Foundation first: how to read the parley
A parley is a formal talk between enemies before a fight. The four leaders step out and trade insults. Shakespeare uses the exchange to show each man's nature. Learn the devices and you will understand every line.
| Device | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Antithesis | two opposite ideas set side by side | "Good words are better than bad strokes" |
| Metaphor | one thing described as another | "they rob the Hybla bees, / And leave them honeyless" (words as honey) |
| Animal imagery | insulting people by comparing them to animals | "like apes … like hounds … Casca, like a cur" |
| Irony | meaning the opposite of what is said | Brutus speaks of "good words" while his daggers did the bad strokes |
| Taunt | a sharp insult meant to provoke | "a peevish schoolboy … a masker and a reveller" |
Characters in the scene.
| Name | What to notice |
|---|---|
| Antony | quick, scornful, a master of words |
| Octavius | young, cool, determined to avenge Caesar, insists on his own place |
| Brutus | calm in speech, firm in principle |
| Cassius | sharp-tongued, uneasy, half-believes in signs |
Omen. An omen is a sign of what is to come. Cassius the Epicurean has never believed in omens; he now half-believes. Remember the two eagles and the ravens, crows and kites.
1. Antony and Octavius on the plains
Octavius notes that the enemy has come down from the hills to fight on the open plain — Antony had expected them to stay on high ground. Antony claims he understands their minds ("I am in their bosoms"): they are putting on a "fearful bravery" to make it seem that they have courage.
Antony orders Octavius to lead his army on the left side of the field. Octavius refuses: "Upon the right hand I; keep thou the left." When Antony asks, "Why do you cross me in this exigent?" Octavius answers coolly, "I do not cross you; but I will do so." Young Octavius is asserting himself; he will not take orders from Antony. This foreshadows the later rivalry between the two (outside the play, Octavius defeats Antony and becomes Emperor Augustus).
2. The parley: words before blows
The four generals meet before the battle for a parley (a formal talk), which turns into an exchange of insults.
- Brutus: "Words before blows: is it so, countrymen?" — Octavius: "Not that we love words better, as you do."
- Brutus: "Good words are better than bad strokes, Octavius."
- Antony: "In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good words: / Witness the hole you made in Caesar's heart, / Crying 'Long live! hail, Caesar!'" — Brutus stabbed Caesar while pretending to love him.
- Cassius mocks Antony's sweet speeches: "they rob the Hybla bees, / And leave them honeyless" (Hybla in Sicily was famous for honey). Antony: "Not stingless too." Brutus: Antony has stolen the bees' buzzing too, and "very wisely" threatens before he stings.
- Antony bursts out: the conspirators "show'd your teeth like apes, and fawn'd like hounds, / And bow'd like bondmen, kissing Caesar's feet; / Whilst damned Casca, like a cur, behind / Struck Caesar on the neck. O you flatterers!"
- Cassius turns on Brutus: "Now, Brutus, thank yourself: / This tongue had not offended so to-day, / If Cassius might have ruled" — a reminder that Cassius had wanted Antony killed with Caesar.
- Octavius draws his sword and vows never to sheathe it "till Caesar's three and thirty wounds / Be well avenged; or till another Caesar / Have added slaughter to the sword of traitors" (until he himself is killed by them).
- Brutus: "Caesar, thou canst not die by traitors' hands, / Unless thou bring'st them with thee" — the only traitors are in Octavius's own camp.
- Cassius calls Octavius "a peevish schoolboy" joined with "a masker and a reveller" (Antony, the party-lover). Antony: "Old Cassius still!"
- Octavius: "Defiance, traitors, hurl we in your teeth: / If you dare fight to-day, come to the field; / If not, when you have stomachs." They leave.
Cassius: "Why, now, blow wind, swell billow and swim bark! / The storm is up, and all is on the hazard." Everything is now at risk.
3. Cassius's birthday and the omen of the eagles
Cassius speaks privately to Messala:
"This is my birth-day; as this very day Was Cassius born."
He says that, like Pompey, he is forced against his will to risk all their liberties on a single battle. He has always followed the philosophy of Epicurus, who taught that the gods do not interfere in human life and that omens mean nothing — "now I change my mind, / And partly credit things that do presage" (partly believe in omens).
On the march from Sardis, two mighty eagles had swooped down on the foremost banner ("ensign"), perched there and fed from the soldiers' hands, and kept them company all the way to Philippi. This morning they have flown away. In their place ravens, crows and kites — birds that feed on dead bodies — circle overhead and look down "as we were sickly prey"; their shadows seem "a canopy most fatal" under which the army lies, "ready to give up the ghost." (2027 specimen Q3(v).)
Messala says, "Believe not so." Cassius answers that he believes it only partly; he is "fresh of spirit and resolved / To meet all perils very constantly."
4. Brutus's philosophy
Cassius asks Brutus what he will do if they lose. Brutus answers by his Stoic philosophy: he once blamed Cato (Portia's father) for killing himself; he finds it "cowardly and vile" to cut short one's life for fear of what might happen; he would rather arm himself with patience and bear patiently whatever the gods decide ("the providence of some high powers / That govern us below").
