Caesar’s Son
“ That were you, Antony, the son of Caesar,
   You should be satisfied ”
(Brutus, “ Julius Caesar, ” Act III., Scene I.)
W
HEN I read these words I was struck by their significance.  They show us Brutus’s certainty that lie will win over Antony.  In them we have Brutus’s idea of what Caesar’s son, had there been such a one, would have been like.  On considering them, we have an insight into Antony’s shortcomings.  When we muse upon them we wonder what Caesar’s son would really have been like.
Brutus is so convinced himself that he has done the right thing that he thinks everybody else can be too.  When Cassius dealt with him, he had already been thinking about it, and it was not at a moment’s notice that he gave way to the idea of killing Caesar.  He had passed through sleepless nights and mental torture.  He had worried and fretted, thought and pondered, and concealed it from his wife lest she would suffer from the same horrible torture of soul, until at last he gave way to the love of his ancestors.  This had influenced Brutus against Caesar.  This is what he thought was in all men, and being convinced that Caesar was dangerous to Rome (not to himself), he slew him.  As he speaks to Antony, he tells him that even if he were Caesar’s son he would be convinced.  But Brutus is relying upon concern for the State of Rome (a quality which he would have found in Caesar’s son?).
Brutus’s idea of Caesar’s son comes from his knowledge of Caesar.  He said of Caesar, “I have not known when his affections sway’d more than his reason.”  In other words, he was admitting that Caesar, as far as his knowledge went, had never been influenced by anything other than that which was right and comely for a Roman citizen.  Now, Brutus undoubtedly knew that a son is usually “a chip of the old block,” and so, when he said,—“ were you the son of Caesar ”—he is thinking of one who is upright, straightforward, and governed by his concern for the Roman State, one who is controlled by that which is right.  In this idea which Brutus has of Caesar’s son he betrays himself.  How?  He shows us that according to all he knew Caesar was in the right.  But not only is he betrayed by this statement but Antony is too.
When Brutus makes the statement he reveals Antony’s shortcomings.  His idea of Caesar’s son was, one who was straightforward, not actuated by prejudice.  When he had given Antony his guarantee of safety, the latter comes and says:—
“Live a thousand years,
I shall not find myself so apt to die :
No place will please, me so, no mean of death,
As here by Caesar, and by you cut off,
The choice and master spirits of this age.”
A marvellous exhibition of heroics, and a base attempt at flattery.  Here is one who has been likened unto Caesar’s son, pretending that he is willing to die, when he knows that he has a Roman’s word of honour that no harm can, or will, befall him.  A man, likened to Caesar’s offspring, lowering himself to flattery in order to escape detection.  One who is willing to avenge Caesar as long as he can strike the conspirators in the back.  Brutus has made a mistake, yes, a very great error, in likening Antony to anything connected with Caesar.  If so, what is Caesar’s son like?
“Like father, like son.”  Maybe so.  Our curiosity concerning that “being” who never “was” has been aroused, and we must endeavour to satisfy.  Having