fro Ms victory over Gnaeus Pompeius and it was in this sense that he came in "triumph over Pompey's blood"

the feast of Lupercal

The populace disbands and leaves the stage, presuuilt The tribune, Flavius, then suggests that they tear down the decorations intended for the triue He says:

May we do so?

You know it is the feast of Lupercal

- Act I, scene i, lines 69-70

The Lupercalian festival was an ancient fertility rite whose origins are lost in antiquity and probably predate civilization It involved the ritual sacrifice of goats, which were noted for being ruttish animals

Strips of the skin of the sacrificed goats were cut off by the priests in charge They then ran about the Palatine Hill, striking out with those thongs Anyone struck would be rendered fertile, supposedly, and sterile women therefore so placed themselves at the rites as to make sure they would be struck

The "feast of Lupercal" was held each year on February 15 and this was not the day of Caesar's last triumph at all (as would appear from the play), but four months later Shakespeare, however, commonly compresses time in his historical plays (a compression that is a dramatic necessity, and even a dramatic virtue), and here he lets the fouroff of the populace and the next speech of the tribunes There is no further talk of the triumph

One would suppose from this first scene that the triumph was somehow aborted and never took place It did take place, of course The chief point of the scene is to show that there is opposition to Caesar

in servile fearfulness

Flavius shrugs off the possibility of sacrilege It is more important to resist Caesar's pretensions He says:

These growing feathers plucked fro

Will make him fly an ordinary pitch,

Who else would soar above the view of men

And keep us all in servile fearfulness

- Act I, scene i, lines 75-78

The battle in Caesar's time did not really involve liberty in our modern sense On the one hand was a tiovern On the other was the one-man dictatorship of Julius Caesar, intent on fundaovernment

There would have been no freedom for the coovernovernment would certainly have been more efficient and the realm more prosperous That this is so is demonstrated by the fact that when Caesar's heir and successor founded a Caesar-type government (the Roman Empire), it led to two centuries of unbroken peace and prosperity

During that peaceful tune, however, literary men had leisure to look back on the decades before the establishret the hurly-burly of politics and the active dra personalities It seemed to theilded prison (and indeed the senators someti theic sadness to the days of the Roman Republic

The senatorial party of Caesar's time then came to be called "Republicans" and to be viewed as exponents of "liberty" They were entirely idealized and in this fashion were passed on to Shakespeare and to us We need not be deluded, however The senatorial notion of "liberty" was the liberty of a sroup of venal aristocrats to plunder the state unchecked

Calphurnia

The scene shifts now to another part of Rome, where Caesar and many with him are on their way to attend the Lupercalian rites Caesar's first word in the play is to call his wife:

Calphurnia!

- Act I, scene ii, line 1

Caesar had three wives altogether He married his first wife in 83 bc when he was not yet seventeen She was the daughter of a radical antisena-torial politician, and it was froet his own antisenatorial philosophy When Caesar's father-in-laas killed and the conservatives gamed control and initiated a blood-bath (the radicals had had their turn previously), Caesar was ordered to divorce his wife He refused! Itman's aristocratic connections saved his life

Caesar's first wife died in 67 bc and heas wife Poht of his career

In 62 bc a certain young scapegrace na") played a rather foolish practical joke He dressed hiot hiious festival was in process which only women could attend

He was caught and it was a great scandal Many whispered that it could not have been done without the co-operation of Poht not be Pompeia's lover Pompeia was almost certainly innocent, but Caesar divorced her at once with the famous remark that "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion" Actually, he was probably tired of her and was glad of a face-saving excuse for the divorce

After Caesar had forain, for the third and last tune, to Calpurnia (or Calphurnia, as Shakespeare calls her) She was a daughter of one of Pompey's friends, and it was therefore, in a sense, another political e

in Antonius' way Caesar has a simple direction for Calphurnia:

Stand you directly in Antonius' way When he doth run his course

- Act I, scene ii, lines 3-4

Antonius, it seeoat-hide thongs at the Lupercalian festival Since Calphurnia has had no children, and Caesar would like a direct heir, it will be useful for her to be struck

The Antonius referred to is Marcus Antonius, far better known, in English, as Mark Antony He was born in 83 bc and was thirty-eight years old at the time of this Lupercalian festival He was related to Julius Caesar on his eneral while he was in Gaul He had remained loyally pro-Caesar ever since

Mark Antony had been tribune in 49 bc when Po to force Julius Caesar to come to Italy without his army Mark Antony and his fellow tribune did what they could to block senatorial action, then fled to Caesar's arer of their lives Since tribunes were inviolate and ht not be harmed, Caesar had the excuse he needed to cross the Rubicon with his army

While Caesar was in Greece and Egypt fighting the civil war, Mark Antony held the fort in Roood job of it

Caesar continued to value hiether to the end

the ides of March

And then a voice calls Caesar's name It is a soothsayer, a e is a simple one:

Beware the ides of March

- Act I, scene ii, line 18

To understand the matter of "the ides" we must consider the Roman calendar, which must set some sort of record for inconvenience

Each of the Roman months has three key dates and the other days are defined as "so many days before the such-and-such key date" Nor are the key dates regularly spaced or quite the same from month to month

The first day of each month is the "calends" of that month

Not long after the calends come the "nones" The nones fall on the fifth day of January, February, April, June, August, September, November, and December, and on the seventh day of March, May, July, and October

