adminBRUTUS allows Mark Antony to speak at Caesar’s funeral. This is one of the blunders he makes. He misjudges Antony’s character against Cassius’s better judgment who advises him not to allow Antony to address the crowd. Cassius cautions Brutus on this decision telling him that he does not know how much the people may be moved by what Antony will utter.
Brutus brushes aside Cassius’s concerns stating that he will go to the platform first and tell the people the reasons why they killed Caesar. He will also tell them that Antony has their permission to speak to them and that they would be happy to conduct proper funeral rites of Caesar, who though killed by them, was a fellow countryman and they had no personal animosity with him. But Cassius remains sceptical.
He sums it up in the following words: “I know not what may fall; I like it not.” Brutus thinks addressing the crowd first will strengthen their cause. Again he misjudges the crowd. There is a natural tendency that people remember most what they hear last. This is proved in this episode as I will show how. Brutus asks Antony to take Caesar’s body. He tells him that he should not blame them in his funeral speech. He should speak all good he can devise of Caesar.
Antony should tell the crowd that he does so by the permission of the conspirators. He shall speak from the same pulpit where Brutus is going to speak, that too after Brutus has spoken. Brutus thinks he has devised the best mechanism to protect them from what might arise from Antony’s speech. This is an advantage to Antony as he accepts the laid down conditions indicating that much is sufficient, he desires no more. The die is cast.
Left alone with the body of Caesar, Antony addresses the corpse and speaks as if Caesar were a great building which now lies in ruins and foretells that Italy shall be torn by civil strife until Caesar’s enemies have been wiped out; and Caesar’s spirit, “ranging for revenge,” has been satisfied. He says to the corpse: “You are the remains of the noblest man ever to live in present times. May evil befall the hand that shed this valuable blood.
“Your wounds that like so many dumb mouths, so many rosy lips, beseech me to say something. Looking at your mutilated body I prophesy that a curse shall befall the limbs of men. Domestic violence and terrible civil war shall rage through all parts of Italy. Blood and murder shall so frequently be committed, and dreadful objects so common that mothers shall smile when they see their children murdered in war.
“And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge, with Ate by his side come hot from hell, shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice. Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war.” Together they will cry “ruin” and will unleash famine, war and fire so that the stench of this evil deed shall emanate from the bodies of men rotting on the ground and pollute the earth, though bodies would moan for burial.
These are not sweet words from Antony. He predicts a serious war that will follow Caesar’s death. Brutus takes to the platform and addresses the citizens who are keen to hear the reasons why Caesar has been killed. They demand satisfaction. Brutus asks the crowd to be patient till the last. He misjudges the crowd, addressing them as if each individual were a highly-trained philosopher. Part of his speech reads:
“Believe me for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour, that you may believe. Censure me in your wisdom, and awake your senses, that you may better judge.” Brutus speaks far above the understanding of the general citizens. What wisdom does the mob have? What judgment can they make from a speech which is far above their intellect? There is clear evidence that the citizens have not understood Brutus when one of them says: “Let him be Caesar.”
Brutus has been telling the evils of Caesar but somebody says let him be like his victim. After the arrival of Mark Antony with Caesar’s body, Brutus asks from his countrymen to depart alone while they stay with Antony until he has delivered his speech. When Antony goes up to the rostrum the citizens have believed Brutus that Caesar was a tyrant. They say Antony should speak no harm of Brutus, but only for a while.
Antony effects his purpose. His address appeals to the crowd’s emotions. He plays on the mob changing from praise of the conspirators, to praise of Caesar, dropping the first as he feels his listeners coming into sympathy with Caesar. Addressing the crowd, Mark Antony declares that he has come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. He states that, although Caesar had been his close friend, he had not been without faults. He continues saying that Brutus has said Caesar had a fault of ambition, and since Brutus and his friends are all honourable men, this must certainly have been true.
But Mark Antony is quick to point out that Caesar also brought riches and honour to Rome, and when the poor cried, Caesar used to weep — hardly the behaviour of an ambitious man. He reminds the mob that at the Feast of Lupercal, Caesar had thrice refused the crown which Antony offered him. He asks whether that seems like ambition. Although he is not trying to disprove what Brutus has just told them, he is determined to speak the truth as far as he knows it.
He moves on to read Caesar’s will. Antony reads out that Caesar had left 75 drachmas to each citizen and his private walks and gardens to be used as public parks. This is the final straw. There is no holding back the crowd. In a frenzy of mutinous excitement, they rush off to burn down the conspirators’ houses, while Antony mutters with satisfaction that his words have had the desired effect and mischief is on the rampage.
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Online Reporter
Londile Moyo