Today’s Totally Random
Lines
What
trade, thou knave? Thou naughty knave, what trade?
Marullus
Julius Caesar Act I, Scene i, Line 15
Here’s
something interesting. I initially went to the wrong page in my compilation. I
picked page 582, but inadvertently went to 584. It was a better line than Today’s
above. It was Cassius talking to Brutus about Caesar. He’s pointing out to Brutus
that the people are treating Caesar like a god when he’s no better than anyone
else. In the line that I picked in error he’s specifically talking about when he,
Cassius, was swimming across a river with Caesar.
The torrent roar’d; and we did buffet it
With
lusty sinews, throwing it aside
And
stemming it with hearts of controversy:
But ere
we could arrive at the point proposed,
Caesar
cried, ‘Help me, Cassius, or I sink!’
I, as
Aeneas, our great ancestor,
Did from
the flames of Troy upon his shoulder
The old
Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber
Did I the
tired Caesar: and this man
Is now
become a god; and Cassius is
A
wretched creature, and must bend his body,
If Caesar
carelessly but nod on him.
It sounds like Cassius has a bit of a chip on his shoulder. Wouldn’t you agree?
Anyway, as interesting as that is, here’s something even better: I listened to this whole scene this morning, Act one – Scene two, and I noticed not one, not two, but three famous lines in it. See if they’re familiar to you.
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars…
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
It was Greek to me.
Interesting, eh? Hopefully you’re familiar with at least one of those, if not all.
And
that’s how you avoid discussing a Totally Random line about which you have nothing
to say. Pretty clever, eh?
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