The word "nones" means "nine" because it falls nine days before the third key date, the "ides," where the nine days count the day of the ides itself The ides, therefore, fall on the fifteenth day of March, May, July, and October, and on the thirteenth day of the other months

Froather that the "ides of March" is e could call March 15 today The Lupercalian festival, which falls on February 15, is not, however, on the "ides of February," for that date would becall February 13

I aamesome

Cal and passes on to the festival The incident of the soothsayer is not a Shakespearean invention, but is referred to in Plutarch

That, of course, does not necessarily make it authentic The event of the ides of March was so dra point of history that numerous fables arose afterward of all sorts of supernatural o it The incident of the soothsayer is only theone of them

After Caesar and his party pass on, two men remain behind: Brutus and Cassius Cassius asks if Brutus intends to watch the festival and Brutus says he won't, for:

/ aamesome: I do lack some part

Of that quick spirit that is in Antony

- Act I, scene ii, lines 28-29

No, he is not gaay") The Roenerally presented as grave, portentous, dignifiedphrases, and that is exactly how Brutus is presented

He is Marcus Junius Brutus, born in 85 bc, and therefore just past forty at this time

Brutus was the "Republican" most idealized by later historians, but he was by no means an admirable character in real life

To begin with, he was a nephew of Cato, one of Caesar's , then, that Brutus was also an eneht on Pompey's side in Greece and was taken prisoner when Pompey was defeated

Caesar, however, followed a consistent policy of leniency toward his ene, perhaps, that in this way he converted them to friends and healed the wounds inflicted by civil war So Brutus was pardoned and set free

The policy seeh he were converted from a Pompeian into a sincere Caesarian When Caesar went to Africa to take care of the senatorial armies there, those had, as one of their most important leaders, Cato, as Brutus' uncle And yet Brutus remained one of Caesar's lieutenants and served him loyally in the province of Cisalpine Gaul (in what is now northern Italy)

Later on, crucially and fatally, he abandoned Caesar once again The later idealization of Brutus has hilance at his career before the opening scenes of Julius Caesar wouldturncoat

Cassias

Brutus is unwilling that his lack of gamesomeness should interfere with Cassius' pleasures He says:

Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires;

I'll leave you

- Act I, scene ii, lines 30-31

Cassius' full nainus, and he is a capable soldier He ith Crassus to the East as second-in-command After the disastrous defeat which alood part to Crassus' incapacity, Cassius took over and brought as left of the army safely back to Roman territory

He was also with Pompey at first, but after Pompey's defeat he reassessed the situation He had not been captured, but it seemed to him that Caesar was sure to win, and Cassius intended to be on the winning side He followed Caesar into Asia Minor and threw himself on the conqueror's mercy Caesar pardoned him and let him serve under him

Cassius married Junia, the sister of Brutus, and was, therefore, Brutus' brother-in-law

Your hidden worthiness

But now that Brutus ently restrains hiins, carefully, to seduce him with praise He tells Brutus that he is too :

it is very much lamented, Brutus,

That you have no such mirrors as will turn

Your hidden worthiness into your eye,

That you ht see your shadow

- Act I, scene ii, lines 35-38

Soeneral idealization of Brutus is such that ine that Brutus is presented in heroic colors; and, indeed, the play is often produced with Brutus as the hero Yet a close reading seems to show that Shakespeare is utterly out of sympathy with Brutus and makes him rather a despicable character

Cassius bemoans Brutus' modesty, but there is no modesty in Brutus as portrayed by Shakespeare Brutus always listens complacently to those who praise hih Nor does Cassius for a moment really believe that Brutus is modest, for in the rest of the scene his attempt to win over Brutus to a desired line of action is pitched entirely to Brutus' overweening vanity

Caesar for their king

Cassius' s flattery is interrupted by the sound of shouting in the distance, and Brutus cries out:

What ? I do fear the people

Choose Caesar for their king

- Act I, scene ii, lines 79-80

The word "king" had a dread sound to Roreat days, a dread that dated back to the hated Tarquin (see page I-211) The tale of Tarquin was a heritage of every Roe III is of every American schoolboy, and a stanch republicanism was inculcated in the former case as it is in the latter

Then too, in the two centuries preceding Julius Caesar's period of power, Rome had been more or less continuously at ith the various Hellenistic nations of the eastern Mediterranean, all of which were ruled by kings Kings were the enes were always defeated by the Roman republicans, so that the institution of monarchy had the aura of defeat about it

Consequently, Caesar was in a dilemovernnant and unworkable, but he could not do so by ordinary legal h the Senate, and the Senate was hostile and obstructionist Hence, he had to rule dictatorially, by decree

The Roovernment allowed for rule by decree under certain conditions A special official could be elected for six months ould have the power to rule by decree He was a "dictator" (fro "to say," because what he said becaendary) dictator was Cincinnatus, who in 458 bc held the dictatorship for only a few days to ency

In later tieneral Lucius Cornelius Sulla made himself dictator and held the post for two years This ith the connivance of the Senate, whose cause Sulla favored

Caesar took advantage of the broadening and turned it against the Senate He had taken the power of a dictator during the civil war and at the time of the quadruple triumph had had himself declared dictator for a term of ten years After the Spanish triumph, which opens this play, he was made dictator for life

