Original: Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
Modern: My friends, fellow Romans, citizens, please listen to me;

Original: I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
Modern: I’m here to perform Caesar’s funeral, not to celebrate his life.

Original: The evil that men do lives after them;
Modern: The bad things people do are remembered long after they’re gone;

Original: The good is oft interred with their bones;
Modern: The good things are often buried and forgotten with their bodies;

Original: So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Modern: So let that be the case with Caesar. The noble Brutus

Original: Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
Modern: Has told you that Caesar was power-hungry:

Original: If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
Modern: If that’s true, it was a terrible flaw,

Original: And grievously hath Caesar answer’d it.
Modern: And Caesar has paid terribly for it with his life.

Original: Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest—
Modern: Here, with the permission of Brutus and the others—

Original: For Brutus is an honourable man;
Modern: Because Brutus is an honorable man;

Original: So are they all, all honourable men—
Modern: And so are they all, all honorable men—

Original: Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral.
Modern: I have come to speak at Caesar’s funeral.

Original: He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
Modern: He was my friend, loyal and fair to me:

Original: But Brutus says he was ambitious;
Modern: But Brutus says he was power-hungry;

Original: And Brutus is an honourable man.
Modern: And Brutus is an honorable man.

Original: He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Modern: He brought many prisoners of war back to Rome

Original: Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Modern: Whose ransom money filled the public treasury:

Original: Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
Modern: Did this make Caesar seem power-hungry?

Original: When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Modern: When poor people cried out in suffering, Caesar cried with them:

Original: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Modern: A truly power-hungry person would be made of colder, harsher material:

Original: Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
Modern: Yet Brutus says he was power-hungry;

Original: And Brutus is an honourable man.
Modern: And Brutus is an honorable man.

Original: You all did see that on the Lupercal
Modern: You all saw that on the festival of Lupercal

Original: I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Modern: I offered him a king’s crown three times,

Original: Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Modern: Which he refused three times: was this power-hunger?

Original: Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
Modern: Yet Brutus says he was power-hungry;

Original: And, sure, he is an honourable man.
Modern: And, certainly, he is an honorable man.

Original: I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
Modern: I’m not speaking to prove that Brutus was wrong,

Original: But here I am to speak what I do know.
Modern: But I’m here to tell you what I personally know to be true.

Original: You all did love him once, not without cause:
Modern: You all loved him once, and you had good reason to:

Original: What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
Modern: What reason stops you now from grieving for him?

Original: O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
Modern: Oh reason! You have left humans and gone to dumb animals,

Original: And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
Modern: And people have lost their ability to think clearly. Please be patient with me;

Original: My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
Modern: My heart is in that coffin there with Caesar,

Original: And I must pause till it come back to me.
Modern: And I need to stop speaking until my emotions settle down.

In Act III, Scene 2 of Julius Caesar, the Roman citizens gather in the forum following Caesar’s assassination. Brutus addresses the crowd first, delivering a carefully reasoned speech in prose that justifies the conspirators’ actions. He explains that while he loved Caesar, he loved Rome more, and that Caesar’s ambition posed a threat to Roman liberty. Brutus argues that Caesar’s death was necessary to prevent tyranny, asking the citizens whether they would prefer to live as slaves under Caesar or as free men with Caesar dead. The crowd responds positively to Brutus’s logical appeal, shouting their approval and even suggesting that Brutus should become the new Caesar.

After Brutus departs, Mark Antony arrives with Caesar’s body and requests permission to speak at the funeral. Despite the citizens’ initial resistance, Antony begins his famous funeral oration with the repeated phrase “Brutus is an honorable man.” Through skillful rhetoric, Antony gradually turns the crowd against the conspirators by reading Caesar’s will, which leaves generous gifts to the Roman people, and by displaying Caesar’s bloody, wounded body. He systematically dismantles Brutus’s arguments while maintaining the pretense of honoring the conspirators. By the end of his speech, Antony has successfully incited the crowd to riot, and they rush off to burn the conspirators’ houses and seek revenge for Caesar’s murder.

Julius Caesar opens in Rome as Caesar returns triumphantly from his victory over Pompey’s sons. Despite warnings from a soothsayer to “beware the Ides of March,” Caesar proceeds with his plans. A group of Roman senators, led by Cassius and including the noble Brutus, grows concerned about Caesar’s increasing power and popularity with the common people. Cassius manipulates Brutus into joining their conspiracy by appealing to his sense of duty to the Roman Republic, convincing him that Caesar’s ambition threatens Rome’s democratic traditions.

On the Ides of March (March 15th), the conspirators successfully assassinate Caesar in the Senate house, with Brutus delivering the final blow. Following the murder, Brutus addresses the Roman citizens, explaining that Caesar’s death was necessary to preserve their freedom. However, Mark Antony, Caesar’s loyal friend, delivers a powerful funeral oration that turns public opinion against the conspirators through his skillful rhetoric, repeatedly calling them “honorable men” while undermining their justifications.

The assassination triggers a civil war as Antony forms the Second Triumvirate with Octavius Caesar (Caesar’s heir) and Lepidus. They pursue the conspirators, who have fled Rome and raised their own armies. The opposing forces meet at the Battle of Philippi, where Cassius and Brutus, leading the republican forces, face defeat. Both conspirators die by suicide—Cassius after mistakenly believing Brutus has been defeated, and Brutus after recognizing their cause is lost. The play concludes with Antony and Octavius honoring Brutus as the one conspirator who acted from noble motives rather than personal envy.