Quote 1
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. (3.2.82)
Even though Antony promises he won't bad-mouth Caesar's assassins, his funeral eulogy for Caesar is a carefully crafted speech designed to 1) turn the people against the conspirators, and 2) launch Antony into a position of power. The success of Antony's speech suggests that effective leadership goes hand in hand with rhetoric (the art of speaking persuasively).
Quote 2
ANTONY
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy
(Which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue)
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;
Blood and destruction shall be so in use
And dreadful objects so familiar
That mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quartered with the hands of war,
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds;
And Caesar's spirit ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war,
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial. (3.1.285-301)
When Antony stands over Caesar's mutilated body, he prophesies that civil war and chaos will ensue in Rome. So does Antony have magical powers or something? Not really – he's just motivated by Caesar's death and has a huge stake in making his prediction come true. When he delivers a carefully crafted speech at Caesar's funeral, he inspires the crowd to revolt against the conspirators.
Quote 3
ANTONY
This was the noblest Roman of them all.
All the conspirators save only he
Did that they did in envy of great Caesar.
He only in a general honest thought
And common good to all made one of them. (5.5.74-78)
These days, we tend not wage war against our friends and then stand over their dead bodies waxing poetic about how "noble" they were. But in <em>Julius Caesar</em>, this kind of behavior is par for the course.
Quote 4
ANTONY
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And sure he is an honorable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause.
What cause withholds you then to mourn for
him?—
O judgement, thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason!—Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me. [He weeps.] (3.2.107-117)
Antony doesn't suggest the people adopt his judgments; instead he masterfully suggests they think back on their own past judgments. It's not just that Antony loved Caesar, but that the people did too. This is a masterful rhetorical move: Antony gets the crowd to come to the conclusion he wants them to without their realizing it. Now if they go against what they used to believe, they'd seem fickle, which nobody likes. Antony even gives them the time they'd need to reflect on their past beliefs and come to his conclusion.
Quote 5
ANTONY
Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it.
It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you.
You are not wood, you are not stones, but men.
And, being men, hearing the will of Caesar,
It will inflame you; it will make you mad.
'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs,
For if you should, O, what would come of it? (3.2.152-158)
This is the point at which Antony begins using some really questionable methods of rhetoric (the art of persuasion). It's obvious to the reader that Antony wants a disastrous outcome, and he's inviting it by playing on the public's own willingness to be taunted and deceived by this game of peek-a-boo with a dead man's will. For shame.
Quote 6
ANTONY
Here is the will, and under Caesar's seal:
To every Roman citizen he gives,
To every several man, seventy-five drachmas.
SECOND PLEBEIAN
Most noble Caesar! We'll revenge his death.
THIRD PLEBIAN
O royal Caesar!
ANTONY
Hear me with patience.
PLEBEIANS
Peace, ho!
ANTONY
Moreover, he hath left you all his walks,
His private arbors, and new-planted orchards,
On this side Tiber. He hath left them you,
And to your heirs forever—common pleasures
To walk abroad and recreate yourselves.
Here was a Caesar! When comes such another?
FIRST PLEBEIAN
Never, never!—Come, away, away!
We'll burn his body in the holy place
And with the brands fire the traitors' houses.
Take up the body. (3.2.254-270)
Something like ten minutes ago, the people swore with Brutus that they loved their freedom as Romans above all else. But Antony, with the promise of two months' wages and some public gardens, convinces the people to riot. They forget all about the tyranny Brutus just warned them of.
Quote 7
ANTONY
Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up
To such a sudden flood of mutiny.
They that have done this deed are honorable.
What private griefs they have, alas, I know not,
That made them do it. They are wise and honorable
And will no doubt with reasons answer you.
I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts.
I am no orator, as Brutus is,
But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man
That love my friend, and that they know full well
That gave me public leave to speak of him.
For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech
To stir men's blood. I only speak right on.
I tell you that which you yourselves do know,
Show you sweet Caesar's wounds, poor dumb mouths,
And bid them speak for me. (3.2.222-239)
False humility is often worse than arrogance. Antony sets himself up as an ignoble and untrustworthy character here.