The Sunday News
Charles Dube
THE conspirators have agreed to meet at the Capitol to accomplish their mission of killing Julius Caesar.
Reservations about Caesar not coming to the Capitol are allayed by Decius Brutus who confidently states that he would bring him. Cassius says he is doubtful whether Caesar will come today or not. He is grown superstitious of late, as opposed to the opinion he once so strongly held, about fantasy, dreams and omens. It may happen that the horror of the night and the persuasion of his auguries may stop him from coming to the Capitol.
There have been a lot of horrible sights during the night which make Cassius skeptical about the appearance of the superstitious Caesar at the Capitol. Casca describes the horrors of the night. He asks Cicero if he is not moved when the earth in its every movement rocks and trembles like a uniform object. He adds that he has never, till that night seen a tempest showering down not rain, sleet and hail, but instead showering down fire. Either there is a civil disturbance in heaven, or men by overbearing insolence have annoyed the gods so much that they are sending down destruction.
Casca is unsettled by these somewhat unnatural tempests. He says he met a common slave Cicero known very well enough by sight, who held his left hand which burned like a large number of torches put together and yet his hand, not sensitive to fire, remained unburned. Besides — before he put his sword back into its sheath — he also saw a lion at the Capitol, which fiercely stared at him and passed by arrogantly without hurting him. And there was a bunch of panic-stricken women, who swore they saw men surrounded in flames walk up and down the streets. Yesterday the owl sat at the market place and shrieked even at noon.
Therefore Casca concludes that when so many prodigies happen at the same time, men cannot say that such occurrences have nothing unnatural about them. All these, Casca says he believes portend something terrible. He believes all these foreshadow something about to happen. “For, I believe, they are portentous things unto the climate that they point upon.” Such events give doubt to Caesar coming to the Capitol. All is not well at Caesar’s house as the conspirators discuss whether Caesar will appear at the Capitol. Caesar says there is no peace tonight in the heaven or on earth.
Caesar states that three times has Calpurnia (his wife), cried out in her sleep. “Help, ho! They murder Caesar.” He orders the servant to go and tell the priests to offer sacrifice to the gods immediately and bring him their opinion whether he would be successful or not. Calpurnia has fears for Caesar’s life and tells him that he shall not stir out of his house that day. Caesar defies his wife’s advice showing arrogance of character. “Caesar shall forth. The things that threatened me never looked but on my back; when they shall see the face of Caesar, they are vanished.”
In simple terms Caesar says he will go. The things that threatened him never looked but on his back; and when they see the face of Caesar, they disappear. This is pride before a fall. Self-pride has consumed his reasoning faculties so he fails to foresee danger. The fact that Caesar defies his wife’s warning shows us the shallow union between the two which is a powerful contrast to the ideal husband-and-wife relationship between Brutus and his wife Portia. However, before going deeper to analyse these relationships, we detail the origins of Calpurnia’s fears over her husband’s safety.
Calpurnia tells her husband Caesar that she has never cared about omens yet now they frighten her. Besides what they have heard and seen is nothing compared to the even more terrible sights seen by the watch-men? A lioness gave birth in the streets; graves have opened up and exposed their dead; fierce fiery warriors were fighting in the clouds, pouring blood upon the Capitol; and the noise of battle roared in the air, neighing of horses and groans of dying men, and ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets. All those things were beyond anything they had known. She exclaims to Caesar that she is afraid of them.
However, Caesar remains defiant saying what is purposed by the gods cannot be avoided no matter how much they might try to, for those omens were as much valid for the world as they are for him. “Yet Caesar shall go”. Calpurnia almost equal to the task says when beggars die, no comets reveal their death, but heavens blaze to announce the death of princes. Caesar says cowards die many times before their actual death, whereas the brave die only once.
Caesar continues saying of all the wonderful things that he has heard in the world, the most surprising is that men should fear death, knowing full well that death is inevitable and will come when it will come. The augurers want Caesar not to go out of his house that day because removing the insides of the sacrificial animal; they could find no heart in it. Caesar says the gods do that to put cowardice to shame, by showing that a man, who due to fear should refrain from doing what is right, is as terrible as an animal without a heart.
Caesar says he shall not stay at home. Danger knows that Caesar is more dangerous than danger itself. Danger and himself are two lions who were born on the same day and Caesar the elder and more dangerous of the two. Caesar shall go forth. Calpurnia warns Caesar that his wisdom is destroyed due to overconfidence and should not go out but stay home. She tells him to call it her own fear not his that keeps him at home. She suggests they send Antony to tell the senators that Caesar is not well therefore will not come.
Caesar initially agrees with Calpurnia but changes his mind with the coming in of Decius Brutus, one of the conspirators. Decius, a conspirator whose role is to guarantee Caesar is in the Capitol that day favourably interprets Calpurnia’s dream and then chides Caesar for yielding to his wife’s whims. He adds that the senate is planning again to offer Caesar a crown, and Caesar gives in to vanity. He leaves Calpurnia in shock and accompanies Decius to the Capitol. More to be discussed on the relationship between Brutus and Portia, as well as Caesar and Calpurnia.
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