Anthony's speech, Act Three, Scene two, lines 71-105
"Friends, Romans, Countrymen,lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, 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 Caesar.The noble Brutus
hath told you Caesar was ambitious.
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under the leave of Brutus and the rest ,
-For Brutus is an honourable man ;So are they all,all honourable men -
Come I speak in Caesar'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 ransom did the general coffers fill:
Did this Caesar seem so ambitious?
When that poor must have cried,Caesar 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 on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he thrice refused.Was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And sure he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disapprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I know.
You all did love him once, not without cause;
what cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
O judgement, thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me.
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
The Context
Antony, a great friend of Caesar's has come to speak at Caesar's Funeral, and to tell the public how he viewed Caesar.
The Significance
The significance is that Antony is capable of much more then playing games and enjoying a life style of leisure, he was greatly underestimated by the conspirators, for now he is showing how much he can do for Caesar, and how much he had loved him. It is also the beginning of the struggle for power and justice between Caesar's suppotors and the people who were against him. Antony is capable of great things, and has been fired up to fight for Caesar's name, and for Caesar's honour. He does not want all the good things Caesar has done to be forgotten, and all the evil and wrong things he has done to stay on. "The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones;" So he tells the public the side he saw of Caesar, and this is important because what the public think is what determines who will win over and get the power. The more suppotors the conspirators get then they will be able to rule, but if Antony get power from the public, by telling them the other side of Caesar and how he was so different to what the conspirators made him out to be then he may gain enough power to become a ruler, like the Caesar, and carry on what Caesar had wanted to do with his power.
Like Brutus's speech(2:1, lines 10-34) this passage shows allot about Antony's character, how he was very trust worthy person, and a very good friend. He was the only friend Caesar could really depend on, and he is now fighting for Caesar legacy. Antony was truly Caesar's greatest Friend
