No funeral oration for Cesar: the eloquence of Mark Anthony on the stage of Italian tragedy in the XVIIIth Century

Abstract

This paper focuses on modern critical reception of Mark Antony the triumvir from the point of view of his rhetorical ability. Theatrical literature has created Antony as dramatic character within texts focused on the Ides of March, starting from the French tragedy La mort de César of Jacques Grévin (1558). In his Julius Caesar William Shakespeare reshapes the character of Mark Antony as orator in the light of the ancient sources (not only Plutarch, but also Appian). But the funeral scene, that in Julius Caesaris characterized by Brutus’s and Antony’s speeches to “Plebeians” (III 2), doesn't always occur within the pattern of the “caesarian” tragedies. This paper takes into consideration the Italian tragedies of the XVIII century: they present the common feature of a “lack” of the Caesar’s funeral as well as of the Antony’s funeral oration. This is the case of the tragedies of Antonio Conti (1677- 1749) and Pietro Chiari (1712-1785), both named Giulio Cesare. Even if Conti and Chiari conceive the tragedy in a very different way – Conti supports tragedy inspired by historical truth, Chiari aims to please the public and fills his tragic plot with strokes and intrigue – their caesarian tragedies share the lack of the Antony’s eulogy for Caesar. In Conti’s drama Antony makes the account of the assassination of Caesar, that is not shown on stage, and takes the oratory function of “Nunzio” of the ancient tragedy. In Chiari’s Giulio Cesare Antony is eloquent and persuasive towards Caesar “in life” and his rhetorical praise aims to make appeal to Caesar’s conventional virtue, clemency. This common feature of the Italian tragedy about the Ides of March (starting from the Cesare of Orlando Pescetti, 1594, until the tragedy Bruto secondo of Vittorio Alfieri, 1787) marks a detachment from the French model of tragedy, so important for Italian dramatists of XVIII century, like La Mort de César (1731) written by Voltaire, in which to the funeral oration is given emphasis in the end of the drama's script.