He used the dictatorship to bring about his progra it out of the hands of the few oligarchs whothe entry of important families from the provinces He broadened the base of citizenship, revised the taxation procedure, reconstructed cities, ithen the moral structure of society, and reformed the calendar so that it was almost the one we use today He even established the first public library

Yet although he was dictator for life, Caesar felt it was not enough As le for power, and all his reforms would be undone That placed a preer for an assassination If he were king, however, Ms poould merely descend to his nearest heir upon his death, and there would be far less point to killing him

It was this desire of Caesar to -a desire imputed to him by the senatorial conservatives, and probably justly so-that was the chief weapon against him The conservatives, who hated hiship, hoping that the hated ould turn the populace against Caesar

On the other hand, the conservatives also feared that the popularity of his reforht more than make up for the fearsoht up on the occasion of some holiday such as the present Lupercalian festival, would be sta and that the Senate would then be forced,Once that was done, it would be too late to expect to turn back the tide of reform

It was exactly this that Brutus feared when he heard the shouting

the waves of Tiber

Brutus' outspoken fear of Caesar as king heartens Cassius He plays on that fear by describing the indignity of having to bon to one who after all is but a ood a man as oneself To make his point, he tells a tale of a contest between himself and Caesar

One cold day Caesar challenged Cassius to swim across the river Caesar wearied first and cried out for help Cassius says:

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 tired Caesar

- Act I, scene ii, lines 112-15

The Tiber River is 252 est river in Italy It would bear little distinction as a river were it not that, like some other short rivers, such as the Thareat capital was located on its banks The city of Rome was founded twenty miles upstream from its mouth

Here again there is a reference to Aeneas as the ancestor of the Roe I-20)

Like a ColossusIn all Cassius' clever speaking, he doesn't once accuse Caesar of tyrannical behavior or of cruelty; he doesn't say his reforms are wicked or evil

He concentrates entirely on Caesar's physical weakness and poor health, for he is endeavoring to show Brutus that Caesar is inferior, hoping that Brutus' inordinate vanity would then rebel at bowing down to such a ruler

He labors to find a way to describe the greatness of Caesar and the comparative littleness of Brutus in such a way as to force Brutus to rebel Cassius says:

Why, man, he doth bestride the narroorld

Like a Colossus, and we petty men

Walk under his huge legs and peep about

To find ourselves dishonorable graves

- Act I, scene ii, lines 135-38

The Colossus is a statue of the sun god built in the island of Rhodes in 280 bc to coe by a Macedonian general, Dee statue is unknown, but this Rhodian statue, the largest in the Greco-Roman world, 105 feet tall, was the Colossus of Rhodes It was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world

It did not, however, reladden the eyes of those who value size in art In 224 bc, little more than half a century after it had been built, it was toppled by an earthquake

Once it was gone, the description of what it had looked like while it was standing gradually grew randiose, until finally the tale arose that it had straddled Rhodes' harbor and that ships had sailed between its legs in and out of that harbor This is, of course, quite impossible, for the ancient Greeks had lacked the e in a position that would place so s

The picture is nevertheless a dramatic one, and Cassius, by whose time the statue had been out of existence for nearly two centuries, uses it to fire up Brutus' vanity and envy

a Brutus once

Cassius plays on Brutus' pride of ancestry too, saying:

There was a Brutus once that would have brooked

Th'eternal devil to keep his state in Rome

As easily as a king

- Act I, scene ii, lines 159-61

Brutus considers himself to be descended froend, helped overthrow King Tarquin and set up the Roe I-211)

and Cicero

Brutus' vanity is not proof against Cassius' skilful seduction, and he admits that he resents Rome's present situation

Before e, returning fro around him

Caesar is clearly angry and those about him look perturbed Brutus, surprised at this, says to Cassius:

Calphurnia's cheek is pale, and Cicero

Looks with such ferret and such fiery eyes

As we have seen him in the Capitol,

Being crossed in conference by some senators

- Act I, scene ii, lines 185-88

Marcus Tullius Cicero, though he plays only a small part in this play, was actually the most important man in Rome in Caesar's time, next to Caesar himself

He was born in 106 bc of middle-class family and received an excellent education in Greece He returned to Ro lawyer and orator (the tent together) Heone of the particularly crooked Roovernors of the time, Gaius Verres, in 74 bc

In 63 bc he reached the pinnacle of his career when, as consul, he scotched a dangerous conspiracy against the Roius Catilina (known in English as Catiline), and had its leaders executed

He never reached such heights again He was not brave enough or skillful enough to be an effective opponent of Caesar In fact, Caesar had his lackey, Publius Clodius (the saious festival and made it possible for Caesar to divorce his second wife), to so vilify and harass Cicero as to drive the latter out of Italy altogether in 59 bc

Mark Antony had an undying hatred for Cicero, since Antony's foster father had been an associate of Catiline and had been aation of Cicero Cicero returned the hatred

Cicero was a friend of Poht, would be able to dominate Rome and defeat Caesar When Pompey found he could not retain Italy and fled to Greece, Cicero, greatly disconcerted, left Italy with hi the Pompeian forces and after the Battle of Pharsalia returned to Italy, deterht on with the remnants of a doomed cause Caesar did not disappoint him; he pardoned Cicero and treated him kindly Thereafter, Cicero displayed a wary neutrality, neither opposing Caesar's refor them, either

