Antony’s speech in Shakespeare’s <em>Julius Caesar</em> and the ancient sources

Abstract

The speeches delivered at Caesar’s funeral by Brutus and Antony in Shake­speare’s Julius Caesar are both influenced by the Tudor translation of Appian’s historical work. Possibly Shakespeare also echoes Suetonius’s remark about the lack of a formal lauda­tio when he has Antony say “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him”. Appian’s influence is further con­firmed by the numerous theatrical features in his rendering of Antony’s speech echoed in Shakespeare as well as by lexical correspondences with Appian’s Tudor translation.