Julius Caesar 2: the Characters and the Questions

号外号外！莎士比亚向您发来入群！在喜马经典名著群里，有重磅福利、独家资源、一手资讯。扫描下方海报内的二维码，或搜索微信号

xmlyfm2018，发送暗号即可入群！群内正在热聊，还在等什么，快扫码加入吧！

Julius Caesar: “All amiss interpreted” – Part II -- God or Tyrant? Hero or Failure?

《裘力斯·凯撒》：“完全解释错了” -- 第2部分 -- 是上帝还是暴君？是英雄还是失败者？

When we come to Julius Caesar, a play that dramatizes one of history’s most famous events, we already know what’s going to happen. What we don’t know, as we noted in episode one, is how to interpret what happens. Is Caesar’s death something we should celebrate? Is Brutus’s death heroic? In this episode, Professor Michael Dobson, director of the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford, addresses these questions & explores how the play makes it difficult to definitively answer them.

《裘力斯·凯撒》改编自著名历史事件，在欣赏戏剧之前，我们便知道了故事的发展脉络。但尽管如此，就像上集节目中提到的那样，我们依旧不知道该如何解读所发生的一切。凯撒之死值得庆祝吗？布鲁图斯之死是英勇无畏的吗？本集节目，斯特拉特福莎士比亚研究院院长迈克尔·多布森教授将继续带领我们一同追问这些问题，探讨这部戏剧为何会让这些问题变得如此难以回答。

The place to start thinking about this Roman play is with Rome itself -- with Romanitas, the package of virtues and values that noble Romans strive to embody.

这部戏剧的故事背景是罗马，所以我们首先从罗马，以及“罗马性”入手。所谓的“罗马性”指的是罗马贵族竭力追求维护的一系列美德和价值观。

The notion of Rome, “Romanitas,” implies a sort of package of ideas that are largely about control. You're supposed to be frugal. You're supposed to be in charge of your passions. You're supposed to be in charge of as much territory as possible. You're supposed to be able to govern. You can do military service. You don't complain about pain. You know, there's already a notion of Stoicism that is blurring over into the idea of just being a Roman. And you are supposed to value public attainment above all else -- what matters is who you are out there in the forum, what political office you've attained, what military office you've attained.

“罗马性”主要指的是一系列与控制力有关的概念，它主张人们过简朴的生活、控制自己的激动情绪、尽可能多地占有领土、具备治理的能力、愿意服兵役，并且对痛苦泰然处之、决不抱怨。其实，在“罗马性”出现之前，就已经有一个与它很相似的观念，即斯多葛学派观念，它也主张保持坚忍，对痛苦的默默承受，将公共归属感置于最高地位。“公共归属感”包括在你公共场所中扮演的角色、你属于哪个政治派别、属于哪个军队机构等等。

Romans strive to control both themselves and others -- especially how others perceive them.

古罗马人一直力求掌控自我，掌控他人，他们尤其关注他人对自己的看法。

Certainly being a successful Roman involves controlling the beliefs and feelings of other Romans, it's being a good rhetorician, being somebody who can use the language of persuasion. The main thing you need to do is control what happens now. And if you can't control what happens now, you need to control how it's going to be remembered.

当然，要想成为一个成功的罗马人，你需要掌控其他人的信仰和感情，要具备良好的雄辩口才，能够用语言说服他人，最重要的一点是要掌控当下。如果你无法掌控当下，那么就需要控制这件事被他人记住的方式。

This struggle to control perception is one reason why it’s so challenging to come away from the play with a single ‘message’ about its events. All the characters are contending against each other to champion their own story about who they are. They take every opportunity to assert their Roman identity, as men who are free, fearless, and in control. That’s why characters mention their own names so often. When he hears the Senate will crown Caesar, Cassius says he would sooner slay himself than submit to a king, promising, “Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius.” When Caesar expresses uneasiness about Cassius to Antony, he adds, “I rather tell thee what is to be feared / Than what I fear; for always I am Caesar.” Before the battle, Brutus tells Cassius, “Think not … That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome. / He bears too great a mind.”

