FRIENDS, ROMANS, COUNTRYMEN

The words ‘Rome’ and ‘Roman’ recur throughout Julius Caesar, as they do in Titus Andronicus, but here the terms generally carry an ethical import. ‘Noble/nobly/noblest’ is attached to ‘Roman’ six times, including the celebrated epitaph on Brutus, ‘This was the noblest Roman of them all’ (5.5.69). In one speech in 5.3, Brutus uses ‘Rome’ and ‘Roman’ in three successive lines, each of them associating Rome with standards of conduct, seen as remaining applicable even in dark times. Brutus here pays tribute to Cassius and Titinius, both of whom, taking ‘a Roman's part’, have committed suicide on the battlefield.

Throughout the play, ‘Roman’ is a highly charged term implying possession of moral qualities – constancy, fidelity, perseverance, self-discipline, respect for tradition, a sense of honour – or a claim that others lack such qualities.

In Act I, nearly all mention of ‘Rome’ or ‘Roman’ has persuasive intent, used by enemies of Caesar to evoke a tradition of republican independence and self-reliance, while pouring scorn on those who fail to live up to these ideals. The tribunes Flavius and Murellus, loyal to the defeated Pompey, are contemptuous of the populace who ‘make holiday to see Caesar and to rejoice in his triumph’.