First Philippic Against Marcus

"Friends, Romans, and Countrymen lend me your ears"(49). In the play Julius Caesar written by William Shakespeare, Mark Antony is given an opportunity to speak at Caesar's funeral. In his speech, Antony addresses the death of Caesar and draws attention to the foul play at hand. Not only that, but he also discusses the legacy that Caesar left behind. In doing so, Marc Antony uses verbal irony to being to light the conspirator's betrayal toward not only Caesar, but to the people of Rome.

       In William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, although Marc Antony is allowed to make a speech at Caesar's funeral, he must not speak ill of either the conspirators or Caesar.  Antony was infuriated with Caesar's assassination, and wants to seek revenge on his killers as well as gain power for himself in Rome's government.  He must persuade the crowd that has gathered that Caesar's murder was unjust, and turn them against Brutus and Cassius.  He tries to stir his listeners' anger, rousing them into action and yet say nothing bad about his enemies.  Marc Antony uses several persuasive devices in his speech, which allows him to successfully convince the citizens of Rome to turn

In Act I, Scene 2, the purpose of Cassis’ speech is to persuade Brutus to distrust Caesar, and to join him in a conspiracy against Caesar. In his speech to Brutus, Cassius uses a variety of persuasive and rhetorical devices to persuade Brutus to join his cause against Caesar. Cassius is desperate to have Brutus on his side because of his close relation to Caesar and great respect and trust from the people of Rome. The tone of Cassius’ speech to Brutus is introduced with Cassius appealing to Brutus’ sense of responsibility towards Rome. Cassius tells Brutus that he has, “Heard where many of the best respect in Rome, except immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus and groaning underneath this age’s yoke, have wished that noble Brutus had his eyes” (I.ii.64-68). Cassius tells Brutus that he is admired by Rome, appealing to Brutus’ value of putting Rome ahead of himself. Cassius uses knowledge of this value to his advantage in his speech, insisting that killing Caesar will be for the good of Rome. Cassius also introduces his speech by persuading Brutus that he is honorable and can be trusted. Cassius tells Brutus that, “Honor is the subject of my story”(I.ii.99). This appeals to the speaker Cassius’ credibility and has an ethical appeal on Brutus, or ethos. This appeal is effective because it connects with something that Brutus values, honor. In Cassius’ speech to Brutus, he uses a comparison comparing Caesar to a Colossus saying, “Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus, and we petty men walk under his huge legs and peep about to find ourselves dishonorable graves”(I.ii.142-144). Cassius is using an analogy comparing Caesar to Colossus, which was a large statue. Cassius again uses Brutus’ value of honor to persuade when he tells Brutus that if Caesar is in power, he and Brutus will die dishonorable deaths. During the time period, an honorable death was very important to noble Romans, especially Brutus. When Cassius is comparing the two names Brutus and Caesar, he uses the strategy of asking rhetorical questions. “Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that ‘Caesar?’ Why should that name be sounded more than yours?(I.ii.149-151).” Cassius also asks, “Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed that he

In this situation Cassius had a conversation about killing Mark Antony as well as Caesar. This was a form of Treason. Cassius would never have said such things if he did not have the power to. Being a senator he felt he had the right to decide what was good for Rome. He not only said this for Rome, but for himself as well. If Caesar had become King, he would have been able to get ride of Cassius. This thought did not please Cassius. "Casca, you are the first to that rears your hand" (Shakespeare 3.1.30). This was another point in the story where treason was committed. It took place in the Senate House, as Caesar approached. Cassius and the other senators discussed how Casca would attack Caesar first.

In the play, Julius Caesar, Caear has recently been betrayed and killed by his Bestfriend Brutus and conspirators. Antony (a friend of Caesar’s) is distraught by his friends death and promises to him in private that he will avenge his killers. Brutus allows for Ceasar to have a funeral arrangement and Antony asks Brutus about speaking in front of the capitol during the ceremony. Brutus allows for this to take place but he tells Antony to promise not to say anything bad about him or any of the conspirators and to only speak about Caesar. Antony accepts this arrangement and heads to the stage of the capitol to give his speech. Brutus also says that he will speak at Caesar’s funeral arrangement so that he can tell the citizens he and the conspirators killed Caesar and explain to them why they did it.

To make a strong argument, Antony must first make himself credible to the audience. The first time he does this in the text is in line one when he refers to the people of rome as his friends and countrymen. When he does this, he asks the people of rome to see him as a peer and trust what he says. He builds credibility again in the next line when he tells the audience that he has come to bury caesar, not praise him. After Brutus’ speech, the audience does not like caesar. In order to be able to make an argument, Antony must at first seem to agree with Brutus in order to build credibility with the audience. He does this more when he repeatedly says that Brutus is an honorable man. Antony builds his credibility yet again later in the speech when, in line 192, he refers to the conspirators as wise and honorable, saying that they must have reasons for committing such crimes, and telling the people not to

