Summary: Act V, scene i
Octavius and Antony enter the battlefield at Philippi
with their armies. A messenger arrives to report that the enemy
is ready for battle. Antony, the more experienced soldier, tells
Octavius to attack from the left. Octavius refuses and replies that
he will attack from the right and Antony can come from the left.
Antony asks Octavius why he questions his authority, but Octavius
stands firm.
The enemy factions—consisting of Brutus, Cassius, and
their armies—enter; Titinius, Lucillius, and Messala are among them. Octavius
asks Antony if their side should attack first, and Antony, now calling
Octavius “Caesar,” responds that they will wait for the enemy to
attack. Antony and Octavius go to meet Brutus and Cassius. The leaders
exchange insults. Octavius draws his sword and calls for Caesar’s
death to be avenged; he swears that he will not lay the sword down
again until another Caesar (namely himself) adds the deaths of the
traitors to the general slaughter. The leaders insult each other
further before parting to ready their armies for battle.
After the departure of Antony and Octavius, Brutus calls
Lucillius to talk privately. Cassius calls Messala to do the same.
Cassius tells the soldier that it is his birthday and informs him
of recent bad omens: two mighty eagles alighted on the foremost
banners of their army and perched there, feeding from the soldiers’
hands; this morning, however, they are gone. Now ravens, crows,
and other scavenger birds circle over the troops as if the men were
diseased and weak prey. Cassius walks back to join Brutus and comments that
the future looks uncertain; if they lose, they may never see each other
again. Cassius asks Brutus if Brutus would allow himself to be led
through Rome as a captive should they lose. Brutus replies that he
would rather die than go to Rome as a defeated prisoner; he declares
that this day “must end that work the ides of March begun”—that
is, the battle represents the final stage in the struggle for power
that began with the murder of Caesar (V.i.114).
He bids Cassius “for ever and for ever farewell” (V.i.117).
Cassius echoes these sentiments, and the men depart.
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Act V, scene i →
Summary: Act V, scene ii
The battle begins between the scenes, and the next scene,
comprising a scant total of six lines, depicts the two sides’ first
surge against each other. Brutus sends Messala to Cassius to report
that he senses a weakness in Octavius’s army and will push forward
to exploit it.
Read a translation of
Act V, scene ii →
Summary: Act V, scene iii
The next scene finds Cassius standing on a hill
with Titinius, watching the battle and lamenting its course. Though
Brutus was correct in noting Octavius’s weakness, he proved overeager
in his attack, and the tide of battle has turned against him. Pindarus
now runs up to Cassius with a report: Antony’s troops have entered
Cassius’s camp. He advises Cassius to flee to some more distant
spot. Cassius refuses to move but, catching sight of a group of
burning tents, asks if those tents are his. Titinius confirms that
they are. Cassius then notices a series of advancing troops in the
distance; he gives Titinius his horse and instructs him to find
out whose troops they are. Titinius obeys and rides off.
Cassius asks Pindarus to ascend a nearby hill and monitor
Titinius’s progress. Pindarus calls down his reports: Titinius,
riding hard, is soon surrounded by the unknown men; he dismounts
the horse and the unknown men cheer. Distraught at this news of
what he takes to be his best friend’s capture, Cassius tells Pindarus
to watch no more. Pindarus descends the hilltop, whereupon Cassius
gives Pindarus his sword, covers his own eyes, and asks Pindarus
to kill him. Pindarus complies. Dying, Cassius’s last words are
that Caesar has now been revenged by the very sword that killed
him.
