WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, JULIUS CAESAR
Act III, Scene 2
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.
ANTONY
Romani, prieteni, daţi-mi ascultare:
Vin să-l îngrop pe Cezar, nu să-l laud.
Ce facem rău trăieşte după noi
Iar binele ades cu noi se-ngroapă;
Aşa-i cu Cezar. Brutus cel cinstit
V-a spus de Cezar că râvnea mărire:
De este-aşa, i-a fost păcatul greu,
Şi greu plătit-a Cezar pentru el.
Cu voie de la Brutus şi ceilalţi –
Căci Brutus este, da, un om cinstit,
Şi toţi la fel, sunt oameni prea cinstiţi –
Vin să vorbesc la-ngropăciunea lui.
Mi-a fost prieten drept şi credincios:
Dar Brutus spune că râvnea mărire;
Şi Brutus este, da, un om cinstit.
Adus-a mulţi captivi la Roma, -n ţară
Umplând cu-al lor răscumpăr visteria:
Se cheamă-aceasta râvnă de mărire?
Sărmanii când gemeau, a plâns şi Cezar:
Din lut mai aspru-i plămădită râvna.
Dar Brutus spune că râvnea mărire
Şi Brutus este, da, un om cinstit.
De Lupercalii aţi văzut: de trei ori
Coroana i-au întins, şi de trei ori
N-a vrut-o: asta-i râvnă de mărire?
Dar Brutus spune că râvnea mărire;
Şi, fără greş, el este om cinstit.
Eu nu vorbesc ca să-l dezic pe Brutus,
Dar sunt aici ca să vorbesc ce ştiu.
Cu toţii l-am iubit, şi nu degeaba:
Ce vă opreşte, dară, să-l jeliţi?
O, judecată! ai fugit la fiare,
Şi oamenii mi te-au pierdut. Iertaţi:
Mi-e inima în lacră, lângă Cezar,
Şi trebuie s-aştept să mi se-ntoarcă.
 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, THE TEMPEST
Act I, Scene 2

PROSPERO. Thou most lying slave,

Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have us’d thee,
Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodg’d thee
In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate
The honour of my child.
CALIBAN. Oh ho! Oh ho! Would it had been done!
Thou didst prevent me; I had peopl’d else
This isle with Calibans.
PROSPERO. Abhorred slave,
Which any print of goodness wilt not take,
Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,
Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour
One thing or other: when thou didst not, savage,
Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like
A thing most brutish, I endow’d thy purposes
With words that made them known: but thy vile race,
Though thou didst learn, had that in’t which good natures
Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou
Deservedly confin’d into this rock, who hadst
Deserv’d more than a prison.
CALIBAN. You taught me language, and my profit on’t
Is, I know how to curse: the red plague rid you,
For learning me your language!
PROSPERO. Hag-seed, hence!
Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou ‘rt best,
To answer other business. Shrug’st thou, malice?
If thou neglect’st, or dost unwillingly
What I command, I’ll rack thee with old cramps,
Fill all thy bones with aches; make thee roar,
That beasts shall tremble at thy din.
CALIBAN. No, pray thee.--
[Aside] I must obey. His art is of such power,
It would control my dam’s god, Setebos,
And make a vassal of him.