Reading Caesar VII (Redux)
Who ordered the chopped Caesar salad?
A crowd of people; among them ARTEMIDORUS and the Soothsayer. Flourish. Enter CAESAR, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, CASCA, DECIUS BRUTUS, METELLUS CIMBER, TREBONIUS, CINNA, ANTONY, LEPIDUS, POPILIUS, PUBLIUS, and others.
CAESAR To the Soothsayer
The ides of March are come.
SOOTHSAYER
Ay, Caesar; but not gone.
ARTEMIDORUS
Hail, Caesar! read this schedule.
DECIUS BRUTUS
Trebonius doth desire you to o'erread, At your best leisure, this his humble suit.
ARTEMIDORUS
O Caesar, read mine first; for mine's a suit That touches Caesar nearer: read it, great Caesar.
CAESAR
What touches us ourself shall be last served.
ARTEMIDORUS
Delay not, Caesar; read it instantly.
CAESAR
What, is the fellow mad?
PUBLIUS
Sirrah, give place.
CASSIUS
What, urge you your petitions in the street? Come to the Capitol.
CAESAR goes up to the Senate-House, the rest following
POPILIUS
I wish your enterprise to-day may thrive.
CASSIUS
What enterprise, Popilius?
POPILIUS
Fare you well.
Advances to CAESAR
BRUTUS
What said Popilius Lena?
CASSIUS
He wish'd to-day our enterprise might thrive. I fear our purpose is discovered.
BRUTUS
Look, how he makes to Caesar; mark him.
CASSIUS
Casca, be sudden, for we fear prevention. Brutus, what shall be done? If this be known, Cassius or Caesar never shall turn back, For I will slay myself.
BRUTUS
Cassius, be constant: Popilius Lena speaks not of our purposes; For, look, he smiles, and Caesar doth not change.
CASSIUS
Trebonius knows his time; for, look you, Brutus. He draws Mark Antony out of the way.
Exeunt ANTONY and TREBONIUS
DECIUS BRUTUS
Where is Metellus Cimber? Let him go, And presently prefer his suit to Caesar.
BRUTUS
He is address'd: press near and second him.
CINNA
Casca, you are the first that rears your hand.
The scene opens with Artemidorus trying to give Caesar his letter, but no one wants Caesar to read it – even Caesar. We can see that news of the conspiracy has in fact leaked out – Popilius indicates that he wishes the enterprise well. Given the control that Caesar had over Rome at the time, recall he had the Tribunes put to silence almost immediately – it is doubtful he was not aware of the conspiracy.
Now, how would you react if you were told that you would be killed by those close to you, by those standing right next to you? That is, presuming Caesar was given the letter and read it, how would he react with Decius and Cassius right there next to him? Would you smile and say “oh yeah” or would you freak out?
Historically we know what Caesar’s position in Rome was at this point in his life: he was dictator for life (not the six months as was traditional). This very fact implies that he had a great deal of power and that the republic was in some sort of danger.
We should ask what is going on in the republic, ask what has happened to the possibility of democratic rule. From Plato to Machiavelli we know that the people demand a leader and that the decline of democracy ends in one man rule. You do not want to point out that the decline of democracy leads to Caesarism, that republicanism ends in caesarism, you do not point this out because the people would like it, they would hasten to it. You have to paint the rule of one man as the rule of the tyrant and not of a Caesar or king – the interpretation matters: tyrannicide is praiseworthy, regicide, on the other hand, is not.
So here we are at the assassination scene: there is the possibility that Caesar goads them into action when he says: “Are we all ready? What is now amiss that Caesar and his Senate must redress?” Notice, he calls it his Senate, not Rome’s.
Now we get a petition from Metellus Cimber and a lengthy reply from Caesar wherein he discusses his constancy.
CAESAR
Are we all ready? What is now amiss That Caesar and his senate must redress?
METELLUS CIMBER
Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Caesar, Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat An humble heart,—
Kneeling
CAESAR
I must prevent thee, Cimber. These couchings and these lowly courtesies Might fire the blood of ordinary men, And turn pre-ordinance and first decree Into the law of children. Be not fond, To think that Caesar bears such rebel blood That will be thaw'd from the true quality With that which melteth fools; I mean, sweet words, Low-crooked court'sies and base spaniel-fawning. Thy brother by decree is banished: If thou dost bend and pray and fawn for him, I spurn thee like a cur out of my way. Know, Caesar doth not wrong, nor without cause Will he be satisfied.
