35. ANTONY'S ORATION OVER CÆSAR'S BODY.-Shakspeare. 1. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears: 2. Here, under leave of Brutus, and the rest, And Brutus is an honorable man. 3. He hath brought many captives home to Rome, When that the poor have cried, Cæsar hath wept; Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honorable man. Was this ambition? 4. You all did see, that on the Lupercal, I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke; 5. You all did love him once, not without cause; 6. But yesterday, the word of Cæsar might 7. But here's a parchment, with the seal of Cæsar, Let but the commons hear this testament, And, dying, mention it within their wills, Unto their issue. 8. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. Look! in this place, ran Cassius' dagger through 9. This was the most unkindest cut of all ; Even at the base of Pompey's statue, Which all the while ran blood, great Cæsar full. 10. O, what a fall was there, my countrymen ! Then I, and you, and all of us fell down, Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us. feel O, now you weep; and, I perceive, you 11. Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up They that have done this deed, are honorable; 12. I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts; But as you know me all, a plain, blunt man, 13. For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony Marcus Antony, a brave and unprincipled Roman, who, for the purpose of elevating himself to power, procured a public funeral for Cæsar, in favor of whom, the above oration which he made, so much inflamed the popu lace against the conspirators, that they were obliged to leave the city, or fall into the hands of the other members of the triumvirate. He after wards went to Egypt, where through love to Queen Cleopatra, he termi nated his own existence, 30 years before Christ. The oration is highly rhetorical. A portion of it requires a high key, some parts of it a low, others, a middle key. The reader or declaimer must both understand its sentiments and feel as if they were his own He should imagine himself to be delivering a discourse at the funeral of a beloved friend who had been murdered. The pathetic portion of the speech, requires quantity, slow time, and rhetorical pauses. What is said of it, in the chapter on Irony, particularly of the epithet, “honorable men,” which Antony repeatedly applies to Cæsar's murderers, renders it unnecessary to prolong this note. There is no better piece in our language, for an elocutionary exercise. 36. THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE.-Wolfe. 1. Not a drum was heard, nor a funeral note, 2. We buried him darkly at dead of night, 3. No useless coffin enclosed his breast, Nor in sheet nor in shroud we bound him; But he lay like a warrior taking his rest, With his martial cloak around him. 4. Few and short were the prayers we said— But steadfastly gaz'd on the face of the dead, 5. We thought as we hollow'd his narrow bed, That the foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head, 6. Lightly they'll speak of the spirit that's gone, 7. Not the half of our heavy task was done 8. Slowly and sadly we laid him down, From the field of his fame, fresh and gory; We carv'd not a line, we rais'd not a stone, But left him alone-in his glory. The "Burial of Sir John Moore" requires a low key, slow time, and long quantity. 37. LAST WORDS OF ROBERT EMMET. 1. If the spirits of the illustrious dead participate in the concerns and cares of those who were dear to them in this transi tory life, O, ever dear and venerated shade of my departed father, look down with scrutiny upon the conduct of your suffering son and see if I have, even for a moment, deviated from those principles of morality and patriotism which it was your care to instil into my youthful mind, and for which I am now to offer up my life. 2. My lords, you seem impatient for the sacrifice-the blood which you seek, is not congealed by the artificial terrors which surround your victim; it circulates warmly and unruffled, through the channels which God created for noble purposes, but which you are bent to destroy for purposes so grievous, that they cry to heaven. Be yet patient! I have but a few words more to say. I am going to my cold and silent grave-my lamp of life is nearly extinguished-my race is run-the grave opens to receive me, and I sink into its bosom! 3. I have but one request to ask at my departure from this world, it is the charity of its silence. Let no man write my epitaph; for as no man who knows my motives, dare now vindicate them, let not prejudice or ignorance asperse them. Let them and me repose in obscurity and peace, and my tomb remain uninscribed, until other times, and other men, can do justice to my character. When my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then, and not till then, let my epitaph be written. The above extract is the concluding part of the speech of Robert Emmet, Esq., a distinguished Irish orator and patriot, before Lord Norbury of England, on an indictment for high treason. He was condemned before |