5. The farewell
Cassius presses him:
Brutus will never be led as a prisoner through Rome in the victors' triumph (victory procession). The battle will finish what the Ides of March began. Not knowing whether they will meet again, he takes an everlasting farewell. Cassius answers in the same words: "For ever, and for ever, farewell, Brutus! / If we do meet again, we'll smile indeed; / If not, 'tis true this parting was well made." Brutus wishes a man could know "The end of this day's business ere it come! / But it sufficeth that the day will end, / And then the end is known." (2027 specimen Q3(i), (ii).)
Note the contradiction: a moment ago Brutus said suicide was "cowardly and vile"; now he says he will never be taken to Rome alive. His pride is stronger than his philosophy.
Reading between the lines
- "I am in their bosoms." Antony claims to know the enemy's heart. His confidence is dangerous, because he has just been wrong: he said the enemy would stay on the hills. A good character reading says: Antony is clever but over-sure.
- "I do not cross you; but I will do so." This is the first sign of Octavius's independence. He says he is not defying Antony, and in the same breath he does. The line is both polite and rebellious. It shows a cool young man who intends to lead.
- Words and blows. Brutus says good words are better than bad strokes. Antony answers that Brutus gave good words while striking Caesar ("Crying 'Long live! hail, Caesar!'"). The reply makes Brutus's "good words" look false. The irony is sharp: the Roman who prides himself on honest speech is accused of hypocrisy.
- Cassius blames Brutus. "Now, Brutus, thank yourself" means: if my advice to kill Antony had been followed, none of this would have happened. It shows that Cassius still regrets Brutus's mercy to Antony.
- Octavius's vow. He draws his sword and will not sheathe it till Caesar's "three and thirty wounds" are avenged. Brutus's reply, "Caesar, thou canst not die by traitors' hands, / Unless thou bring'st them with thee", is bold. Octavius says, "I was not born to die on Brutus' sword." He does survive to the end of the play.
- Brutus on Cato. Brutus says it is "cowardly and vile" to kill oneself for fear of what might happen. But he says, "I know not how". He is not sure of his reason. Then he says he will never "go bound to Rome". Notice the gap: his words forbid suicide, and his pride demands it.
Worked examples
Example 1 (short answer, 3 marks). Why does Octavius refuse to take the left wing? What does this show about him?
Model answer. Octavius says, "Upon the right hand I; keep thou the left." When Antony asks why he crosses him, he replies, "I do not cross you; but I will do so." He wants the place of honour and will not take orders from Antony. It shows that he is self-assertive and ambitious, and prepares us for the time when he will rule alone.
Why this scores: the line (1), the reason (1), and the character trait with its meaning (1).
Example 2 (meaning of the line, 3 marks). Explain: "In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good words: / Witness the hole you made in Caesar's heart, / Crying 'Long live! hail, Caesar!'"
Model answer. Brutus has said that good words are better than bad strokes. Antony turns this around: Brutus does give good words, but only while he strikes bad blows. At Caesar's death the conspirators cried "Long live Caesar!" even as they stabbed him. Antony is accusing Brutus of hypocrisy: he spoke friendship and struck murder.
Why this scores: the reversal of Brutus's words (1), the historical event (1), and the word hypocrisy or its meaning (1).
Example 3 (personal response, 4 marks). Which do you like more, Antony or Octavius? Give reasons.
Model answer (one possible answer). I like Octavius more in this scene. He is calm and firm. He refuses to give up the place of honour, saying "I do not cross you; but I will do so", and he vows to avenge Caesar's "three and thirty wounds". Antony is clever but boastful: he said the enemy would not come down, and he was wrong. Octavius's quiet determination shows the strength of a leader. (A reasoned choice of Antony, for his loyalty to Caesar and his generosity at the end, is equally acceptable.) A question of this kind was set in ICSE 2025 (Improvement), Q3(v).
Why this scores: a clear choice, two proofs from the text, and a comparison. The examiner accepts either character if the reasons are sound.
Doubts cleared
Q. Why does Octavius vow not to sheathe his sword? Because Caesar was his great-uncle and adoptive father, and he wants revenge. "Three and thirty wounds" is the number of stab-wounds Caesar received.
Q. What does "Hybla bees" mean? Hybla was a place in Sicily famous for honey. Cassius says Antony's words are so sweet that they seem stolen from the bees, but they are empty.
Q. Why do Brutus and Cassius say goodbye so seriously? They think they may die. Cassius says, "Let's reason with the worst that may befall." Their "everlasting farewell" is partly prophecy: they will not meet again alive.
Mistakes to avoid
- Placing the omen speech in Scene 3. It comes in Scene 1, before the battle.
- Saying Cassius is an Epicurean who still refuses to believe in omens. He says "partly".
- In the farewell question, giving only the surface meaning. The 2025 examiners' report says candidates struggled with the part on "go bound" and lost marks for copying lines. Explain that Brutus would be captured and led as a prisoner through Rome.
- Mixing up Brutus's and Cassius's farewell lines. Cassius repeats Brutus's words almost exactly.
Check yourself
- Which side of the field does Octavius insist on?
- Who is the owner of the birthday?
- Which birds replace the eagles?
Answers: 1. The right. 2. Cassius. 3. Ravens, crows and kites.