Cicero was a debater rather than a warrior, and he was at home in the battle of words in the Senate rather than in the battle of swords on the field Hence his angry red eyes (a ferret's eyes are red) reminded Brutus of his appearance when he was opposed in senatorial debate

always I am Caesar

But even while Brutus and Cassius observe Caesar and his co them as well He remarks upon Cassius, particularly, to Antony, in a fae:

Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;

He thinks too erous

- Act I, scene ii, lines 194-95

But after elaborating on Cassius' gravity and on his inability to have fun and thus allow his possible feelings of envy to evaporate in pleasure, Caesar adds hastily:

I rather tell thee what is to be feared

Than what I /ear; for always I am Caesar

- Act I, scene ii, lines 211-12

Caesar, as portrayed by Shakespeare, strikes wooden poses constantly He is like a speaking statue, rather than a hu

This is not and cannot be historical All our sources see us that Caesar had infinite chariven half a chance He was second only to Cicero as an orator and his surviving Commentaries, in which he describes his wars in Gaul and the civil war, are ample evidence of his ability as a writer

He was a reent man; a most human man He was miles removed from the cardboard strutter in Shakespeare and was in real life e Bernard Shaw's portrayal of him in Caesar and Cleopatra

Why does Shakespeare portray him so woodenly then? Unfortunately, it was the fashion to describe ancient Romans like that This fashion stems from the plays of the Roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca, rote about a century after Caesar's death His are a the most fustian plays ever written, full of eh-sounding speeches

The general public loved thehts in early edies after the style of Seneca, notably Titus Andronicus (see page I-391)

A French poet, Marc Antoine Muret, wrote a tragedy entitled Julius Caesar in Latin in 1553 He followed the style of Seneca and made Caesar into a wooden poseur This was popular too, and one theory is that when Shakespeare wrote his tragedy, he had to keep Caesar in this form because the audience expected it and would not accept any other version

We ainst his will, for he follows Caesar's pompous claim to fearlessness with an ireat oes on to say to Mark Antony:

Coht hand, for this ear is deaf,

And tell me truly what thou think'st of him

- Act I, scene ii, lines 213-14

a crown offered him

Caesar and his followers leave again, but one remains behind, held back by Brutus The h, coarse individual, the kind who has no "book learning" and is proud of it He is Publius Servilius Casca in full, and his only mark in history is his participation in the conspiracy which Cassius is noorking up

Casca is asked as to the events at the festival that caused Caesar to look so put out Casca says:

Why, there was a crown offered hi offered him,

he put it by with the back of his hand, thus;

and then the people fell a-shouting

- Act I, scene ii, lines 220-22

Apparently Mark Antony took the occasion of the festival, when public spirits were high, and enthusiasm for Dictator Julius was loud, to offer him a linen headband wreathed in laurel The laurel wreath ithin the Roman tradition It was a sy the victors of the Olyames in laurel wreaths

The linen headband was, however, a "diades of the East For Caesar to put on this particular laurel wreath was tantaold replaced linen and it was a gold circlet, or crown, that became the symbol of royalty Shakespeare transht understand)

Caesar's stratagem seems obvious The diadem is made to look as harmless and as Roman as possible by means of the laurel decoration Ostentatiously, he refuses it, hoping that the crowd, in its enthusiasraciously accede to their cla by the will of the people

Unfortunately, the crowd did not react this way Instead of de it Twice more Mark Antony tried, and twice more the crowd cheered the refusal No wonder Caesar had looked angry His stratage a fool of himself

To Cassius and others of his e and if the trick today had failed, another toht not-and this must be stopped at all costs

foamed at mouth

Caesar's anger and disappointraphically by Casca He relates that after the third refusal, Caesar:

fell down in the market place, and foamed at mouth,

and was speechless

- Act I, scene ii, lines 252-53

In short, he had had an epileptic fit The tale that Caesar was an epileptic may not be a reliable one, however The Roman historian Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus wrote a scandal-filled set of biographies of the early Roman emperors a century and a half after Caesar's ti sickness" in the time of battle It is always doubtful how far one can believe Suetonius, however

Shakespeare has Casca make another notable comment, e Asked if Cicero said anything, he answered that Cicero had spoken in Greek:

those that understood him smiled at one another

and shook their heads; but for mine own part, it was

Greek to me

- Act I, scene ii, lines 282-84

put to silence Casca then says:

/ could tell you more news too :

Marullus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs off

Caesar's ies, are put to silence

- Act I, scene ii, lines 284-86

Marullus and Flavius are the tribunes of the first scene and this seems to hark back to their activities at the Spanish triumph months before Actually, their activities then are purely Shakespearean and have no source in history

Plutarch associates them, rather, with the incident at the Lupercalian festival After the refusal of the diadem, someone apparently placed it on the head of a statue of Caesar, as though he were still trying to fire the Ro One of the tribunes plucked it off and the people cheered hierm for Shakespeare's first scene

Shakespeare says the tribunes were "put to silence," which sounds alh they were executed Plutarch, however, merely says they were turned out of their office

he loves Brutus

Casca leaves, and then Brutus Cassius is left alone to srimly and remark in soliloquy at how easy Brutus is to handle:

Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet I see

Thy honorable ht

From that it is disposed

- Act I, scene ii, lines 308-10

Brutus is constantly being called honorable and noble throughout the play, yet he never seems so in action Not only is he vain and envious, but he is rather stupid too Cassius plans to throw letters into Brutus' , disguised in various hands, all praising hi him to save the state He is certain that Brutus' colossal vanity and less than colossal intelligence will em a success

Why should Cassius want such a vain fool as Brutus on his side? Can Brutus be trusted not to ruin any conspiracy of which he forms a part? (Actually, no, for his vain folly ruins this one, as Shakespeare ives the answer in his soliloquy:

Caesar doth bear me hard, but he loves Brutus

- Act I, scene ii, line 313

Later historians emphasized Caesar's partiality toward Brutus since itevents all the more dramatic On the other hand, there is one instance which see in terms of hard action

When Caesar first returned in triumph to Rome, Cassius and Brutus both asked for the post of praetor of the city (an office rather like the h he is supposed to have admitted that Cassius was the more fit for it

Caesar's surprising partiality for Brutus and the fact that he was supposed to have once been friendly with Brutus' ave rise to the scandalous tale that Brutus was an illegitiers, then as now, prefer a drauess to a sober fact, and we need not take this very seriously

However, one can see that Cassius values Brutus partly because through Brutus conspirators may probe Caesar's inner defenses more easily

to the Capitol tomorrow

Between the second and third scenes anotheraction of the play Casca meets with Cicero in the third scene Casca looks wild and, on Cicero's question, Casca tells of numerous supernatural events he has just witnessed Cicero seems unmoved He dismisses the tale and asks, practically:

Comes Caesar to the Capitol tomorrow?

- Act I, scene iii, line 36

It is, in other words, the night before the ides of March It is March 14 and Caesar has called the Senate into session for the next day for soreat moment

Caesar was planning to head eastith an army to make war on the Parthians, who had destroyed Crassus and most of his arone unavenged Before Caesar could leave, certain matters had to be cleared up

One possibility is that Caesar did not want to leave Roship, and that he was calling the Senate into session in order to force them to offer him the crown

Was this so? Would he really accept a grudged title, then depart fro the city to al the Senate into session for a forainst the Parthians and for the establishone? Who can tell now

The conspirators, however, thought they knehat Caesar planned They were sure that Caesar was going to rab for the crown and that there was only one last chance to stop him-before the Senate actually had a chance to meet

Because they thought so, the next day, March 15, 44 bc, was to be a key date in world history, and later legend got busy to fill the night before with supernatural portents It is those legends which Shakespeare incorporates into his play

Our ownout of hand any tales of supernatural occurrences on the night of March 14-15 We can dismiss them even in terms of the Romans themselves If the eve of the ides had really been so riddled with horror, the conspirators would probably have been cowed from their project by superstition

save here in Italy

Cicero leaves and Cassius enters He too is full of the prodigies of the night and he begins to sound out Casca's feelings with regard to Caesar Casca passes on one rumor as to Caesar's plans for the next day:

Indeed, they say the senators tomorrow

Mean to establish Caesar as a king;

And he shall wear his crown by sea and land,

In every place save here in Italy

- Act I, scene iii, lines 85-88

Was this Caesar's intention? It seems, on the surface, a reasonable compromise Italy at that time still ruled the Roman realm, and it was the Italians alone ere Roman citizens, and it was Roman citizens alone who had the traditional objection to monarchy The provinces outside Italy lacked the Roman tradition and s They would accept a King Julius without objection and Italy would continue under Dictator Julius

It would, however, be a useless compromise as it stood The permanence of monarchy would exist only in the provinces, which ithout military pohile in Italy itself, where lay the control of the arnal for civil war

What is h, is that it would be intended to be te elsewhere would it be before he were king in Italy as well? The Ro, would come to accept him as such

Unquestionably, those who opposed Caesar and his reforship for Italy only would be coht of it drives Casca to agree to join the conspiracy Cassius is for

'Tis Cinna

Another enters Casca is at once cautious (he is dealing in a dangerous plot which, if it fails, means death) Cassius reassures him:

Tis Cinna; I do know hiait;

He is a friend

- Act I, scene iii, lines 132-33

It is Lucius Cornelius Cinna His father, with the same name, had also been the father of Caesar's first wife The elder Cinna had been one of Roainst the senatorial govern a revolution His troops ainst hier Cinna, however, had now joined the conspiracy against Caesar and in behalf of the senatorial party

It is a how many of the conspirators were in one way or another beholden to Caesar-Brutus most of all That is probably one reason why the conspiracy succeeded; Caesar considered them all friends

Decius Brutus and Trebonius

Other conspirators are nize Casca at first He says:

Who's that? Metellus Cimber?

- Act I, scene iii, line 134

Then, a little later, when Cassius prepares to have the entire group meet at a particular site, he asks:

Is Decius Brutus and Trebonius there?

