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What was in Caesar's will and why did Antony read it to the people?

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Caesar's will, as read by Antony, bequeaths seventy-five drachmas and public parks to every Roman citizen. Antony reads it to the people to turn them against the conspirators by portraying Caesar as a generous leader. His skillful oration, possibly including fabricated details, incites the crowd to riot, forcing the conspirators to flee Rome.

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It may also be important to note that those contents of the will may not have been entirely truthful, just a mechanism that Antony used to get the people to support his cause.  We are supposed to believe that after Caesar's death, Antony raced to JC's house, quickly explained to Calpurnia that JC is dead, quickly found his will, and made it back to the senate in time to give his speech.  Further, look at Antony's lines when he comes down from the pulpit with the will.  He asks the crowd to stand farther off - not to crowd him.  It's possible that Antony made up some of the legacies in that will.

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The contents of Caesar's will is Antony's key in "turning" the people against the conspirators. (I'll give you the contents in a minute.) The conspirators disliked and envied Caesar, for a variety of reasons: Caesar...

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had numerous affairs with powerful men's wives, he was loved by the common people, and Caesar loved power...(which would dissolve the triumvirate). In essence, the conspirators started a smear campaign against Caesar. He was too old, infirm (epilepsy), proud, couldn't hear, etc...how could he possibly rule? Antony's skillful oration uses plays on words and repetition to sway the fickle crowd into a raging riot. Could a man who left every Roman citizen (not everyone) seventy-five drachmas, walks, arbors and new-planted orchards be as horrible as the conspirators were making him out to be? After seeing Caesar's body and hearing the will, the crowd pursues the conspirators. The conspirators flee Rome.

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Antony shows the will to the mob and then pretends he does not dare to read it to them because it might inflame them against Brutus, Cassius, and the other assassins--which is exactly what he wants the will to do. He says:

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 made.
'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs,
For if you should, O what would come of it?

The will is Antony's strongest argument because it appeals to the avarice of the mob. That is why he saves it to last. This is always a good strategy in any persuasive speech or essay: to save your strongest point until the last, because that is what people usually remember. Antony is a realist; he understands people. Brutus is an idealist and does not understand what most people are really like. Cassius understands people the way Antony does, which is why he distrusts Antony. A good subtitle for Antony's speech would be the modern expression: "Money talks."

The will leaves some cash to every Roman citizen and some of Caesar's private land to become public gardens. The gardens would be especially welcome in Rome because it was a badly ventilated, overcrowded and congested city. There may have been other provisions in the will that Antony does not mention. He may have wanted to leave the impression that there were other legacies to the Roman people which they would learn about later.

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