Act IV - Scene I A House in Rome The Tragedy of Julius Caesar

In Act IV, Scene 1, Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus meet in a house in Rome to draw up a proscription list — a roster of political enemies condemned to die. They coldly trade family members' lives: Lepidus agrees to his brother's execution, and Antony consents to the death of his nephew Publius. Antony sends Lepidus to fetch Caesar's will so they can reduce the bequests left to Roman citizens. Once Lepidus leaves, Antony reveals his contempt for him, calling him a "slight unmeritable man" and comparing him to an ass. The scene closes with Antony and Octavius preparing to raise armies against Brutus and Cassius.

Antony calls Lepidus a "slight unmeritable man" and compares him to an ass that bears gold to illustrate his belief that Lepidus is merely a useful tool, not a true leader. In Antony's extended metaphor, Lepidus carries the burdens of power — absorbing political blame and running errands — just as a donkey carries treasure. Once the treasure reaches its destination, the ass is unloaded and turned out "to shake his ears and graze in commons." Antony further compares Lepidus to a horse that can be taught to fight and run on command, emphasizing that he views their ally as someone to be directed rather than consulted. This contempt foreshadows the eventual breakdown of the triumvirate.

The proscription list is a register of Romans whom the triumvirate — Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus — have condemned to death. In ancient Rome, proscription was a formal process in which political enemies were publicly named, stripped of legal protection, and could be killed with impunity, often with a bounty on their heads. In the scene, the triumvirs "prick" names on the list, a term meaning to mark them with a stylus. The chilling casualness of the process — Lepidus trading his own brother's life, Antony damning his nephew "with a spot" — demonstrates how the new rulers have adopted the same ruthless tactics they accused Caesar of threatening. Shakespeare uses this scene to show that the assassination has not restored the Republic but merely transferred power to equally merciless hands.

Act IV, Scene 1 strips away the public persona Antony displayed in his funeral oration and reveals a cold, manipulative politician. He consents to his own nephew's death without hesitation, then immediately schemes to reduce Caesar's bequests to the people — the very legacies he used to rally the crowd in Act III. His contemptuous dismissal of Lepidus the moment he leaves the room shows Antony's willingness to exploit allies he considers inferior. The extended animal metaphors — comparing Lepidus to an ass and a horse — reveal a man who views people as instruments to be used and discarded. This transformation creates a powerful dramatic irony: the audience saw Antony weep over Caesar's body, but now sees that his grief was intertwined with ruthless ambition all along.

The scene explores several interconnected themes. The corruption of power is central: the triumvirs who rose to power after Caesar's assassination prove just as tyrannical as the dictator the conspirators feared. Betrayal and broken loyalty appears in the willingness of Antony and Lepidus to sacrifice their own relatives for political advantage. Deception within alliances surfaces when Antony immediately disparages Lepidus behind his back, showing that the triumvirate is built on mutual exploitation rather than genuine partnership. Finally, the theme of humans reduced to instruments runs through Antony's animal metaphors, suggesting that in the pursuit of power, people become mere tools — a dark echo of how the conspirators used "honor" to justify murder.