Julius Caesar
1599
Julius Caesar
1599
Translated by August Wilhelm von Schlegel
The thing about Julius Caesar is that the man himself barely appears on stage, and yet his shadow consumes everything. The play belongs to Brutus, the noble Roman who believes murdering his friend is the only way to save Rome from tyranny, and to Cassius, who manipulates him toward that betrayal. Shakespeare constructs this as a thriller of conscience: can violence ever be righteous? Is killing a dictator patriotism or murder? The conspirators think they've freed Rome, but then Mark Antony speaks at Caesar's funeral and turns the mob into a weapon with nothing but words. The play is vicious about how easily people can be swayed, how quickly idealism curdles into catastrophe. Written in 1599, it reads like it was written yesterday. For anyone who thinks about politics, power, or the distance between intentions and outcomes, this play remains terrifyingly relevant.
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“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.””
— William Shakespeare
“Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, It seems to me most strange that men should fear; Seeing that death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come.””
— William Shakespeare
“Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.””
— William Shakespeare
“Et tu, Brute?””
— William Shakespeare
“A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once. It seems to me most strange that men should fear, seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come.””
— William Shakespeare
“There is a tide in the affairs of menWhich, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;Omitted, all the voyage of their lifeIs bound in shallows and in miseries.On such a full sea are we now afloat;And we must take the current when it serves,Or lose our ventures.””
— William Shakespeare
“Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!””
— William Shakespeare
“The evil that men do lives after them;The good is oft interred with their bones.””
— William Shakespeare
“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him; The evil that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones, So let it be with Caesar ... The noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar was ambitious: If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath Caesar answered it ...Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest, (For Brutus is an honourable man; So are they all; all honourable men) Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral ...He was my friend, faithful and just to me: But Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man…. He hath brought many captives home to Rome, Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff: Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man. You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And, sure, he is an honourable man. I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, But here I am to speak what I do know. You all did love him once, not without cause: What cause withholds you then to mourn for him? O judgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason…. Bear with me; My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me””
— William Shakespeare
