Julius Caesar — Act V, Scenes 1 to 5: Section by section

Section 1 — Antony and Octavius (V.1)

• What happens: the enemy comes down to the plain; Octavius refuses to take the left wing.
• Key lines explained:
  • "I am in their bosoms" — Antony claims to know their secret thoughts.
  • "Upon the right hand I; keep thou the left." — Octavius insists on the place of honour.
  • "I do not cross you; but I will do so." — a calm assertion of independence; foreshadows Octavius's rise.

Section 2 — The parley (V.1)

• What happens: the generals trade insults before the battle.
• Key lines explained:
  • "Good words are better than bad strokes" (Brutus) — talk is better than violence.
  • "In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good words" (Antony) — Brutus spoke love while he stabbed.
  • "they rob the Hybla bees, / And leave them honeyless" (Cassius) — Antony's words are honey-sweet but empty.
  • "You show'd your teeth like apes, and fawn'd like hounds" (Antony) — the conspirators were flatterers before they were killers.
  • "Caesar's three and thirty wounds" (Octavius) — he will not rest until these are avenged.
  • "A peevish schoolboy … Join'd with a masker and a reveller!" (Cassius) — scorn for young Octavius and pleasure-loving Antony.
  • "Old Cassius still!" (Antony) — the same sour, sharp-tongued Cassius.

Section 3 — The eagles and the farewell (V.1)

• What happens: Cassius tells Messala of his birthday and the omen; Brutus and Cassius bid farewell.
• Key lines explained:
  • "You know that I held Epicurus strong … now I change my mind, / And partly credit things that do presage" — the Epicurean now half-believes in omens. (2027 specimen Q3(v))
  • "ravens, crows and kites … As we were sickly prey" — scavenger birds waiting for the dead.
  • "By which I did blame Cato for the death / Which he did give himself" — Brutus once condemned suicide as cowardly.
  • "No, Cassius, no … That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome" — he will never be led as a captive. (2027 specimen Q3(i))
  • "this same day / Must end that work the ides of March begun" — the battle will settle the outcome of the assassination.
  • "Therefore our everlasting farewell take: / For ever, and for ever, farewell, Cassius!" — hints at defeat, death, and never meeting again. (2027 specimen Q3(ii))

Section 4 — The battle begins (V.2)

• What happens: Brutus orders an immediate attack on Octavius's wing.
• Key lines: "cold demeanour in Octavius' wing" — Brutus sees a lack of spirit there; "sudden push gives them the overthrow".

Section 5 — The death of Cassius (V.3)

• What happens: Cassius, believing Titinius captured, has Pindarus kill him.
• Key lines explained:
  • "Brutus gave the word too early" (Titinius) — Brutus's soldiers began plundering while Antony surrounded Cassius.
  • "My life is run his compass" — his life has come full circle on his birthday. (2025 specimen Q1(vi))
  • "O, coward that I am, to live so long, / To see my best friend ta'en before my face!" — self-blame and despair.
  • "That ran through Caesar's bowels, search this bosom" — the sword that killed Caesar now kills Cassius.
  • "Caesar, thou art revenged, / Even with the sword that kill'd thee." — Cassius's last words.

Section 6 — Titinius and Brutus's lament (V.3)

• What happens: Titinius returns, crowns the dead Cassius and kills himself; Brutus mourns.
• Key lines explained:
  • "Mistrust of good success hath done this deed" (Messala) — Cassius died because he expected the worst.
  • "O hateful error, melancholy's child" — the mistake was born of a gloomy mind.
  • "Come, Cassius' sword, and find Titinius' heart." — Titinius's loyalty to death.
  • "O Julius Caesar, thou art mighty yet! / Thy spirit walks abroad" — Caesar's spirit is revenging itself.
  • "The last of all the Romans, fare thee well!" — Brutus's praise of Cassius.

Section 7 — Young Cato and Lucilius (V.4)

• What happens: Young Cato dies fighting; Lucilius pretends to be Brutus and is spared by Antony.
• Key lines explained:
  • "And I am Brutus, Marcus Brutus, I" — Lucilius risks his life to protect his master.
  • "I had rather have / Such men my friends than enemies" — Antony admires loyalty.
  • "He will be found like Brutus, like himself" — Brutus will die nobly.

Section 8 — The death of Brutus and Antony's tribute (V.5)

• What happens: Brutus's friends refuse to kill him; Strato holds the sword; Brutus dies; Antony and Octavius honour him.
• Key lines explained:
  • "The ghost of Caesar hath appear'd to me / Two several times by night" — at Sardis and at Philippi.
  • "My heart doth joy that yet in all my life / I found no man but he was true to me" — irony: he was not true to Caesar.
  • "Caesar, now be still: / I kill'd not thee with half so good a will." — his last words.
  • "Brutus only overcame himself" (Strato) — no enemy can claim the honour of his death.
  • "This was the noblest Roman of them all" (Antony) — the only conspirator who acted for the common good. (2027 specimen Q3(iv))
  • "the elements / So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up / And say to all the world 'This was a man!'" — a perfectly balanced character.