Question 1 of 10 • Summer School 26: Literature & Composition II
Read the excerpt from act 3, scene 1, of Julius Caesar.[ANTONY.] First, Marcus Brutus, will I shake with you—Next, Caius Cassius, do I take your hand—Now, Decius Brutus, yours;—now yours, Metellus;—Yours, Cinna;—and my valiant Casca, yours;—Though last, not last in love, yours, good Trebonius.Gentlemen all,—alas, what shall I say?My credit now stands on such slippery groundThat one of two bad ways you must conceit me:Either a coward or a flatterer.That I did love thee, Caesar, O, 'tis true.If then thy spirit look upon us now,Shall it not grieve thee dearer than thy death,To see thy Antony making his peace,Shaking the bloody fingers of thy foes—Most noble!—In the presence of thy corse?
Answer
A
Antony shakes all the conspirators’ hands, starting with Brutus and ending with Trebonius. He says he knows that they must not know what to think of him.
B
Antony shakes the hands of all the conspirators and says he knows that his love for Caesar puts him in an unstable position. Then he imagines that it would break Caesar’s heart to see Antony making peace with his assassins.
C
Antony makes peace with the conspirators and acknowledges that while that would hurt Caesar, he is unconcerned.
D
Antony laments making peace with the conspirators in the presence of Caesar’s body and wishes he would have done it after Caesar was buried.