- Act I, scene iii, line 148

Gaius Trebonius was of the aristocracy, like Caesar, but, again like Caesar, he took an active part in the reform movement and worked hard in the Senate on behalf of eneral under Caesar in the wars in Gaul and in 45 bc (just the year before) Trebonius served as consul, the chief istrate of Rome, thanks to Caesar's influence To be sure, the consul had little real pohile Caesar was dictator, but it was a most honorable position

As for "Decius Brutus," the na North's translation of Plutarch, where the same error is to be found The correct naed to the same family as did Marcus Junius Brutus, who is the Brutus of this play This second Brutus is referred to as "Decius" throughout the play and I will do so too, since that will conveniently prevent confusion between the two Brutuses

Decius was another one of Caesar's generals during the Gallic conquest In fact, he commanded the fleet at one point, and after Caesar's victory he served as governor of Gaul for a couple of years His relationship to Caesar was so close that the Dictator even named Decius as one of his heirs, in case no member of his own family survived him

the noble Brutus

Yet despite the importance of the individuals in the conspiracy, the need is felt for so more Cinna says:

O Cassius, if you could

But win the noble Brutus to our party-

- Act I, scene iii, lines 140-41

Casca explains a little later:

O, he sits high in all the people's hearts;

And that which would appear offense in us,

His countenance, like richest alchemy,

Will change to virtue and to worthiness

- Act I, scene iii, lines 157-60

There is another reason why Brutus is desired: to cast a respectable cloak over what otherwise ht seem a heinous deed

But Cassius explains his schees and even has the them

no personal cause

The scene now shifts to Brutus' house Brutus has been unable to sleep He wishes to join the conspiracy, but what he needs is so noble reason to do so He can't ad driven to it by Cassius' skillful appeal to his own vanity He says:

/ know no personal cause to spurn at him,

But for the general He would be crowned

How that e his nature, there's the question

- Act II, scene i, lines 11-13

That seeht change Caesar He decides he will

think hi

Which hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous,

And kill him in the shell

-Act II, scene i, lines 32-34

What Brutus is now thinking of is a kind of preventive assassination Caesar must be killed not because he is tyrannical but because he row tyrannical

There is appeal in this argument Power does tend to corrupt, as history has a to reason that a tyrant is best removed before he has a chance to show that corruption What if Adolf Hitler had been assassinated in 1932?

And yet, it is a dangerous view Once we accept the fact that assassination is justified to prevent tyranny rather than to punish it, ould be safe? What ruler could be sure of not being regarded by soh road to tyranny, which he would reach someday?

Erebus itself

Brutus has been receiving the faked letters Cassius has prepared for hi in the nobility of the enterprise It is clear he intends to join the conspiracy and yet he is still uneasy about it

When the conspirators arrive at his house, cloaked in masks and darkness, he is aware of the intrinsic shame of conspiracy He apostrophizes personified conspiracy and says it must assume a false front, for

thy native semblance on,

Not Erebus itself were dih

To hide thee from prevention

-Act II, scene i, lines 83-85

In sos of the Greek myths, Erebus is pictured as the son of Chaos, the brother of Night, and the father of the Fates There are no tales told of him, however, and in poetry he is merely, as here, used as the personification of darkness (The word is also used, soion en route to Hades)

what of Cicero

The conspirators are now all together and Brutus is for their ranks Should still others be recruited? Cassius asks:

But what of Cicero? Shall we sound him?

I think he will stand very strong with us

- Act II, scene i, lines 141-42

Cicero had a very high reputation in Roeneral corruption, Cicero idely recognized as an honest h ideals He was a true republican and favored republican institutions backed by an honest and upright Senate He would certainly be opposed to Caesar as king All agree at once, therefore, that Cicero would be an excellent addition

All but Brutus, that is, for he says:

O name him not! Let us not break with [confide in] him;

- Act II, scene i, line 150

According to Plutarch's tale, Cicero was not approached because it was felt he lacked the necessary resolution and ht, in a pinch, betray the conspiracy

And, indeed, although he was personally upright, he was indeed a physical coward and could not, through

When that aristocratic hoodlu Cicero and attacking his retinue with his gang of toughs, Cicero was not the man to face him out Cicero fled the country and satisfied hi letters of co leader, Milo, in 52 bc, Cicero undertook to defend Milo but was scared into voicelessness by hostile crowds

Again, in the civil war between Pompey and Caesar, Cicero made a ratherground to death between the two, and feared to coerously in either direction

With this background, the conspirators would be justified in not wishing to risk their e

This, however, is not the view Shakespeare presents Brutus as holding He has Brutus give as his reason:

For he [Cicero] will never follow anything

That other in

- Act II, scene i, lines 151-52

Brutus objects to Cicero's vanity and to his penchant for insisting on leading an operation or refusing to join It is indeed true that Cicero was terribly vain, but not more so than Brutus is portrayed to be in this play

Indeed, one can easily suspect that Brutus does not want Cicero because he does not want a rival; that it is Brutus hi that other in"

He has just joined the conspiracy which otherover the decision- the direction of the conspiracy Cassius proposes Cicero and Brutus vetoes it This, in fact, continues throughout the play Cassius is constantly estions, which Brutus as constantly vetoes

sacrifices, but not butchers

Al decision on the conspirators, one that makes rum inevitable

Cassius suggests that Mark Antony be killed along with Caesar This is a sensible viee accept the notion of the assassination in the first place In planning any attack, it is only practical to take into account the inevitable counterattack and take measures to blunt it Even if Caesar is killed, Mark Antony, an experienced general who is popular with his troops, would have the ability and the will to strike back, if he is allowed to live Why not kill hiin with?

