O Pardon Me, Thou Bleeding Piece of Earth

Marlon Brando as Antony in Julius Caesar (1953)

Listen to:
O Pardon Me, Thou Bleeding Piece of Earth (1:51)

from Julius Caesar

by William Shakespeare

performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode

One by one, the conspirators plunge their daggers into Caesar’s body.

Antony, having fled the Capitol in horror at the assassination of Caesar, warily  returns and humbly presents himself to the conspirators, deftly winning their consent to deliver Caesar’s funeral oration. When the conspirators leave the stage, Antony is left alone with the body of Caesar.

ANTONY 

O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,

That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!

Thou art the ruins of the noblest man

That ever lived in the tide of times.

Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!

Over thy wounds now do I prophesy,--

Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips,

To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue--

A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;

Domestic fury and fierce civil strife

Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;

Blood and destruction shall be so in use

And dreadful objects so familiar

That mothers shall but smile when they behold

Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war;

All pity choked with custom of fell deeds:

And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,

With Ate by his side come hot from hell,

Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice

Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war;

That this foul deed shall smell above the earth

With carrion men, groaning for burial.