Cicero's basic viewpoint held that Rome was held together as a Republic because of the rule of the Senate, not the rule of one King or one Man. Cicero opposed the idea of Julius Caesar taking on more and more power and authority, because he saw this as diminishing the authority of the Senate. The Senate, Cicero thought, was the representative of the "people of Rome," and the discourse and disagreement during debate allowed for more egalitarian rule than that on a central figure. The rule of Rome, than, was based on "a man who is held worthy of defending"¦. Cannot be deemed unworthy of the constitution itself." This, and the idea of being born a common person, allowed Cicero to believe that it was the oratory and intellectual skills of the individual

One way in which Cicero successfully uses epideictic rhetoric is by acknowledging the power and intelligence of his audience. He praises their education, well-roundedness, and civility by saying, “dicentem hoc concurs hominum litteratissimorum, hac vestra humanitate, hoc denique praetore exercente iudicium” (Cicero, lines 31-33). The use of the superlative in “litteratissimorum” when describing his “most cultured” audience emphasizes his feelings of respect and admiration for his peers. Similarly, he also uses this same construction describing Archias a few seconds before, calling him an “eruditissimo homine” (Cicero, line 31). This mirroring of flattering superlatives for both Archias and the jurors illustrates Cicero’s admiration for his audience, his defendant, and for the liberal arts as he emphasizes the importance of an educated

     Cicero was a member of the Senate during the time of Catiline’s Conspiracy. His life was

In Act II of the play, Julius Caesar, the character says “ You came just in time to convey my greetings to the senators and to tell them that I will not come today” (II, ii, 60-61). Caesar says this to Decius and commands him to go tell this to the senate. Caesar is not going to the senate, even though he knows its because they want to crown him king. He is not going because his wife has had terrible dreams about it but Decius talks him into going anyway. Caesar ends up getting killed at the senate by the conspirators, who are the group of men who want Caesar dead. The lead man in the group, Brutus, is one of Caesar’s close friends and Caesar is heartbroken when he turns and Brutus puts the final dagger into his side. Marc Antony is Caesar's right hand man and he is very upset and angry about Caesar's death. Marc Antony and Brutus both give speeches at Caesar’s funeral about their sides of the story. Marc Antony gave a more outstanding speech compared to the one Brutus gave and he gained the most followers from it.

Caesar, manipulates the power of Cicero, which earned him the right of imperium, through the senate. With this he serves alongside the consuls in the campaign against Antonius in Cisalpine Gaul [this side of the Alps]. Coincidentally, to his enormous advantage both the consuls were killed in action. Caesar’s political skill is displayed here again. He has no legal right to Consulship but registers that the position may be taken by force.

Cicero’s essay, titled On Duties, presents a practical approach concerning the moral obligations of a political man in the form of correspondence with his young son. Essential to the text, the incentive for Cicero to undertake On Duties emerges from his depleted hope to restore the Republic within his lifetime. Cicero therefore places such aspirations in the hands of his posterity. The foremost purpose of On Duties considers three obstacles, divided into separate Books, when deciding a course of action. Book I prefatorily states, “in the first place, men may be uncertain whether the thing that falls under consideration is an honorable or a dishonorable thing to do” (5). Cicero addresses the ambiguities present under this consideration and

Brutus, a conflicted senator obsessed with his civic duty, convinces the people of Rome that his motives in killing Caesar were just and noble by rhetoric. Brutus is the only conspirator to have impersonal motives in killing Caesar. In fact, his motives are trying to find the best solution for Rome, and in the end, he must make the hard choice of killing his best friend for his homeland. As early as Brutus’ conversation with Cassius in Act I, Brutus exhibits this deep love and respect for Rome and how this love is conflicting with his love for his friend, Caesar: “[P]oor Brutus, with himself at war, / Forgets the shows of love to other men” (I.ii.51-52). Brutus brings up this internal conflict again when he tells the crowds that although he did love Caesar, he loved Rome and its people more. After Brutus’ murder of Caesar, he realizes that the issue of the public opinion of Rome is of the utmost importance. Because of this love for Rome, Brutus uses rhetoric to persuade these plebeians to approve of him and his cause. When Cassius warns Brutus about “how much the people will be moved / By that which [Marc Antony] will utter[!]” (III.i.252-253), Brutus tells Cassius that letting Marc Antony speak “shall advantage us more than do us wrong” (III.i.261). In these cases, Brutus demonstrates his awareness of

At the start of the timelessly classic play, Julius Caesar was in the final stages of parlaying his military prowess and growing cult of personality into enthronement as the long absent autocrat of Rome. His brother-in-arms, Marcus Brutus, after fighting at Caesar’s side for so long, was forced to weigh his loyalty to Caesar against his loyalty to Rome, setting the stage for the troubling events to come. As Caesar’s divine right to rule and infallibility were trumpeted throughout Rome, others were not so convinced of his purity and worthiness. Cassius, a dissident Senator, opened Brutus’ eyes to the circumstances unfolding before them and to what could be lost should Caesar take the throne. Cassius voiced his opposition strongly, saying: