Julius Caesar
Please see the bottom of the page for full explanatory notes and helpful resources.
| ACT V SCENE IV | Another part of the field. | |
| | Alarum. Enter fighting, Soldiers of both armies; then BRUTUS, CATO, LUCILIUS, and others. | |
| BRUTUS | Yet, countrymen, O, yet hold up your heads! | |
| CATO | What bastard doth not? Who will go with me? | |
| | I will proclaim my name about the field: | |
| | I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho! |
| | A foe to tyrants, and my country's friend; | 5 | |
| | I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho! | |
| BRUTUS | And I am Brutus, Marcus Brutus, I; | |
| | Brutus, my country's friend; know me for Brutus! | |
| | Exit | |
| LUCILIUS | O young and noble Cato, art thou down? |
| | Why, now thou diest as bravely as Titinius; | 10 | |
| | And mayst be honour'd, being Cato's son. | |
| First Soldier | Yield, or thou diest. | |
| LUCILIUS | Only I yield to die: | |
| | There is so much that thou wilt kill me straight; |
| | Offering money | |
| | Kill Brutus, and be honour'd in his death. | |
| First Soldier | We must not. A noble prisoner! | 15 | |
| Second Soldier | Room, ho! Tell Antony, Brutus is ta'en. | |
| First Soldier | I'll tell the news. Here comes the general. | |
| | Enter ANTONY | |
| | Brutus is ta'en, Brutus is ta'en, my lord. |
| ANTONY | Where is he? | |
| LUCILIUS | Safe, Antony; Brutus is safe enough: | 20 | |
| | I dare assure thee that no enemy
| |
| | Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus: | |
| | The gods defend him from so great a shame! |
| | When you do find him, or alive or dead, | |
| | He will be found like Brutus, like himself. | 25 | |
| ANTONY | This is not Brutus, friend; but, I assure you, | |
| | A prize no less in worth: keep this man safe; | |
| | Give him all kindness: I had rather have |
| | Such men my friends than enemies. Go on, | |
| | And see whether Brutus be alive or dead; | 30 | |
| | And bring us word unto Octavius' tent | |
| | How every thing is chanced. | |
| | Exeunt | |
Next: Julius Caesar, Act 5, Scene 5
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Explanatory Notes for Act 5, Scene 4
From Julius Caesar. Ed. Samuel Thurber. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
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ACT V
Scene 4
2. What bastard doth not? Who is such a base-born coward as not to do so?"
7, 8. And I am Brutus, etc. In the Folio no name is given to the speaker of these two lines, so that we may give them to Lucilius instead of Brutus. This is possibly the better arrangement, in view of what takes place immediately following.
12. Only I yield to die. I yield only in order to die.
13. There is so much, etc. "Here, I give thee so much money on condition that thou wilt kill me at once." Considering the fact that the stage-direction, offering money, is not in the Folios, Lucilius may mean that so much can be laid to his charge that the soldier is certain to kill him at once. Remember that Lucilius is pretending to be Brutus in order to lead the soldiers of Antony and Octavius away from his general.
16. Brutus is ta'en, etc. This incident of Lucilius' pretending to be Brutus is taken from Plutarch.
24. or alive or dead. This use or...or for either ... or is still common in poetry.
32. is chanced: has befallen, has turned out.
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Important excerpt from Plutarch: "There was one of Brutus' friends called Lucilius,
who seeing a troop of barbarous men making no reckoning of all
men else they met in their way, but going all together right
against Brutus, he determined to stay them with the hazard of
his life; and being left behind, told them that he was Brutus:
and because they should believe him, he prayed them to bring
him to Antonius, for he said he was afraid of Cæsar, and that
he did trust Antonius better. These barbarous men, being very
glad of this good hap, and thinking themselves happy men, they
carried him in the night, and sent some before unto Antonius,
to tell him of their coming. He was marvellous glad of it and
went out to meet them that brought him.... When they came near
together, Antonius stayed awhile bethinking himself how he
should use Brutus. In the meantime Lucilius was brought to
him, who stoutly with a bold countenance said: 'Antonius, I
dare assure thee, that no enemy hath taken or shall take
Marcus Brutus alive, and I beseech God keep him from that
fortune: for wheresoever ever he be found, alive or dead, he
will be found like himself. And now for myself, I am come unto
thee, having deceived these men of arms here, bearing them
down that I was Brutus, and do not refuse to suffer any
torment thou wilt put me to.'... Antonius on the other side,
looking upon all them that had brought him, said unto them:
'My companions, I think ye are sorry you have failed of your
purpose, and that you think this man hath done you great
wrong: but I assure you, you have taken a better booty than
that you followed. For instead of an enemy you have brought me
a friend: and for my part, if you had brought me Brutus alive,
truly I cannot tell what I should have done to him. For I had
rather have such men my friends, as this man here, than mine
enemies.' Then he embraced Lucilius, and at that time
delivered him to one of his friends in custody; and Lucilius
ever after served him faithfully, even to his
death."-- Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.
How to cite the explanatory notes and scene questions:
Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar. Ed. Samuel Thurber. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1919. Shakespeare Online. 15 May. 2013. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/julius_5_4.html >.
Reference
Furnivall, F. J. The Leopold Shakespeare. London: Cassell, 1896.
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Thoughts on Julius Caesar...  "It is the world's throne that has to be struggled for, the fate of nations that has to be settled; and yet, still, over the strife, comes to us the pained cry of the betrayed friend "Et tu Brute," and Caesar's heart bursts. The same cry is to reach us
from almost every one of Shakespeare's future plays with more or less intensity -- from Hamlet's father and Hamlet himself; from Othello and Roderigo; from Duncan and Banquo; from Lear and Edgar and Gloster (in Lear); from Antony and Octavius; from Coriolanus, Timon; from Palamon (if Shakespeare wrote part of Two Noble Kinsmen) and Prospero; from Posthumus and Belarius (in Cymbeline). While beside the false friends stand the true ones. Antony to Caesar; Horatio to Hamlet; Cassio to Othello; Macduff to Malcolm; Kent and the Fool to Lear; the Steward to Timon; Paulina to Hermione. Friendship was much in Shakespeare's thoughts. The lesson of Julius Caesar is, that vengeance, death, shall follow rebellion for insufficient cause, for misjudging the political state of one's country, and misjudging the means taking unlawful ones to attain your ends: Do not evil that good may come." -- (F. J. Furnivall. The Leopold Shakespeare. p. lxvii)
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