Mobile Press Register
May 26, 2009
In Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," Mark Antony prepares to address a crowd that has gathered around Caesar's body. Brutus has already spoken rationally in defense of Caesar's assassination. The crowd still wants to understand more. Mark Antony eloquently appeals to the emotions of the crowd.
With Antony's speech in mind, I offer this adaptation:
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ear.
I come to bury Georgus, not praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones; so let it be with Georgus. The noble Baracus hath told you Georgus was ambitious. If it were so, it was a grievous fault, and grievously hath Georgus answer'd it.
Here under leave of Baracus and the rest, for Baracus is an honorable man; so are they all, honorable men, come I to speak in Georgus's funeral. He was my friend, faithful and just to me. But Baracus says he was ambitious; and Baracus is an honorable man. He hath brought many captives home to the Capitol, whose ransoms did the general coffers fill.
Did this in Georgus seem ambitious? When the poor have cried, Georgus hath wept. Ambition should be made of sterner stuff; yet Baracus says he was ambitious; and Baracus is an honorable man. You all did see that on the Lupercal, I thrice presented him a kingly crown, which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?
Yet Baracus says he was ambitious; and sure he is an honorable man. I speak not to disprove what Baracus spoke, but I am here to speak what I do know. You all did love him once, not without cause. What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
Oh judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason. Bear with me; my heart is in the coffin there with Georgus, and I must pause till it come back to me.
In Shakespeare's play, several citizens speak after Antony. One warns, "I fear there will a worse come in his place."
I changed only two words in the original text of Antony's speech. Other things seem never to change.
MICHAEL MARR
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Mobile Press Register June 2, 2009
The real reason Caesar was killed
In response to the May 25 letter, "Georgus, Baracas and 'Julius Caesar,'" the writer uses Mark Antony's funeral oration for Julius Caesar to imply that President Obama is somehow symbolically assassinating former President George W. Bush.
Regarding the politics of Ancient Rome, Brutus was a member of the conservative party in the Roman Senate. The conservatives of the Roman Senate wanted to be rid of Caesar. They accused him of being a tyrant, in an attempt to persuade the people of Rome that he was trying to become a king.
In truth, they were angry that Caesar, though minimally of the aristocratic class, had attained the position of consul of the Roman Senate and dictator for life by his dedication and willingness to fight hard to protect and expand Roman territory.
Through these positions, Caesar pushed funding for large public works that improved living conditions for all the people of Rome. He also appointed commoners and foreigners to the Senate.
What may have made the conservative senators the angriest is that he passed laws forbidding the wealthy aristocrats from using slave labor for all their needs.
The common people loved Caesar. He would have enjoyed an approval rating significantly higher than 30 percent.
In the end, the wealthy, conservative senators lost their power or were killed. The aftermath led to the rise of Caesar's great-nephew, Octavius.
Octavius became the first Roman emperor under the name Caesar Augustus. He continued the ideals of Julius Caesar with great public works and civil order for all the people of Rome. He set the standard that no emperor following him was able to attain.
So, yes, some things do seem to never change.
LU JEFFREY
Semmes
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Mobile Press Register June 9, 2009
America may be following Rome
In response to the letter "The real reason Caesar was killed" (June 2); I read the referenced "Georgus, Baracas, and Julius Caesar" and found it both amusing and on point. Barack Obama has been blaming George W. Bush for everything since his presidential campaign started years ago. You can call it a symbolic assassination if you choose.
Reading the writer's description of Caesar and his accomplishments, I detect a comparison of Obama with Caesar. Of course, we must have a traitorous "conservative," and one must wonder who has been selected to play Brutus.
The writer extols the grand public works initiated by the Caesars. Public works were funded with "federal" financing, the majority of which came from looting and pillaging the nations conquered by Rome. The writer points out that Caesar further infuriated the conservatives by "forbidding the wealthy aristocrats from using slave labor for all their needs." Coincidently, while engaging in this "forbidding," Caesar continued to import slaves, by the boatload, to satisfy the needs of Rome.
The writer either does not know, or chooses to ignore, the ultimate end of the great society created by the Caesars. The fantastic public works and social changes they created led to a society that lived only for "free bread and circuses." Caesar gave them what they craved, which in turn led to an irresponsible society. Once that point was reached, coupled with the ever present need for foreign financing and labor, spoils of foreign conquest and importation of slave labor, Rome's doom was sealed. The lurking barbarians in the north were quick to seize the opportunity and invaded — and destroyed — the majestic Rome of history.
Is there a lurking parallel between the great Rome of history, and the present great democracy of the United States?
FORREST HUNTER
Robertsdale
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