But Brutus says:

Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius,

To cut the head off and then hack the limbs,

Like wrath in death and envy afterwards;

For Antony is but a limb of Caesar

Let's be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius

- Act II, scene i, lines 162-66

Is this Brutus' nobility? If so, Shakespeare takes considerable pains to neutralize it in the assassination scene an act later, where the conspirators do act like butchers and Brutus urges them to it

Is it Brutus' obtuse stupidity? Perhaps, but even more so it is an exa that other in"

Perhaps Brutuswith Caesar, if only Cassius hadn't mentioned it first Noever, that Brutus is in the conspiracy he will lead it, and the one way to do that is to contradict any initiative on the part of the others

Cassius, uneasily appalled by Brutus' blindness, tries to argue against it Cassius says of Mark Antony:

Yet I fear him;

For in the ingrafted love he bears to Caesar

- Act II, scene i, lines 183-84

But Brutus won't even let him finish Brutus has spoken, and that's that

Count the clock

At this point there is the sound of a clock striking, and Brutus says:

Peace! Count the clock

- Act II, scene i, line 192

This is one of theanachronisms in Shakespeare, for there were no mechanical clocks in the modern sense in Caesar's time The best that could be done was a water clock and they were not cohts, were inventions of medieval times

Indeed, the very sa of ti in a way far more appropriate to his period He says then, peevishly, as he sleeplessly paces his bedroom:

I cannot, by the progress of the stars,

Give guess how near to day

- Act II, scene i, lines 2-3

Cato's daughter

Soements are made Decius volunteers to e his mind and that he does come to the Capitol

There is talk of adding new conspirators and of the exact ti The conspirators then leave and Brutus is left alone

But not for long His wife enters, and de on Who are these ely? She feels she has a right to know, for

I grant I am a woman; but withal

A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife

I grant I am a woman; but withal

A wohter

- Act II, scene i, lines 292-95

Cato was the Pompeian leader referred to earlier, who led the anti-Caesar forces in Africa His full name was Marcus Porcius Cato, and he is usually called "Cato the Younger," because his great-grandfather, another Marcus Porcius Cato (see page I-227), was also iid virtue He deliberately conducted his life along the lines of the stories that were told of the ancient Romans

Since he was always very ostentatious about his virtue, he annoyed other people; since he never ered them; and since he never compromised, he alent down to defeat in the end

Later generations, however, who didn't have to deal with hireatly ad devotion to his principles

Cato, after the defeat of the anti-Caesarian forces in Africa at the Battle of Thapsus in 46 bc, was penned up with the remnants of the army in the city of Utica (near modern Tunis) Rather than surrender, he killed himself, so that he is sometimes known to later historians as "Cato of Utica" (Meanwhile the "noble" Brutus, far fro his uncle's steadfastness, had switched to Caesar's side and was serving under him)

Cato had a daughter, Porcia, or "Portia" as the name appears in this play, as thus Brutus' first cousin The two had married in 46 bc and were thus married about two years at the tie for each

a voluntary wound

Portia is an example of the idealized view of the Roh-e I-225) Thus, Shakespeare follows an unpleasant story told by Plutarch and has Portia say:

/ haveproof of my constancy,

Giving myself a voluntary wound

Here in the thigh; can I bear that with patience,

And not my husband's secrets?

- Act II, scene i, lines 299-302

According to Plutarch, she slashed her thigh with a razor, and then suffered a fever, presurew infected She recovered and, showing Brutus the scar, said this indicated hoell she could endure pain and ensured that even torture would wring no secrets out of her

Roend spoke frequently of the manner in which Romans could endure pain in a patriotic cause There is the tale, for instance, of Gaius Mucius, who in the very early days of the Ro siege to Roeneral's tent with the intention of assassinating hieneral demanded, under threat of torture, information on Rome's internal condition

Mucius then deliberately placed his right hand in a nearby lamp flame and held it there till it was consumed, to indicate how little effect torture would have on him Perhaps Portia's self-inflicted wound was inspired by the Mucius legend And perhaps the tale concerning Portia is noMucius

If the matter of Portia's wound were true, then the fact that Brutus was unaware of a bad wound in his wife's thigh until she showed it to hie

Caius Ligarius

Before Brutus can explain the situation to Portia, however, a new conspirator enters and she reets him:

Caius Ligarius, that Metellus spake of

- Act II, scene i, line 311

Plutarch calls hiarius in other places In either case, he is a senator who supported Poer He was taken prisoner after the Battle of Thapsus, but was pardoned by Caesar after he had been brought to trial, with Cicero as his defender

Ligarius would have joined the conspiracy sooner but he is sick As soon as he hears of the details, however, he says:

By all the gods that Romans bow before,

1 here discard my sickness!

