He was my friend, faithful and just to
me.
But Brutus says he was ambitious,
And Brutus is an honourable man.
(See Important Quotations Explained)
Summary: Act III, scene ii
Brutus and Cassius enter the Forum with a crowd of plebeians.
Cassius exits to speak to another portion of the crowd. Brutus addresses the
onstage crowd, assuring them that they may trust in his honor. He
did not kill Caesar out of a lack of love for him, he says, but because
his love for Rome outweighed his love of a single man. He insists
that Caesar was great but ambitious: it was for this reason that
he slew him. He feared that the Romans would live as slaves under
Caesar’s leadership.
He asks if any disagree with him, and none do. He thus
concludes that he has offended no one and asserts that now Caesar’s
death has been accounted for, with both his virtues and faults in
life given due attention. Antony then enters with Caesar’s body.
Brutus explains to the crowd that Antony had no part in the conspiracy
but that he will now be part of the new commonwealth. The plebeians
cheer Brutus’s apparent kindness, declaring that Brutus should be
Caesar. He quiets them and asks them to listen to Antony, who has
obtained permission to give a funeral oration. Brutus exits.
Antony ascends to the pulpit while the plebeians discuss
what they have heard. They now believe that Caesar was a tyrant
and that Brutus did right to kill him. But they wait to hear Antony.
He asks the audience to listen, for he has come to bury Caesar,
not to praise him. He acknowledges Brutus’s charge that Caesar was
ambitious and maintains that Brutus is “an honourable man,” but
he says that Caesar was his friend (III.ii.84).
He adds that Caesar brought to Rome many captives, whose countrymen
had to pay their ransoms, thus filling Rome’s coffers. He asks rhetorically
if such accumulation of money for the people constituted ambition.
Antony continues that Caesar sympathized with the poor: “When that
the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept” (III.ii.88).
He reminds the plebeians of the day when he offered the crown to
Caesar three times, and Caesar three times refused. Again, he ponders
aloud whether this humility constituted ambition. He claims that
he is not trying to disprove Brutus’s words but rather to tell them
what he, Antony, knows; he insists that as they all loved Caesar
once, they should mourn for him now.
Antony pauses to weep. The plebeians are touched; they
remember when Caesar refused the crown and wonder if more ambitious people
have not stepped into his place. Antony speaks again, saying that
he would gladly stir them to mutiny and rebellion, though he will
not harm Brutus or Cassius, for they are—again—honorable men. He
then brings out Caesar’s will. The plebeians beg him to read it.
Antony says that he should not, for then they would be touched by
Caesar’s love for them. They implore him to read it. He replies that
he has been speaking too long—he wrongs the honorable men who have
let him address the crowd. The plebeians call the conspirators traitors
and demand that Antony read the will.
Finally, Antony descends from the pulpit and prepares
to read the letter to the people as they stand in a circle around
Caesar’s corpse. Looking at the body, Antony points out the wounds
that Brutus and Cassius inflicted, reminding the crowd how Caesar loved
Brutus, and yet Brutus stabbed him viciously. He tells how Caesar
died and blood ran down the steps of the Senate. Then he uncovers
the body for all to see. The plebeians weep and become enraged.
Antony says that they should not be stirred to mutiny against such
“honourable men” (III.ii.148).
He protests that he does not intend to steal away their hearts,
for he is no orator like Brutus. He proclaims himself a plain man;
he speaks only what he knows, he says—he will let Caesar’s wounds
speak the rest. If he were Brutus, he claims, he could urge them
to rebel, but he is merely Antony.
The people declare that they will mutiny nonetheless.
Antony calls to them to let him finish: he has not yet read the
will. He now reads that Caesar has bequeathed a sum of money from
his personal holdings to every man in Rome. The citizens are struck
by this act of generosity and swear to avenge this selfless man’s
death. Antony continues reading, revealing Caesar’s plans to make
his private parks and gardens available for the people’s pleasure.
The plebeians can take no more; they charge off to wreak havoc throughout
the city. Antony, alone, wonders what will come of the mischief
he has set loose on Rome. Octavius’s servant enters. He reports
that Octavius has arrived at Caesar’s house, and also that Brutus
and Cassius have been driven from Rome.
