Decius
Brutus loves thee not:
-Artemidorus
Julius Caesar Act II Scene iii, Line 4
A sophist of
Cnidos. That’s how Artemidorus is listed in the Dramatis Personae, the list of
characters at the beginning of the play. What we’re doing with a teacher from
ancient Greece in Caesar’s Rome is beyond me. Maybe he’s the guy who’s there to
fix the clock.
Anyway, Artemidourus
is the only person in this short scene. He is standing alone and reading aloud a
note that he has penned to Julius Caesar warning him that he is in danger of
being assassinated. He lists Brutus and all the fellows of the conspiracy. ‘Beware
of Brutus; take heed of Cassius; come not near Casca, etc, etc.’ (I added
the etc’s). I don’t know that Artemidorus is mentioned previously in the play,
and I’m not sure how/why he knows about the conspiracy. He will show up one
more time in the stabbing scene trying, and failing, to warn Caesar. The latter
is too busy to listen to him.
And therein lies
the lesson: Forget about the ides of March nonsense (although I guess he should
have listened to that guy too), the lesson here is ignore others at your own
peril.
Today's screen saver. Pretty cool shot, eh?
Relevance? None.
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