Scene summary
In the Forum, Brutus orders Cassius to lead half the crowd to another street and mounts the rostrum while the citizens demand explanations. In prose, he asks to be judged by his honor and declares that he loved Caesar but loved Rome more: he asks whether they prefer Caesar alive and all of them slaves, or Caesar dead and all of them free, and says he wept for Caesar's affection, celebrated his good fortune, honored his valor, and killed him for his ambition. No one feels offended. Brutus says he keeps the dagger for himself for when Rome needs his death; the crowd acclaims him, wants to take him home and make him Caesar, and he asks everyone to stay and hear Mark Antony, who speaks with his permission.
Antony, in verse, says he has come to bury Caesar, not to praise him, and repeats that Brutus is honorable, while recalling that Caesar brought prisoners whose ransom filled the coffers, wept for the poor, and refused the crown three times. The crowd already murmurs that Caesar was wronged. Antony shows a will without reading it, lets them demand it, and comes down beside the body, shows the torn cloak and points out each wound, from Cassius, from Casca, and from Brutus, whose blow was the cruelest because ingratitude broke Caesar's heart. The crowd weeps and calls for vengeance; Antony says he is no orator and will only show wounds, and reads the will: seventy-five drachmas for each citizen and Caesar's gardens to the people. The crowd goes off to burn the body and the conspirators' houses. A servant tells Antony that Octavius has already arrived in Rome and that Brutus and Cassius have fled through the gates.
Analysis
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