CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA
A monologue from the
play by George
Bernard Shaw
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from Three Plays for Puritans. Bernard Shaw. London: Grant
Richards, 1901. |
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CAESAR: If one man in all the world can be found, now
or forever, to know that you did wrong, that man will have either
to conquer the world as I have, or be crucified by it. [The
uproar in the streets again reaches them.] Do you hear? These
knockers at your gate are also believers in vengeance and in
stabbing. You have slain their leader: it is right that they
shall slay you. If you doubt it, ask your four counsellors here.
And then in the name of that right [he emphasizes the word
with great scorn] shall I not slay them for murdering their
Queen, and be slain in my turn by their countrymen as the invader
of their fatherland? Can Rome do less then than slay these slayers,
too, to show the world how Rome avenges her sons and her honor.
And so, to the end of history, murder shall breed murder, always
in the name of right and honor and peace, until the gods are
tired of blood and create a race that can understand. [Fierce
uproar. Cleopatra becomes white with terror.] Hearken, you
who must not be insulted. Go near enough to catch their words:
you will find them bitterer than the tongue of Pothinus. What
has held them baffled at the gate all these months? Was it my
folly, as you deem it, or your wisdom? In this Egyptian Red Sea
of blood, whose hand has held all your heads above the waves?
[Turning on Cleopatra.] And yet, when Caesar says to such
an one, "Friend, go free," you, clinging for your little
life to my sword, dare steal out and stab him in the back? And
you, soldiers and gentlemen, and honest servants as you forget
that you are, applaud this assassination, and say "Caesar
is in the wrong." By the gods, I am tempted to open my hand
and let you all sink into the flood.
MORE MONOLOGUES BY GEORGE BERNARD SHAW |