- Act II, scene i, lines 320-21

This story too is from Plutarch, and it is another example of the kind of heroism Romans loved to find in their historical accounts

The heavens themselves

That saies and Brutus has joined the conspiracy, Caesar himself has had a restless sleep His wife, Calphurnia, has had nighthts men have seen and she doesn't want Caesar to leave the house the next day, fearing that all these omens foretell evil to him

Caesar refuses to believe it, enerally and not to himself in particular To which Calphurnia replies:

When beggars die, there are no comets seen;

The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes

- Act II, scene ii, lines 30-31

The coular intervals, and, with then-tails, taking on a e unusual disasters For anything else, their appearance is too infrequent Siht must apply to some unusual person

This eneral does

Caesar does not go so far as to scorn astrology, but he does scorn fear in a pair of famous lines:

Cowards die many times before their deaths;

The valiant never taste of death but once

- Act II, scene ii, lines 32-33

Their e

Nevertheless, Calphurnia continues to beg and eventually Caesar is sufficiently swayed to grant her her wish and to agree to send Mark Antony in his place

It isby noever, and Decius comes to escort Caesar to the Capitol The news that Caesar has changed his ers him Quickly, he reinterprets all the oh Not only does he make use of the threat of ridicule, but he also says:

the Senate have concluded

To give this day a crown to hty Caesar

If you shall send them word you will not come,

Their e

- Act II, scene ii, lines 93-96

This see to pull off a coup that runs counter to the deepest Ro He had failed, at the Lupercalian festival, to gain a crown by popular acclaive hi his opponents a chance to ht be ruined The historic Caesar wonwhen the iron was hot and it isn't likely that he would let such a crucial moment pass

Caesar changes his o

Read it, great Caesar

Caesar's progress toward the Capitol is attended by further warnings, according to Plutarch's story, which Shakespeare follows The soothsayer is there and Caesar tells him ironically that the ides of March are co that all is well) To which the soothsayer answers, portentously:

Ay, Caesar, but not gone

- Act III, scene i, line 2

Anotherto Plutarch, he was a Greek professor of rhetoric fro lessons (In those days, rhetoric, the art of oratory, was indispensable to a public career) He had picked up knowledge of their plans, presumably because they spoke carelessly before him, and he was anxious to reveal those plans to Caesar (perhaps out of pro-Caesarian conviction or perhaps out of the hope of profiting by Caesar's gratitude)

In any case, he passes a note of warning to Caesar, telling hi to Plutarch, Caesar tried several ti so by the press of people about hi Caesar, by his arrogance, bringing his fate upon himself

Arteony of Impatience, cries out, as other petitions are handed Caesar:

O Caesar, read mine first; for mine's a suit

That touches Caesar nearer Read it, great Caesar

- Act III, scene i, lines 6-7

But Caesar answers grandly:

What touches us ourself should be last served

- Act III, scene i, line 8

And thus he condemns himself

Et tu, Brute

In what follows, Shakespeare follows Plutarch very closely The conspirators crowd around Caesar on the pretext that they are petitioning for the recall of the banished Publius Cimber, the brother of Metellus Cimber Caesar refuses, in a fine oratorical display of unyieldingness, saying:

I am constant as the Northern Star

Of whose true-fixed and resting quality

There is no fellow in the firmament

- Act III, scene i, lines 60-62

The Northern Star (Polaris) does not itself move Rather, all the other stars circle about it as a hub (in reflection, actually, of the earth's rotation about its axis, the northern end of which points nearly at Polaris) Caesar's picture of hi Northern Star about which all other men revolve is an exaance") and it is followed quickly by what the Greeks called ate ("retribution") It is the biblical "Pride goeth before a fall"

The conspirators have now surrounded hi, as each approaches on pretense of adding his own pleas to the petition When Brutus makes his plea, Caesar is ehtily but he cannot use sie to the beloved Brutus All he can say is an uneasy:

What, Brutus?

- Act III, scene i, line 54

Then, later, when Decius begins his plea, Caesar points out that he cannot do it even for Brutus, saying:

Doth not Brutus bootless kneel?

- Act III, scene i, line 75

At which point Casca strikes with his dagger, crying:

Speak hands for me!

- Act III, scene i, line 76

According to Plutarch, they each proceed to strike at Caesar, havingthemselves that each conspirator must be equally involved in the assassination No one of them must be able to try to escape at the expense of the others by pleading he did not actually stab Caesar

Caesar tried vainly to avoid the blows until it was Brutus' turn Brutus, according to Plutarch, struck him "in the privities" That was the last straw for Caesar When Brutus lifted his weapon to strike, Caesar cried out, "Thou also, Brutus!" and attempted no further to avoid the strokes His outcry, in Latin, was so famous that Shakespeare made no attempt to translate it, but kept it as it was, a small patch of Latin in the midst of the play:

Et tu, Brute? Then fall Caesar

- Act III, scene i, line 77

in Caesar's blood

So died Julius Caesar, on March 15, 44 bc, hacked to death by twenty-three stabs Brutus had earlier made an apparently noble speech to the effect that they not "hack the lie I-279) He had uratively with reference to the possible death of Mark Antony, but now that speech takes on a grislier aspect, when it turns out that Caesar has, deliberately, been hacked and butchered to death

Was Shakespeare sardonically contrasting Brutus' brutal acts with his "noble" words? What should we think? Perhaps Brutusof the conspirators that the assassination be carried out by universal hacking This seems doubtful since in every other case in the play he insists on having his oay even though the consensus is against hio on to say:

Stoop, Romans, stoop,

And let us bathe our hands in Caesar's blood

Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords

Then e forth, even to the market place,

And waving our red weapons o'er our heads,

Let's all cry "Peace, freedom, and liberty!"

- Act III, scene i, lines 105-10

Plutarch merely says the swords were bloodied, but Shakespeare has Brutus suggest that they deliberately bloody their arive them all the precise appearance of butchers? Does this not deliberately belie Brutus' plea to "be sacrificers, but not butchers"?