From May 8, 2020--Review of BBC Production Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. How Marc Antony Worked the Romans

William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar"--
How Marc Antony incited the Roman Mob to rebel and restore Dictatorship, with the promise of "Stimulus payments" and "Opening Up Rome".

I encourage everyone to read or watch a decent production of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" in order to gain perspective on our current situation. Not interested in Shakespeare you say? Too late, he is already imprinted in your minds. For example, the expressions, " Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears". "Beware the Ides of March". The "Dogs of War". "The unkindest cut of all". These are all lines from Shakespeare's Caesar. You have heard them and remember them. This is the case for most of Shakespeare's plays, because he actually created our modern English language, and lines from his plays are still part of our popular culture.

Shakespeare is writing about Rome, under the Dictatorship of Julius Caesar, and using that dramatized history to shake up Queen Elizabeth I and England's leaders with a picture of impending chaos and Social crisis, given that England was facing a Succession crisis because the Queen was unmarried with no Heir. He also used the vehicle of this story to show the people how they can be manipulated by demagogues who incite the passions of the Mob, using them as cannon fodder to make them act against their own interests. This is a recurring theme in Shakespeare's History plays.

In this play, the tragedy has already occurred before the first scene begins. First, is the beginnings of the degeneration of the population of Rome. Most of their citizens are on Welfare, and don't work, because they own Slaves and live a debauched life of leisure, known as "bacchanalia" after the Roman deity Bacchus. Their Wealth and resources, and their Slaves are brought back to Rome by the conquering Armies, who march into Rome's Center in Triumphalist Parades, bringing in their physical and Human loot in wagon trains to the accompaniment of Music and Actors. The Roman population spends their leisure gambling, and watching the Bloodsports at the Arenas and Coliseums. They go to the Vomitoriums where they gorge themselves on delicacies all day and repeatedly throw up to begin again, a kind of BC Wing Bowl, if you will. They go to the Bathhouses for Orgies, and then will head over to the nearest Pantheon to pray to and leave offerings for whichever of the Gods they choose to propitiate that day. They often would leave tribute to the Godess Fortuna, in order to have good luck betting the Horse races that day. Horses were the heroes of Roman families, who would have pictures and small sculptures of their favorite Arena Horses on the walls of their homes if they had made them some money. Coins were issued with favorite horse heroes on them.
People also prayed to the Gods for weather, Love, their crops, etc. They went to see Astrologers and other Soothsayers for health, business, and life advice, and became immersed in superstition and ignorance. And, lastly, because they were as much enslaved mentally as their own slaves were physically, they were a very enraged people, who were kept under control with the emotional outlet of mass spectator Sports, bloody Theater, including the well known Gladiator contests and mass slaughter of dissidents and criminals in the public arena. This was done so the average Roman could feel secure in knowing there was always someone lower than them in society, who had it worse than them. So, they could for a minute, feel better about their own degraded existence by giving the "thumbs down" then watching some poor unfortunate get torn to shreds by wild animals. (Democracy in action, one man, one vote) That was the first tragedy.

Second, was that through his military leadership, Julius Caesar was able to abrogate unto himself total power over the State. He anointed himself Emperor in the opening of the play, at the manipulated urging of the crowd greeting him after his March into Rome to celebrate his recent campaign victories. This made him Chief Lawmaker, Pontiff, and Military Commander, all at once. He wore three crowns himself, and became the State. This was doomed to fail, simply because Rome had become a degenerate collapsing World power whose ability to survive through military conquest had reached the point of Imperial overstretch, and was collapsing inward on itself. Sound familiar? Well, it did in Shakespeare's England too.

So, the entitled and rich leaders of the Roman Senate, led by Brutus and Cassius cast themselves as the opponents of Tyranny, and organized a successful plot to murder Caesar, and return power to the People! (Meaning, the Senators and their families of noblemen)

The most iconic and important scene is the famous Funeral scene, at which Brutus badly miscalculated and allows Caesar's most loyal soldier, Marc Antony, to give the Eulogy speech, thinking that the People need to hear that Antony is on board with the assasination, in order to consolidate the coup. The condition is that Antony cannot praise Caesar in his Eulogy. He can only praise the conspirators, and make people believe the murder was justified.

Antony speaks after Brutus, and without giving up the whole story, he produces a likely fabricated Will written by Caesar, in which he leaves the citizens of Rome each 75 Drachmas, (coins with Caesar's image on it, sound familiar a little?) which was a large sum of money. Then he announces that Caesar has opened up the beautiful Parks of Rome to ALL the citizens, not just the noblemen, donating these beautiful scenic places to the People to enjoy and recreate. Bribed and manipulated, the Roman Mob at the funeral, which had been cursing Caesar's memory moments before, turned on Brutus and his co-conspirators, and committed to following Antony and Caesar's memory, and launched a rebellion in order to restore the Dictatorial system of the "Caesars". And hence, after Antony "lets slip the Dogs of War", the predictable disaster ensues.

Was Shakespeare prescient? Was he a soothsayer like the character in the play who predicted Caesar's doom on the Ides of March in Act I, Scene I? No, I think not. His insight into the dynamics of Human Nature and Culture were unparalleled though, and he composed these plays for a very specific reason. He wanted to hold up a mirror to his fellow citizens, to show them what they are like, both at their best and at their worst, and their transition from one state of mind to the other. He hoped that by making the people self-conscious in that way, that they would be less easily misled, and capable of determining their own fate.

What Shakespeare was doing with his plays represents the higher end of what politics should be, to help people better themselves. So, we have a choice, of re-enacting the self destruction of the Roman Mob, or, recapturing the identity we once had as Americans, and/or World Citizens. So, why throw that away for 1200 "Drachmas" and a walk in the Park?