-an I had been a man of any occupation, if I had not taken him at a word, I would I might go to hell among the rogues;-

-Casca

Julius Caesar                                Act I, scene ii, line 268

This is part of the same speech that we looked at a few weeks ago. It was the post where I was equating ‘if Caesar had stabb’d their mothers’ to ‘I could shoot someone in broad daylight on Fifth Avenue’. This is Casca, one of the conspirators, describing what had happened with Caesar earlier in the day.  Now right before this line, Casca is describing how Caesar offered to let the crowd cut his throat, and I believe that’s what he’s referring to when he mentions taking him at a word. However, I’m not sure what he’s saying above. I think it’s one of those lines that I’ll live with a while and then when I do come to understand what it means I will wonder how I ever misunderstood it. Yeah, one of those. 

Since I couldn't really figure today's line out, I thought I could give you a picture that we can't really figure out either. Actually, I know what's going on in this picture: this was when Spike was getting old and senile, and he didn't really know what he was doing. What I can't figure out is the relevance of the picture to today's line. Or perhaps that is the relevance: the fact that I can't figure it out. Yeah, that sounds about right. Let's go with that.

As you from crimes would pardon’d be,

Let your indulgence set me free.

-Prospero

The Tempest                                Epilogue, line 20

These are the last two lines of The Tempest in the epilogue spoken by Prospero. Since we wrote the whole book on a retelling of The Tempest, I’ve decided to give you our full retelling of the epilogue. Here you go.

Thou hast a perfect thought:

-Hubert de Brugh



King John                                         Act V, scene vi, line 6



I don’t think that context is all that relevant this morning. I’m just going to go with Thou hast a perfect thought. So next time you have to urge to respond to someone with That’s a great idea, try this instead. Thou has a perfect thought. See what happens. Just consider it part of our quest to bring a little more of Will's language into today's world. 
Lord knows we can use it.

We were out and about and we saw this sign. So Jess said, Hey, I'll think I'll take a stroll down this way and see what Normalville is like for once.

But about sixty seconds later she turned around and came back and said, Nah, that sounds boring. And of course I replied Truly Jess, thou hast a perfect thought.

He has no equal.

-Junius Brutus

Coriolanus                               Act I, scene i, line 49

This is Junius Brutus talking and he is the stereotypical politician. In other words, he’s a jerk and Will wants us to see that he’s a jerk. Apparently politicians four hundred years ago were held in the same contempt that they are today. Junius is talking about Coriolanus and he is being facetious and cynical here. But in truth, he’s also right. Though I’m not sure he realizes it.

Now, since I’ve decided to try my hardest to stay off the news today, especially political news which is really upsetting me lately, and since a further discussion of this play will inevitably lead me to a discussion of the current political situation, I’m afraid I’m going to have cut today’s discussion short. Let me end by saying that this is a really good play and that the 2011 movie starring Ralph Fiennes is also really good. If you have a chance to see it please don’t pass it up. I won’t say that Ralph has no equal, but he’s quite good.

 These are some ruins of a Roman aqueduct somewhere in Spain. Relevance? Well, Coriolanus is a play set in Rome. 

Sorry, that's the best I could do.