In eye of Caesar's battle; from which place
We may the number of ships behold,
And so proceed accordingly.
-Mark Antony
Antony and Cleopatra Act III, scene ix, Line 1
Do you want to know the most interesting thing about today's Totally Random lines, or at least what I think is most interesting? I'll tell you. These four lines of Act III, scene ix are Act III, scene ix. That is to say, that's it. That is Act III, scene ix. That's all of it. The scene is four lines long (or short), one sentence spoken by Mark Antony. Pretty short scene, eh? Since I'm not a Shakespeare expert I can't tell you if it's the shortest scene in all of his plays, but it is at least one of the shortest.
Well, there are a lot of short scenes in this play, but now I'm curious. Okay, according to the Shakespeare Candle website this is indeed the shortest scene in all of Shakespeare. But there are two others just as short, one in this play and one in The Merry Wives of Windsor. So there you have it. You've just read one full scene. Congratulations!
Okay, you're right. That's not 'the hill' that Antony was talking about setting his squadrons on yond side of. But it is still 'The hill'. It's a picture of Tolkien's hill drawn by Tolkien himself. It's from the book J.R.R. Tolkien Artist & Illustrator.
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