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1. 
   linda-allen Teacher
   High School - 10th Grade

   eNotes Editor

   This speech, known to high school sophomores all across America as Antony's Funeral Oration, is probably one of the most famous speeches from British literature. At the same time praising Caesar, Antony satirizes Brutus and his "honor." You'll find this speech in Julius Caesar Act III, scene 2. I'll cite a few of the lines here, and you can read the rest of the etext here at eNotes:

   Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!
   I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
   The evil that men do lives after them,
   The good is oft interred with their bones;
   So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus(85)
   Hath told you Caesar was ambitious;
   If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
   And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
   Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest—
   For Brutus is an honorable man;(90)
   So are they all, all honorable men—
   Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
   He was my friend, faithful and just to me;
   But Brutus says he was ambitious,
   And Brutus is an honorable man.(95)
   He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
   Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill.
   Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
   When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept;
   Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.(100)
   Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
   And Brutus is an honorable man.

   
   Visit the links below for more information.

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/jc-text/act-iii-scene-ii

   http://www.enotes.com/jc/act-iii-scenes-2-3-summary-analysis

   http://www.enotes.com/jc/selected-quotes

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   Posted by linda-allen on Tuesday April 21, 2009 at 10:56 AM
   
   

2. 
   disney353 Student
   High School - 12th Grade

   excerpts of Antony's lines from his speech:

    

   You gentle Romans -

   Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;

   I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

   The evil that men do lives after them;

   The good is oft interred with their bones;

   So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus

   Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:

   If it were so, it was a grievous fault,

   And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.

   Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest—

   For Brutus is an honourable man;

   So are they all, all honourable men—

   Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.

   He was my friend, faithful and just to me;

   But Brutus says he was ambitious;

   And Brutus is an honourable man.

   He hath brought many captives home to Rome

   Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill;

   Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?

   When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:

   Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:

   Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;

   And Brutus is an honourable 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 Brutus says he was ambitious;

   And, sure, he is an honourable 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 judgment! 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

   But yesterday the word of Caesar might

   Have stood against the world; now lies he there,

   And none so poor to do him reverence.

   O masters, if I were disposed to stir

   Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,

   I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong,

   Who, you all know, are honourable men:

   I will not do them wrong; I rather choose

   To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you,

   Than I will wrong such honourable men.

   But here's a parchment with the seal of Caesar;

   I found it in his closet, 'tis his will:

   Let but the commons hear this testament—

   Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read—

   And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds

   And dip their napkins in his sacred blood,

   Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,

   And, dying, mention it within their wills,

   Bequeathing it as a rich legacy

   Unto their issue.

   *** 

   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;

   ***

    

   Here is the will, and under Caesar's seal.

   To every Roman citizen he gives,

   To every several man, seventy-five drachmas.

    ***

   Moreover, he hath left you all his walks,

   His private arbours and new-planted orchards,

   On this side Tiber; he hath left them you,

   And to your heirs for ever—common pleasures,

   To walk abroad, and recreate yourselves.

   Here was a Caesar! when comes such another?

   ***

   Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot,

   Take thou what course thou wilt!

    

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   Posted by disney353 on Friday April 24, 2009 at 6:13 AM