His
life was gentle; and the elements
So
mixt in him, that Nature might stand up
And
say to all the world, “This was a man!”
-Marcus Antonius
Julius Caesar Act V, Scene v,
Line 73
Okay, well here’s a pretty good line. And I guess it had
better be since there are only eight lines left in the play. You would think
that the audience is pretty attentive at this point so you wouldn’t want to be
slipping in any B-grade stuff at this point. You want strictly A-grade material
here.
They’re talking about Brutus, who just died, with this line. And though the
name of the play is Julius Caesar, Brutus is pretty much the main character in
this play. Remember that Caesar dies at the beginning of Act Three, and Brutus died just a few
lines before today’s Totally Random line.
Now, today’s quote literally sounds like something you could
use in a eulogy today if you wanted. I think you’d resort to this one if you
were kind of stuck and didn’t have your own A-grade material for the recently
deceased. If you were talking about someone close to you, who you felt good
about, you’d probably be able to come up with some more specific stuff to say.
But if it was someone that you got roped into talking about, well then this
would be a good line, because it’s a bit vague. Now I’m sure if we do an
in-depth analysis of the play we’re going to fine that there’s really nothing
random about these words and they very specifically refer to stuff about Brutus
from the play. But taken on their own, well they’re definitely a bit vague. But
it sounds nice, doesn’t it? Of course it does, it’s Shakespeare for God’s sake!
I've given eulogies for people a couple of times. Once I ended it with a quote from John Keats's Ode On A Grecian Urn, and once I ended it with a quote from this book. But I'll keep this Julius Caesar quote in mind if I ever end up in the eulogy situation again. It's a pretty good line. Not that I'm too excited about the thought of giving any eulogies.
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