How many times shall Caesar bleed in sport,
That now on Pompey’s basis lies along
No worthier than the dust!
-Brutus
Julius Caesar Act III, Scene i, Line 115
Let’s put this in context, and then take a look at it. Caesar had risen to power after a bloody civil war. The main leader of the other side in that war had been Pompey, and Pompey was killed in Caesar’s rise to power. Now they’ve just killed Caesar in what they believe is Rome’s best interest, believing that Caesar was going to become an authoritarian dictator; and I do believe their motives were mostly pure. Brutus speaks of bathing their hands in Caesar’s blood and walking forth crying ‘Peace, freedom, and liberty.’ Cassius responds,
Stoop then, and wash.—How many ages hence
Shall this our lofty scene be acted over
In states unborn and accents yet unknown!
To which Brutus responds with today’s Totally Random line.
Never, never, never does this stuff cease to amaze me. Never. And to be perfectly clear, today’s line was chosen, as always, based on the roll of the die.
So, Cassius’s line is pretty straightforward, and chilling given the events of yesterday at the nation’s capital. States unborn, and accents yet unknown. And Brutus’s line even more so. Cassius is saying that this scene will be acted out in the future again and again as people fight against bad leaders. He refers to these actions as a lofty scene. Brutus is much more cynical, knowing that this scene will certainly be acted out again, but, knowing that the motives will not always be just, and referring to it not as lofty, but rather as sport. He points out that the end result is death, plain and simple death.
It’s pretty clear that what we saw yesterday was no lofty scene. It was simply sport; very bad and very ill-conceived sport.
A lofty scene.
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