Read Act 1 scene 2 lines 1-30.
A public place. [Flourish. Enter CAESAR; ANTONY, for the course; CALPURNIA, PORTIA, DECIUS BRUTUS, CICERO, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, and CASCA; a great crowd following, among them a Soothsayer]
CAESAR
Calpurnia!
CASCA
Peace, ho! Caesar speaks.
CAESAR
Calpurnia!
CALPURNIA
Here, my lord.
CAESAR
Stand you directly in Antonius' way, When he doth run his course. Antonius!
ANTONY
Caesar, my lord?
CAESAR
Forget not, in your speed, Antonius, To touch Calpurnia; for our elders say, The barren, touched in this holy chase, Shake off their sterile curse.
ANTONY
I shall remember: When Caesar says 'do this,' it is perform'd.
CAESAR
Set on; and leave no ceremony out.
SOOTHSAYER
Caesar!
CAESAR
Ha! who calls?
CASCA
Bid every noise be still: peace yet again!
CAESAR
Who is it in the press that calls on me? I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music, Cry 'Caesar!' Speak; Caesar is turn'd to hear.
SOOTHSAYER
Beware the ides of March.
CAESAR
What man is that?
BRUTUS
A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.
CAESAR
Set him before me; let me see his face.
CASSIUS
Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar.
CAESAR
What say'st thou to me now? speak once again.
SOOTHSAYER
Beware the ides of March.
CAESAR
He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass. [Sennet. Exeunt all except BRUTUS and CASSIUS]
This scene shows Caesar’s authority and his control – the first thing we see him do is give an order (to his wife). Now typically conversations between husband and wife are private affairs – but this one is not. Casca wants this to be public, he hushes the crowd. Caesar tells his wife where to stand, then turns to Antonius. His interactions here make him appear very pious and bound by tradition.
Recall, many would quite rightly be very skeptical of his stand toward the traditions as he broke the greatest one in crossing the Rubicon with his army. And we should be skeptical given his revealing dismissal of the soothsayer as a mere “dreamer” at line 24, a dismissal (you should note) that is public. Caesar is aware of the fact that dreams were thought to have prophetic significance, a fact he will later exploit by lying about a dream.
So right here, in very few lines, we see Caesar’s stand toward religion, piety, and tradition, and it is very Machiavellian – it is the appearance of reverence.