Self Help

When the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept;

Ambition should be made of sterner stuff;

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;

And Brutus is an honorable man. You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;

And, surely, he is an honorable man. I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, B

ut here I am to speak what I do know. You all did love him once, not without cause; What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?

O judgment! 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."

(At this point Antony paused to give his audience a chance to discuss hurriedly, among themselves, his opening statements. His object in doing this was to observe what effect his words were having, just as a master salesman always encourages his prospective purchaser to talk so he may know what is in his mind.)

First Citizen: "Methinks there is much in his sayings

Second Citizen: "If thou consider rightly of the matter, Caesar has had great wrong.

Third Citizen: "Has he, masters? I fear there will be worse come in his place."

Fourth Citizen: "Mark'd ye his words?

He would not take the crown?

Therefore 'tis certain he was not ambitious."

First Citizen: "If it be found so, someone will dear abide it."

Second Citizen: "Poor soul! his eyes are red as fire with weeping."

Third Citizen: "There's not a nobler man in Rome than Antony."

Fourth Citizen: "Now mark him, he begins again to speak"

Antony: "But yesterday the word of Caesar might Have stood against the world; now lies he there, And none so poor to do him reverence.

O masters (appealing to their vanity) if I were disposed to stir Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage, I should do Brutus wrong and Cassius wrong, Who, you all know, are honorable men;"