How to turn a republic into a dictatorship
In Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” rhetoric is more powerful than armament
I’m reading through Shakespeare’s plays in an attempt to make sense of the world. Today I’m writing about “Julius Caesar.” For a quick reference to posts on previous plays, click here. Next week, “Hamlet.”
A man thirsting for absolute power assumes the role of a populist. He baits a crowd into turning on the leaders they previously trusted. The resulting mob sets fire to the city in a flash of terror. Although one dictator is taken down, others rise to take his place. Rule by and for the people is lost. Their emotions manipulated, the people cede their power to authoritarians. They act not out of reason but passion and loyalty to men who care nothing for them.
This is a nightmare visited daily in today’s world. It’s invoked by the leading presidential candidate in a democratic country who promises, if elected, to become a dictator. Only for one day, he winks: this is a Caesar not-so-convincingly rejecting a crown three times. It is also the story of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar.”
Summary
As Rome celebrates Julius Caesar for his most recent victory, two senators are deep in discussion, steps away from the crowd. Cassius attempts to convince Brutus, a loyal friend to Caesar, that Caesar seeks to seize power from the republic for his own king-like ambition. Cassius, he of the ‘lean and hungry look,’ is avaricious and generally regarded with suspicion; Brutus is thoughtful, fair-minded, and well-respected. Cassius needs Brutus to lend legitimacy to his treasonous plan to assassinate Caesar. Cassius has only one lever to move Brutus. However much Brutus loves Caesar, he loves Rome and its republic more.
While they speak, they hear the roar of the crowd three times. After the parade, they learn that Caesar rejected an offered crown three times, each time less convincingly. This report disturbs Brutus, since it supports Cassius’ argument. Brutus leaves to consider whether to join the conspiracy against Caesar.
Once Brutus has exited, Cassius outlines a plan to manipulate Brutus so that he’ll join the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar.
Julius Caesar is approached by a soothsayer who advises him to beware the ides of March. Once at home, he brushes off the prophecy. The adulation of the crowd has enticed him to think that he is more than himself, he is Rome itself, establishing the essential truth that animates the conspiracy against him.
Brutus cannot sleep that night as he contemplates what course he should take. In the end, he is persuaded that the conspirators’ cause is just. He, Cassius, and the other conspirators plan to meet the next morning to take Caesar down.
At the Forum, each conspirator stabs Caesar, with Brutus’s knife providing the fatal blow. (“Et tu, Brute?” says Caesar before dying.) Marc Antony, fearful of the conspirators turning against him also, appeases them and asks only to be able to speak to Rome at Caesar’s funeral. Brutus allows that, saying that he will speak first and then give the stage to Antony.
At the funeral, Brutus gives a speech to the Roman people that explains how he, a man who loved Caesar, came to kill him. He loved the man, but he loved Rome more. He makes the intellectual argument that convinced him to act, and the public receives it well. He hands the stage over to Marc Antony before exiting.
Antony makes a compelling, emotional argument that whips up the audience against the conspirators. For his coup de grâce, he reads what he claims is Caesar’s will, dispensing money to the citizens and his land for public use. Self-interest pushes the crowd over the top, primed for vengeance.
Once the crowd runs off, Antony discloses that he’s manipulated the crowd to do his bidding. He contacts Octavius Caesar and Lepidus. The three lay plans to mount an army against the conspirators.
The night before the two armies battle at Philippa, Brutus meets Cassius, who is furious with him. Brutus has publicly criticized Cassius’ unethical dealings, which also denied Brutus financial support to raise an army. Cassius argues for moral flexibility during times of crisis; Brutus takes a principled stance: “Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself / Are much condemned to have an itching palm, / To sell and mart your offices for gold / To undeservers.” (Act 4 Scene 2) Brutus declines to be moved by Cassius’ incitement and manages to calm Cassius. They agree that if they lose the battle the next day, neither will be taken prisoner and led through the streets of Rome.
Caesar’s ghost appears to Brutus while he’s in his tent with attendants nearby but sleeping. The ghost warns him of the danger awaiting him on the battlefield of Philippa.
