You gentle Romans,

ANTONY.

CITIZEN.

Peace, ho! let us hear him.

ANTONY.

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.
I come to bury Cæsar, 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 Cæsar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Cæsar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault;
And grievously hath Cæsar answer'd 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 Cæsar'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 Cæsar seem ambitious?

When that the poor have cried, Cæsar 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 i love him once, not without cause:

What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
O judgment thou art fled to brutish beasts,

And men have lost their reason. Bear with me 1);

-

My heart is in the coffin there with Cæsar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.

1 CITIZEN.

Methinks, there is much reason in his sayings.

2 CITIZEN.

If thou consider rightly of the matter,

Cæsar has had great wrong.

3 CITIZEN.

Has he, masters 2)?

I fear there will a worse come in his place.

4 CITIZEN.

Mark'd ye his words? He would not take the crown:
Therefore 't is certain he was not ambitious.

1 CITIZEN.

If it be found so, some will dear abide it.

2 CITIZEN.

Poor soul! his eyes are red as fire with weeping.

3 CITIZEN.

There's not a nobler man in Rome than Antony.

4 CITIZEN.

Now mark him, he begins again to speak.

1) d. i. verdraagt mij, hebt geduld met mij.

2) Deze vraag komt kwalijk overeen met de verklaring die er op volgt. Haar tot een uitroeping van verzekering te maken, in den zin van: of hem onrecht is gedaan! is willekeur. Ik gis, dat men zal moeten lezen: so has he, masters.

ANTONY.

But yesterday the word of Cæsar might
Have stood against the world: now lies he here,
And none so poor to do him reverence.

O masters! if I were dispos'd to stir

Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,
I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong,
Who, you all know, are honourable men.
I will not do them wrong: I rather choose
To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you,
Than I will wrong such honourable men.
But here's a parchment with the seal of Cæsar;
I found it in his closet, 't is his will:
Let but the commons hear this testament
(Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read),
And they would go and kiss dead Cæsar's wounds,
And dip their napkins in his sacred blood;
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,
And, dying, mention it within their wills,
Bequeathing it, as a rich legacy,

Unto their issue.

4 CITIZEN.

We'll hear the will. Read it. Mark Antony.

ALL.

The will, the will! we will hear Cæsar's will.

ANTONY.

Have patience, gentle friends; I must not read it:
It is not meet you know how Cesar lov'd you.
You are not wood, you are not stones, but men;
And, being men, hearing the will of Cæsar,
It will indame you, it will make you mad.
T is good you know not that you are his heirs;
For if you should, 0! what would some of it!

4 CITIZEN.

Read the will! we'll hear it, Antony;

You shall read us the will, Cæsar's will!

ANTONY.

Will you be patient? Will you stay awhile?
I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it.

I fear I wrong the honourable men,

Whose daggers have stabb'd Cæsar: I do fear it.

You will compel me, then, to read the will?
Then, make a ring about the corpse of Cæsar,
And let me show you him that made the will.
Shall I descend? and will you give me leave?

Come down.

ALL.

1) Zal de regel

They were traitors: Honourable men!

een versregel zijn, dan vangt hij met een halve maat rust aan. Ditzelfde geldt dan ook én van

én van

They were villains, etc.

Read the will!

Wil men dit liever niet aannemen, dan behoort men deze uitroepingen als proza te lezen.

Stand from the hearse 1): stand from the body.

2 CITIZEN.

Room for Antony, most noble Antony 2).

ANTONY.

Nay, press not so upon me; stand far off.

ALL.

Stand back! room! bear back!

ANTONY.

If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.
You all do know this mantle: I remember
The first time ever Cæsar put it on;

't Was on a summer's evening, in his tent,
That day he overcame the Nervii.

Look! in this place ran Cassius' dagger through:
See, what a rent the envious Casca made:
Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd:
And, as he pluck'd his cursed steel away,
Mark how the blood of Cæsar follow'd it,
As rushing out of doors, to be resolv'd

1). The hearse beteekent zoowel: de lijkbaar, als: de lijkkist.

2) Ook deze regel is proza, of hij vangt met een halve maat pauze aan. Dezelfde opmerking geldt voor den regel: Stand back! room! bear back!