imploring you to toss your $.02 in more frequently
like the story of the butterfly starting a hurricane, you never know what may become of a thought you express here.
I have seen pearls of wisdom in threads here that turn up that night on Countdown, or the next day on Randi Rhodes... I'm not saying they read DU, nor necessarily that they have interns scanning it for them... but maybe somebody copied a quote and emailed it to a friend who forwarded it... or maybe it was just a good thought and someone else came up with it too
suffice it to say that thoughts NOT communicated SOMEWHERE do NOT take wing...
that collective wisdom doesn't come from one demagogue shouting at a crowd - it comes from the crowd saying "enough is enough"
William Shakespeare described it perfectly in Mark Antony's eulogy. This is an absolutely brilliant piece of writing. Antony wants to incite the crowd, to change the "conventional wisdom."
Brutus has just spoken, and the crowd is all stirred up saying "right on" "Caesar sucked" "let's crown Brutus." Antony was a friend of Caesar; they expect he will rebut Brutus; some don't even want to let him speak, because they think they already have the truth. Brutus asks them to stay and be polite while Antony praises Caesar. Makes the point that he and the other the murderers gave Antony permission to speak - a token gesture:
"...grace his speech
Tending to Caesar's glories; which Mark Antony,
By our permission, is allow'd to make"
He tries to set it up by being sarcastic about what Antony will say, get the crowd's mind closed. Antony knows how much they will resist if he praises Caesar and attacks Brutus, Cassius, and the others. The success of Antony's approach in influencing that "collective wisdom" is self-evident.
Folks, this is how it is done. kudos to Wm. S.
it's long, and if you aren't in to Shakespeare, might be off-putting, but damn is it good. Try to struggle through it - you'll be glad you did.
All:
Live, Brutus! live, live!
First Citizen:
Bring him with triumph home unto his house.
Second Citizen:
Give him a statue with his ancestors.
Third Citizen:
Let him be Caesar.
Fourth Citizen:
Caesar's better parts
Shall be crown'd in Brutus.
First Citizen:
We'll bring him to his house
With shouts and clamours.
BRUTUS:
My countrymen,--
Second Citizen:
Peace, silence! Brutus speaks.
First Citizen:
Peace, ho!
BRUTUS:
Good countrymen, let me depart alone,
And, for my sake, stay here with Antony:
Do grace to Caesar's corpse, and grace his speech
Tending to Caesar's glories; which Mark Antony,
By our permission, is allow'd to make.
I do entreat you, not a man depart,
Save I alone, till Antony have spoke.
Exit
First Citizen:
Stay, ho! and let us hear Mark Antony.
Third Citizen:
Let him go up into the public chair;
We'll hear him. Noble Antony, go up.
ANTONY:
For Brutus' sake, I am beholding to you.
Goes into the pulpit
Fourth Citizen:
What does he say of Brutus?
Third Citizen:
He says, for Brutus' sake,
He finds himself beholding to us all.
Fourth Citizen:
'Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here.
First Citizen:
This Caesar was a tyrant.
Third Citizen
Nay, that's certain:
We are blest that Rome is rid of him.
Second Citizen:
Peace! let us hear what Antony can say.
ANTONY:
You gentle Romans,--
Citizens:
Peace, ho! let us hear him.
ANTONY:
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 leave of Brutus and the rest--
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men--
Come I to 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 ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor 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 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, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But 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.
First Citizen:
Methinks there is much reason 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 a 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, some 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, 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 honourable men:
I will not do them wrong; I rather choose
To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you,
Than I will wrong such honourable men.
But here's a parchment with the seal of Caesar;
I found it in his closet, 'tis his will:
Let but the commons hear this testament--
Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read--
And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds
And dip their napkins in his sacred blood,
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,
And, dying, mention it within their wills,
Bequeathing it as a rich legacy
Unto their issue.
Fourth Citizen:
We'll hear the will: read it, Mark Antony.
All:
The will, the will! we will hear Caesar's will.
ANTONY:
Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it;
It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you.
You are not wood, you are not stones, but men;
And, being men, bearing the will of Caesar,
It will inflame you, it will make you mad:
'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs;
For, if you should, O, what would come of it!
Fourth Citizen:
Read the will; we'll hear it, Antony;
You shall read us the will, Caesar's will.
ANTONY:
Will you be patient? will you stay awhile?
