Saturday, June 6, 2015

who is "given to sports, to wildness and much company"?

In act II, scene 1 of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, the conspirators, including Brutus and Cassius, are meeting at Brutus's house the night before they will assassinate Caesar on the steps of the Roman Senate. After much rumination, Brutus has come to the conclusion that Caesar must die before he does something that will harm the Roman people. Because Mark Antony is Caesar's constant companion, and even offered to crown Caesar three times, Cassius believes the conspirators should also kill Antony:

Mark Antony, so well beloved of Caesar,Should outlive Caesar. We shall find of himA shrewd contriver; and, you know, his means,If he improve them, may well stretch so farAs to annoy us all; which to prevent,Let Antony and Caesar fall together.


Brutus rejects the idea, arguing that such a "course" would "seem too bloody" and that Antony is simply a "limb" of Caesar which will be rendered useless once Caesar is dead. Brutus believes Antony is a vain and superficial man who will not be willing to die for Caesar. Brutus, referring to Antony, says,



Alas, good Cassius, do not think of him.If he love Caesar, all that he can doIs to himself: take thought and die for Caesar.And that were much he should, for he is givenTo sports, to wildness, and much company.




Of course, the conspirators badly underestimate the powers of Antony, and after Antony's rousing funeral speech to the Roman mob, Brutus, Cassius, and the others are forced to flee Rome.

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