The two armies engage, and—as usual with such battles—the participants struggle during the fight to understand which side is winning. Cassius, thinking that his forces have been overrun, asks his slave to slay him with the sword that he used on Caesar. The slave agrees, kills Cassius, and runs away from Rome, a free man. Soon after, news arrives that Cassius’ forces actually won that skirmish, so his death was meaningless.
Brutus has also concluded that the battle is won by their enemies. He asks each of his friends and attendants to kill him. One agrees, and holds the sword while Brutus runs into it.
Having won the battle, Antony mourns Brutus publicly and strategically, since he can use Brutus’ revered reputation for his own purposes. In an awkward transition, Octavius closes the play in celebration.
ANTONY
This was the noblest Roman of them all.
All the conspirators save only he
Did that they did in envy of great Caesar.
He only in a general honest thought
And common good to all made one of them.
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him that nature might stand up
And say to all the world, “This was a man.”
OCTAVIUS
According to his virtue let us use him,
With all respect and rites of burial.
Within my tent his bones tonight shall lie,
Most like a soldier, ordered honourably.
So call the field to rest, and let’s away
To part the glories of this happy day.
-Act 5 Scene 5
Thoughts
Julius Caesar, Marc Antony, and Octavius Caesar are all military leaders, allied against the philosophical orators and poets in the Senate represented by Brutus, Cicero, and Cinna. Urged on by Antony, the Roman populace rampages through the streets, seeking the targets to which they’ve been trained. Typical of terrorism, it sweeps into harm people who are only adjacent to the outspoken opposition. Cicero and Cinna are killed, although they had no role in killing Caesar. Portia, Brutus’ wife, dies a horrifying death by fire.
In his use of the citizenry to secure his ends, Antony upends the Roman republic, which derived power partly from the plebeian vote. Although Julius Caesar was in fact the dictatorial ruler of Rome when he was killed, the play portrays Rome at the tipping point for the republic. We know from history that Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus, after Julius Caesar’s death, formed a triumvirate ruling power of powerful and wealthy families. According to this play, they achieve it in part by encouraging the populace to turn on their adversaries as enemies of Rome.
Marc Antony claims not to have Brutus’ oratorical skills, but he’s very effective in giving the people what they want to further his own interests, not theirs. After his speech, plebeians bear off Caesar’s body in a rapture of vengeance. Antony is left alone.
ANTONY Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot. Take thou what course thou wilt. [Enter Octavius’ servant] How now, fellow? SERVANT Sir, Octavius is already come to Rome. ANTONY Where is he? SERVANT He and Lepidus are at Caesar’s house. ANTONY And thither will I straight to visit him. He comes upon a wish. Fortune is merry, And in this mood will give us anything. SERVANT I heard him say Brutus and Cassius Are rid like madmen through the gates of Rome. ANTONY Belike they had some notice of the people, How I had moved them. Bring me to Octavius. -Act 3 Scene 2
Although the play is named for Caesar, who dies in the first half of the play, Brutus sits at the play’s heart. A man whom even his enemy recognizes as the best of Rome. Someone who controls his emotions, even upon learning of his wife’s horrifying death, to ensure he reacts with temperance and reason. A man who acknowledges complexity and who encourages someone as dispicable as Cassius to be his better self. This kind of leader works for the good of the country, not out of self-interest. He bases his denunciation of Caesar on principle, not avarice.
But reason stands little chance once ‘the hounds of war’ are unleashed with appeals to self-aggrandizement. “According to his virtues let us use him,” says Octavius. As the play ends, Brutus himself is appropriated by his adversaries, to further their own grasp for dominion over Rome.
Standing against illiberalism today
As illiberalism takes firmer root across the globe, this play assumes a mournful aspect warning of the dangers of belligerent elites who affect populist speech.
But it’s important to note that Brutus and Cassius ceded loss too early, dooming their cause. Their own loss of hope, rather than the military triad, precipitated their deaths and ceded the victory.
For people of words and reason, and those who invest themselves in the rights of others, it is easy to feel powerless against mobs egged on by those ensconced in wealth and power. Just so, it’s easy to read this play as a cautionary tale that the villains will eventually win.
Reflect instead on this as an argument to not ever cede your own power.
Ellie’s Corner
It’s been cool and rainy lately. Ellie’s not a fan. Just a slight drop in temperature and this could be snow.
Thanks for reading,