I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it:
I fear I wrong the honourable men
Whose daggers have stabb'd Caesar; I do fear it.
Fourth Citizen:
They were traitors: honourable men!
All:
The will! the testament!
Second Citizen:
They were villains, murderers: the will! read the will.
ANTONY:
You will compel me, then, to read the will?
Then make a ring about the corpse of Caesar,
And let me show you him that made the will.
Shall I descend? and will you give me leave?
Several Citizens:
Come down.
Second Citizen:
Descend.
Third Citizen:
You shall have leave.
ANTONY comes down
Fourth Citizen:
A ring; stand round.
First Citizen:
Stand from the hearse, stand from the body.
Second Citizen:
Room for Antony, most noble Antony.
ANTONY:
Nay, press not so upon me; stand far off.
Several Citizens:
Stand back; room; bear back.
ANTONY:
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.
You all do know this mantle: I remember
The first time ever Caesar put it on;
'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent,
That day he overcame the Nervii:
Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through:
See what a rent the envious Casca made:
Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd;
And as he pluck'd his cursed steel away,
Mark how the blood of Caesar follow'd it,
As rushing out of doors, to be resolved
If Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no;
For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel:
Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him!
This was the most unkindest cut of all;
For when the noble Caesar saw him stab,
Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms,
Quite vanquish'd him: then burst his mighty heart;
And, in his mantle muffling up his face,
Even at the base of Pompey's statua,
Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell.
O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!
Then I, and you, and all of us fell down,
Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us.
O, now you weep; and, I perceive, you feel
The dint of pity: these are gracious drops.
Kind souls, what, weep you when you but behold
Our Caesar's vesture wounded? Look you here,
Here is himself, marr'd, as you see, with traitors.
First Citizen:
O piteous spectacle!
Second Citizen:
O noble Caesar!
Third Citizen:
O woful day!
Fourth Citizen:
O traitors, villains!
First Citizen:
O most bloody sight!
Second Citizen:
We will be revenged.
All:
Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay!
Let not a traitor live!
ANTONY:
Stay, countrymen.
First Citizen:
Peace there! hear the noble Antony.
Second Citizen:
We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll die with him.
ANTONY:
Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up
To such a sudden flood of mutiny.
They that have done this deed are honourable:
What private griefs they have, alas, I know not,
That made them do it: they are wise and honourable,
And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you.
I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts:
I am no orator, as Brutus is;
But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man,
That love my friend; and that they know full well
That gave me public leave to speak of him:
For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,
To stir men's blood: I only speak right on;
I tell you that which you yourselves do know;
Show you sweet Caesar's wounds, poor poor dumb mouths,
And bid them speak for me: but were I Brutus,
And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony
Would ruffle up your spirits and put a tongue
In every wound of Caesar that should move
The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.
All:
We'll mutiny.
First Citizen:
We'll burn the house of Brutus.
Third Citizen:
Away, then! come, seek the conspirators.
ANTONY:
Yet hear me, countrymen; yet hear me speak.
All:
Peace, ho! Hear Antony. Most noble Antony!
ANTONY:
Why, friends, you go to do you know not what:
Wherein hath Caesar thus deserved your loves?
Alas, you know not: I must tell you then:
You have forgot the will I told you of.
All:
Most true. The will! Let's stay and hear the will.
ANTONY:
Here is the will, and under Caesar's seal.
To every Roman citizen he gives,
To every several man, seventy-five drachmas.
Second Citizen:
Most noble Caesar! We'll revenge his death.
Third Citizen:
O royal Caesar!
ANTONY:
Hear me with patience.
All:
Peace, ho!
ANTONY:
Moreover, he hath left you all his walks,
His private arbours and new-planted orchards,
On this side Tiber; he hath left them you,
And to your heirs for ever, common pleasures,
To walk abroad, and recreate yourselves.
Here was a Caesar! when comes such another?
First Citizen:
Never, never. Come, away, away!
We'll burn his body in the holy place,
And with the brands fire the traitors' houses.
Take up the body.
Second Citizen:
Go fetch fire.
Third Citizen:
Pluck down benches.
Fourth Citizen:
Pluck down forms, windows, any thing.
Exeunt Citizens with the body
ANTONY:
Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot,
Take thou what course thou wilt!
Enter a 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 any thing.
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.
Exeunt
Suffice it to say Antony did not get "urinated off" and leave!
Entire play:
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/julius_caesar/full.html
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