“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears”

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
(from Julius Caesar, spoken by Marc Antony)
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer’d it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest–
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men–
Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
Spoken by Brutus, Act 3 Scene 2

Romans, countrymen, and lovers! hear me for my cause,

and be silent, that you may hear:

believe me for mine honour,

and have respect to mine honour,

that you may believe: censure me in your wisdom,

and awake your senses, that you may the better judge.

If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar’s,

to him I say, that Brutus’ love to Caesar was no less than his.

If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar,

this is my answer: –Not that I loved Caesar less,

but that I loved Rome more.

Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, than that Caesar were
dead, to live all free men?

As Caesar loved me, I weep for him;

as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it;

as he was valiant, I honour him: but, as he was ambitious, I slew him.

There is tears for his love; joy for his fortune;

honour for his valour; and death for his ambition.

Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak; for him have I
offended. Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any, speak; for him
have I offended. Who is here so vile that will not love his country? If any, speak;
for him have I offended.

I pause for a reply.

Then none have I offended.

I have done no more to Caesar than you shall do to Brutus.

The question of his death is enrolled in the Capitol;

his glory not extenuated, wherein he was worthy,

nor his offences enforced, for which he suffered death.

Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony:

who, though he had no hand in his death, shall receive the benefit of his dying,
a place in the commonwealth; as which of you shall not?

With this I depart,–that, as I slew my best lover for the good of Rome,

I have the same dagger for myself, when it shall please my country to need my
death.
Transcript of Charlie Chaplin’s Final Speech in The Great Dictator
I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t
want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone - if possible - Jew,
Gentile - black man - white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are
like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness - not by each other’s misery.
We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for
everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of
life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.
Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-
stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have
shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our
knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too
much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than
cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be
violent and all will be lost…
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of
these inventions cries out for the goodness in men - cries out for universal
brotherhood - for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions
throughout the world - millions of despairing men, women, and little children -
victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.

To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon
us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human
progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took
from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will
never perish…
Soldiers! don’t give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you -
who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel!
Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t
give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and
machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You
have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate
- the unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for
liberty!
In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: “the Kingdom of God is within man”
- not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have
the power - the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You,
the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life
a wonderful adventure.
Then - in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us
fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that
will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things,
brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise. They
never will!
Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfil
that promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers -
to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of
reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.
Soldiers! in the name of democracy, let us all unite!