Day 3

Beware the Ides of March (I.ii.21).

"...one ought every day at least to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words." -Goethe

A song for the Ides of March: "Lost+" by Coldplay (featuring Jay-Z). The Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) section of the song mentions Caesar, and it's not the only time Jay-Z references the Roman general and statesman. In fact, allusions abound in Carter's catalog. There's a nice nod to Shakespeare's Hamlet in "Marcy Me" from the recent 4:44 LP.

A speech from act I, scene ii of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: John Green fans will recognize a famous line from this speech, a speech in which Cassius attempts to persuade Brutus to join the conspiracy against Caesar. The musing about names recalls Juliet's even more famous speech from act II, scene ii of Romeo and Juliet.

CASSIUS	Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
	Like a Colossus, and we petty men	136
	Walk under his huge legs and peep about
	To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
	Men at some time are masters of their fates:
	The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,	140
	But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
	Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that "Caesar"?
	Why should that name be sounded more than yours?
	Write them together, yours is as fair a name;
	Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;	145
	Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with 'em,
	Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Caesar.
	Now, in the names of all the gods at once,
	Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed,
	That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed!	150
	Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!
	When went there by an age, since the great flood,
	But it was famed with more than with one man?
	When could they say till now, that talk'd of Rome,
	That her wide walls encompassed but one man?	155
	Now is it Rome indeed and room enough,
	When there is in it but one only man.
	O, you and I have heard our fathers say,
	There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd
	The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome	160
	As easily as a king.

Works Cited

Coldplay (ft. Jay-Z). "Lost+" Prospekts March, 2008, Capitol Records.

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616). The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Folger Shakespeare Library. Ed. Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles. www.folgerdigitaltexts.org. Accessed 15 March, 2020.