Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

This is the discussion thread for Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, our Old School Classic Group Read for November 2020.

Spoilers allowed here.

Please feel free to discuss anything you wish, relating to the book and let us know what you thought :)

BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH :)

I am reading this in the Oxford World‘s Classics edition and find the introduction rather tedious. Is there a version where anyone of you found a more engaging introduction?

I never got the whole Ides thing fixed in my head. What was an ides anyway?
With the forbearance of the collective:

The 7 day week was unknown in ancient Rome as was the concept of the week end.

Instead they divided the month into . three parts
Quote:
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/...
The Roman calendar highlighted a number of days in each month:

Calends (Kalendae) were the first days of each month. The name is derived from the Greek word καλειν, to announce, which may initially have been used in the ancient lunar calendar to “announce” the day of the New Moon (or the first sliver of the Waxing Crescent Moon).
Ides (Idus) occurred one day before the middle of each month. Depending on the month's length, it fell on the 13th or 15th day. In the lunar calendar, the Ides marked the day of the Full Moon.
Nones (Nonae) fell on the 7th day of 31-day months and on the 5th day of 29-day months, marking the day of the First Quarter Moon.

These markers were used to number the days in each month, counting backward from the upcoming Calends, Ides, or Nones. The count always included the day of the marker. For example, the 11th day of Martius would be known as “Five Ides” to the Romans because it is the fifth day before the Ides of Martius, which fell on the 15th day.
End Quote

Your comment brings back memories of Latin class, Phrodrick!
Julius Caesar has always been one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. It is very dramatic and there are so many good guotes.

I haven’t read Julius Caesar in probably 20 years and I'm enjoying revisiting it. I have the Riverside Shakespeare which is a huge single volume of all the plays (only suitable for setting on a desk, not one’s lap), but I like it for its well-written and informative introductions and useful footnotes.

We all know the Lend me your ears speech,
And Brutus is an Honorable man!
black humor anyone?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=...
Marlon Brando 1953

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bi1P...
Charlton Heston 1973

Shakespeare’s works contain a lot of death. Julius Caesar adds greatly to the body count. One of my daughters’ classes studied Shakespeare in school then wrote and performed their own play based on what they had learned. In their play, they mashed all of the plots together into a single work and, unsurprisingly, everybody died.

While The Bard was adept at poison, blades, and poisoned blades,
pretty much all the major actors in involved in the actual historical assignation found themselves dead in revolution, or hunting down our speaker with all the ears,
(the sea battle at Actium with Cleopatra was the beginning of the end for him)

For more dead noble Romans- see another WS play
Anthony and Cleopatra

Or you might just
Brush up your Shakespeare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8Zzl...

More risque and what Cole Porter originally wrote;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocq0-...

Phrodrick wrote: "We all know the Lend me your ears speech,
And Brutus is an Honorable man!
black humor anyone?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=...
Marlon Brando 1953

https://www.youtube.com/wat..."

I had not seen either of those or heard the speech until reading this.

Benjamin wrote: "I am reading this in the Oxford World‘s Classics edition and find the introduction rather tedious. Is there a version where anyone of you found a more engaging introduction?"

I usually skip the introductions so as to have my own opinions first. Sometimes I go back and read them, but not often

I loved this play, especially the lend me your ears speech.

There were a lot of themes including love, jealousy, betrayal, mob rule, and war.

Shakespeare has a great way of showing you how horrible people can be in the name of love and how easily people can be swayed by a proclamation from "honorable men".

Oh thanks for mentioning, I might take a listen to the Librivox recording, as I haven't read this yet.

I’ve been meaning to re-read this play and this is a great excuse. Sorry I’m a bit late to the party, but I’m deep into Virgil’s Aeneid and just noticed you are reading one of the tragedies that made me fall in love with Shakespeare.

In reply to an earlier question, I agree with Bryan about not reading the introductions before the play, but I would recommend the Modern Library/Royal Shakespeare Company versions for serious reading of any Shakespeare play. Great introductions, notes, scene analysis and more. I love them.

I personally liked the complex way Mark Antony was done here. You can interpret him as anything from utterly calculating with an eye to his own advancement to really devoted to the Julius family and their rise to power. Really need to read Antony and Cleopatra now.

A funny thing, I started this one and then was reading a book by a modern author who attributed "the lean and hungry look" to Iago - what bad luck for him in my timing, immediately lost a great deal of credit with me.

Nente wrote: "I personally liked the complex way Mark Antony was done here. You can interpret him as anything from utterly calculating with an eye to his own advancement to really devoted to the Julius family an..."

I agree, Nente. I like how the major characters all had good and bad sides to them, not just Mark Antony, but also Brutus, Cassius, Julius Caesar, and even Octavius in the few lines he appeared in. Nobody is really good or bad. I flipped-flopped between whether I liked or disliked each character and ended up sympathising with most of them.

The way the "citizens" were immediately ready to act on the last word they heard was also hilariously done. I knew Brutus was putting himself in a weak position when he stipulated that Antony should talk only after him - that means he'd have the last word!

I read this a few days ago, but forgot to comment I see.

Wow...I really enjoyed reading this again. I think this really has the best lines in all of Shakespeare's plays (indefensible, but I'm sticking to it). "Cry havoc", "He doth bestride the world like a colossus", "the noblest Roman"...so many others.

Certainly my favorite play just to read, though I've enjoyed stage and film adaptations of most of the others that I've seen.

I enjoyed re-reading this play again and was struck by how relevant it still is in these times. The main characters were multi-leveled and always interesting. Antony's speech at the end really spoke to that.

His life was gentle; and the elements
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, "This was a man!”

I am reading Henry VI, Part 1 and am seeing elements of how same situation--scary that someone has too much political power--is playing out in Henry VI, Part 1. I am often glad when I find connections in writers' work. In part I learn more about their body of work. Also I get clues when reading their other works, making the reading easier.