Meaning

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears

Categorised in: A list of phrases about parts of the body ·A list of phrases about country and nationality ·135 Phrases coined by William Shakespeare ·Quotations

What's the meaning of the phrase 'Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears'?

This quotation from Julius Caesar is one of Shakespeare's best-known lines. Mark Antony asks for the attention of the assembled ctowd as he delivers a eulogy in honour of the recently murdered Julius Caesar: Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar was ambitious: If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath Caesar answer’d it. Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest = For Brutus is an honourable man; S o are they all, all honourable men. Caesar had been assassinated by a group of conspirators led by Brutus. Brutus had previously delivered a speech in which he claimed that the murder had been done in the name of freedom. In a clever speech, Antony turned the mob against Brutus and the other assassins.

Friends
Friends - caption

What’s the origin of the phrase ‘Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears’?

This quotation from Julius Caesar is one of Shakespeare’s best-known lines. Mark Antony asks for the attention of the assembled ctowd as he delivers a eulogy in honour of the recently murdered Julius Caesar:

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer’d it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest =
For Brutus is an honourable man; S
o are they all, all honourable men.

Caesar had been assassinated by a group of conspirators led by Brutus. Brutus had previously delivered a speech in which he claimed that the murder had been done in the name of freedom. In a clever speech, Antony turned the mob against Brutus and the other assassins.

Historical trend

“Friends” in printed material over time

Source: Google Books Ngrams (1800–2020).

180018201840186018801900192019401960198020002020
  • Friends