A servant enters bearing Mark Antony’s request that he be permitted to come to them and “be resolved / How Caesar hath deserved to lie in death.” Brutus grants the plea and Antony enters. Antony gives a farewell address to the dead body of Caesar; then he pretends a reconciliation with the conspirators, shakes the hand of each of them, and requests permission to make a speech at Caesar’s funeral. This Brutus grants him, in spite of Cassius’ objections.
When the conspirators have departed, Antony begs pardon of Caesar’s dead body for his having been “meek and gentle with these butchers.” He predicts that “Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge,” will bring civil war and chaos to all of Italy. A servant enters then and says that Octavius Caesar is seven leagues from Rome, but that he is coming. Antony tells the young man that he is going into the marketplace to “try, / In my oration, how the people take / The cruel issue of these bloody men.” He wants the servant to witness his oration to the people so that he can relate to Octavius how they were affected. The two men exit, carrying the body of Caesar.