METELLUS CIMBER
Is there no voice more worthy than my own To sound more sweetly in great Caesar's ear For the repealing of my banish'd brother?
BRUTUS
I kiss thy hand, but not in flattery, Caesar; Desiring thee that Publius Cimber may Have an immediate freedom of repeal.
CAESAR
What, Brutus!
CASSIUS
Pardon, Caesar; Caesar, pardon: As low as to thy foot doth Cassius fall, To beg enfranchisement for Publius Cimber.
CAESAR
I could be well moved, if I were as you: If I could pray to move, prayers would move me: But I am constant as the northern star, Of whose true-fix'd and resting quality There is no fellow in the firmament. The skies are painted with unnumber'd sparks, They are all fire and every one doth shine, But there's but one in all doth hold his place: So in the world; 'tis furnish'd well with men, And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive; Yet in the number I do know but one That unassailable holds on his rank, Unshaked of motion: and that I am he, Let me a little show it, even in this; That I was constant Cimber should be banish'd, And constant do remain to keep him so.
CINNA
O Caesar,—
CAESAR
Hence! wilt thou lift up Olympus?
DECIUS BRUTUS
Great Caesar,—
CAESAR
Doth not Brutus bootless kneel?
CASCA
Speak, hands for me!
CASCA first, then the other Conspirators and BRUTUS stab CAESAR
CAESAR
Et tu, Brute! Then fall, Caesar.
Dies
Think about it: what would have happened if Caesar had granted the petition? What if rather than speaking of his world historical constancy, he had spoken of his mercy and forgiveness? Would the conspiracy still have gone forward? Which thing, constancy or compassion, is more impressive? Which one is more akin to a divine quality? Just how inclined to forgiveness is God?
Note that Caesar’s death here in Shakespeare’s account runs counter to that of Plutarch. In Plutarch Caesar fights back; Shakespeare simply has him speak, which seems to be a sign of acceptance, somewhat akin to Socrates’s acceptance of his own death.
Here it is worth pausing and asking: what is the greatest kind of rule? Do you have to be alive to enjoy it? Note that Caesar is not in peak physical condition, recall the epilepsy, as well as Shakespeare’s addition of his deafness. So why doesn’t Caesar defend himself? Why doesn’t he fight back? To do so is to become a martyr. Given that Shakespeare is depicting a great political man, it is best to presume he is thoughtful about politics – so we should ask: what would make martyrdom a choiceworthy choice? Machiavelli might say that you choose when to die, you don’t leave it to chance, and thereby you can use your death as a means to an end.
If the play were to have ended here with Caesar’s death, the fact that it is a tragedy would indicate the verdict of Shakespeare on Caesar – this is the Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Plays that end with the deaths of tyrants are comedies; those that end with the deaths of kings are tragedies.
But Caesar is neither a king nor a tyrant. When we compare the various scenes we see that he is acting out a different regime.
So here we are, Caesar is dead. His last will and testament has been prepared and found. He sent for Octavius who arrives that day. Octavius is Caesar’s legal heir, but in a republic there is no legal political heir. As will be seen, in drawing up his will, Caesar has determined the political future of Rome for the next 30 years. This is another change that Shakespeare made: Octavius really showed up only months later, it is better that he is on the spot.
So what is this new regime? Caesar has found a new form of rule: Caesarism. So why does Shakespeare portray it thusly? Caesarism is not tyranny, but rather a sub-division of absolute monarchy. Shakespeare has taken pains to not leave us attracted to caesarism, he has co-opted us into the conspiracy. The rule of Caesars can be royal or tyrannical, thus you can’t really praise it. To show that caesarism is necessary now would be to cast doubt on the constitutional order generally – which might encourage ambitious men to hasten the decline of the republic. The distinction between caesarism and tyranny may be too subtle for political life; it might be best simply to identify all one man rule as tyrannical.
The key here is the interpretation of the assassination: there is all the difference in the world between killing the tyrant and killing the king.