Step inside Julius Caesar

The film without the cuts. And the book itself.

A conquering hero returns to cheering crowds, and two men start counting who else is afraid.

9:41

The Cast

Marcus Brutus

Main · Conspirators / Republican faction

A sleepless Roman nobleman turns a private fear into a public killing.

Locations

Rome’s streets

street

Festival torches, thunder, and the cries of a killing mob all pass down the same street.

Passage

Rome cheers a new victor, but Marullus demands loyalty to Pompey's memory.

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The Author’s Pen

Triumph Over Pompeys Blood

MARULLUS. Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home? What tributaries follow him to Rome, To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels? You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things! O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome, Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft Have you climb’d up to walls and battlements, To towers and windows, yea, to chimney tops, Your infants in your arms, and there have sat The livelong day with patient expectation, To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome. And when you saw his chariot but appear, Have you not made an universal shout, That Tiber trembled underneath her banks To hear the replication of your sounds Made in her concave shores? And do you now put on your best attire? And do you now cull out a holiday? And do you now strew flowers in his way, That comes in triumph over Pompey’s blood? Be gone! Run to your houses, fall upon your knees, Pray to the gods to intermit the plague That needs must light on this ingratitude.

Reading

A Roman triumph was supposed to parade foreign captives, and Marullus opens by pointing out there are none: "What tributaries follow him to Rome, / To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels?" Caesar has beaten fellow Romans, so this parade celebrates a civil war, not a conquest. This is the crowd Marullus, a tribune, has caught taking a holiday to cheer Caesar's return. He then does something crueler than simple insult: he forces them to remember their own past joy, the whole day spent waiting with their children just to see Pompey pass, and turns it against the man who now "comes in triumph over Pompey's blood."

World Index

The Plot

Rome Uneasy With Its Own GreatnessThe Conspiracy Takes ShapeWarnings Rome Will Not HearThe Capitol Falls SilentThe Forum Changes Its MindAllies Turn on Each OtherPhilippi and the Last Roman

The Cast

Marcus BrutusJulius CaesarCassiusMark AntonyRoman Citizens / The CrowdPortiaCalphurniaDecius BrutusCascaOctavius CaesarSoothsayerArtemidorusLepidusLuciusLuciliusTitiniusMessalaGhost of CaesarConspiratorsFlavius and MarullusCiceroPubliusPopilius LenaTreboniusMetellus CimberCinna the ConspiratorLigariusCinna the PoetYoung CatoVolumniusStratoPindarusDardanius and ClitusVarro and ClaudioAnother Poet

Locations

Antony’s houseBrutus’ orchardBrutus’ tentCaesar’s palaceCamp near SardisRome’s streetsStreet before Brutus’ houseStreet near the CapitolThe Capitol / Senate sittingThe ForumThe plains / field of PhilippiThe public place at LupercalThe Tiber banks / Tiber River

Objects of Note

Artemidorus’s warning paperBrutus’s bookCaesar’s bloodCaesar’s bodyCaesar’s mantleCaesar’s trophies and decorated imagesCaesar’s willThe conspirators’ daggersThe forged letters to BrutusThe Forum pulpit / rostraThe offered crown / coronet

Core Concepts

Caesar becomes more powerful dead than aliveHonor is both virtue and vulnerabilityKilling a tyrant can create political chaosOmens need interpreters, and interpreters are never neutralPublic language is powerRome is a crowd before it is an ideal

The Author's Pen

Plucking Caesar’s FeathersBeware the Ides of MarchBrutus With Himself At WarThe Fault in OurselvesCaesar on Dangerous MenThe Crown Offered ThriceCaesar And The Falling SicknessCassius Plots to Sway BrutusPortentous ThingsWhy Should Caesar Be a TyrantKill Him In The ShellBrutus Reads the LetterNo Oath But HonestySacrificers Not ButchersPortia Demands Brutus’ SecretPortia Demands Brutus’s SecretCalphurnia Stays Caesar HomeDeath Will ComeDecius Sways CaesarArtemidorus Warns CaesarPortia Cannot Keep CounselPopilius Wishes Them WellConstant As the Northern StarThen Fall CaesarLiberty and Ambition's DebtPeace Freedom And LibertyAntony Takes Their HandsAntony Prophesies Civil StrifeBrutus Defends Caesar’s DeathBrutus Is An Honourable ManCaesar’s Mantle and WoundsCaesar’s Will UnleashedA Plain Blunt ManCinna the Poet Torn ApartPrick Him DownLove Begins To SickenBrutus Accuses Cassius Of BriberyPortia Is DeadTaking the CurrentThe Ghost at PhilippiA Sword Against ConspiratorsCaesar Thou Art RevengedTitinius Mourning CassiusYielding To DieBrutus Runs On His SwordThe Noblest Roman

Plot point 01

Rome Uneasy With Its Own Greatness

A conquering hero returns to cheering crowds, and two men start counting who else is afraid.

Objects of Note

Caesar’s trophies and decorated images

Garlands crown Caesar's statues until two tribunes decide the celebration has gone too far.

The Cast

Julius Caesar

Main · Caesar’s circle

A public man dismisses warnings until his body becomes Rome’s most powerful sign.

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Julius Caesar

William Shakespeare

The cast, locations, objects of note, core concepts, and selected passages in the Author’s Pen - at your own pace.

One of 127 classics in the Literah library

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