竭力想要掌控他人认知的意图和行为，在一定程度上导致我们很难为剧中各种事件归纳出某种单一“信息”。所有的角色都在彼此竞争抗衡，维护自己关于自我身份的描述。他们抓住一切机会向世人宣告自己的罗马人身份，宣称自己是自由无畏、有自制力的人。所以，我们会发现他们在剧中总是反复提及自己的名字。当凯歇斯听说元老院将加冕凯撒时，他说他宁愿自杀也不愿臣服于某位君主，发誓说“凯歇斯将要从奴隶的羁缚之下把凯歇斯解放出来”。（在这短短的一句话中，他两次提及自己的名字。）而在凯撒向安东尼透露对于凯歇斯的不安感觉时，凯撒说：“我现在不过告诉你哪一种人是可怕的，并不是说我惧怕他们，因为我永远是凯撒”。在战斗前的那场戏中，布鲁图斯在对凯歇斯说的话中，也提到了自己的名字：“你不要以为布鲁图斯会有一天被人绑着回到罗马；他是有一颗太高傲的心的”。

Everybody is competing to be more Roman than everyone else. Brutus, you know, the last consolation he has is, Well, at least I died like Brutus, yes. I've just about managed to live up to my own propaganda.

人人都想表现得比其他人更像罗马人。布鲁图斯最后的安慰就是，至少他是以布鲁图斯的方式死去的，他死去的方式符合他一直所呼吁和倡导的理念。

Brutus’s sense of self lies in his public identity as a son and servant of Rome. In his first scene, he says of Cassius’s plan, “If it be aught toward the general good, / Set honor in one eye and death i’ th’ other / And I will look on both indifferently.” And he does meet his death by pursuing what he sees as “the general good.” As he contemplates killing Caesar, he muses, “I know no personal cause to spurn at him, / But for the general.” He calls Caesar his “best lover,” his dearest friend. But because he believes that Caesar’s death will serve the public good, he puts aside those personal loyalties to lead the assassination.

布鲁图斯的自我意识源于他的公共身份认同感，他将自己视作罗马的儿子和仆人。首次登场时，他这样评价凯歇斯的计划：“倘然那是对大众有利的事，那么让我的一只眼睛看见光荣，另一只眼睛看见死亡，我也会同样无动于衷地正视着它们”。最终，他在追求眼中那“对大众有利的事”的过程中，看见了死亡。对于刺杀凯撒，他若有所思地说：“我自己对他并没有私怨，只是为了大众的利益”。他称凯撒为自己“最亲爱的人”，是自己最亲密的朋友。但由于他认为凯撒的死对大众有利，那么他便将自己与凯撒的个人情感放到了一边，最终领导了这次谋杀行动。

There's this sort of disjunction between inside and outside for him. And, of course, he overrules the inside because your identity in Rome is entirely public -- it's who you are in the forum, what title you currently bear within the political system, the only thing that matters.

这在某种程度上反映出了他内心想法和外在行为的割裂。当然，他克服了内在的情绪，因为作为罗马人，要时刻将大众的利益放在至高无上的位置上，对于罗马人而言，唯一重要的是他们在罗马公共场所中的身份，以及在政治体制中所承担的职责。

But this emphasis on public status means that the “general good” might not be the only motive for murder. Built into the Roman value of control is the value of controlling others and not being controlled by them -- which means there’s an inherently competitive quality to Romanitas. Caesar says of Cassius, “Such men as he be never at heart’s ease / Whiles they behold a greater than themselves.” For Shakespeare, that unease at being outdone is part of what defines Rome.

但对公众地位的强调意味着“大众的利益”也许并未此次刺杀的唯一动机。罗马人的控制观念中包含了对他人的掌控，以及不被他人掌控，这意味着在“罗马性”有着一种内在的竞争特性。凯撒在评价凯歇斯时说道：“像他这种人，要是看见有人高过他们，心里就会觉得不舒服，所以他们是很危险的。”在莎士比亚看来，看见他人高过自己，心里觉得不舒服也是“罗马性”的一个重要组成部分。

I think it's one of the fun things about Rome for Shakespeare, that there's practically nothing else in Rome except men having these intense rivalries and emulations together: “I want to be you and I also want to defeat you -- I admire you, and you occupy the place, therefore, that I need to to take over. Am I going to hug you or stab you in the back, or team up with a third party to stab you in the back?” This is strictly about what brothers do to each other. This is just about what Rome does to you, what Rome does to itself, what that idea of Rome may cost you. You all have to have some kind of shared ideal of Romanitas that's going to prevent you from strangling each other in your competition to become consul for the time being. They're all players in the same game. They share a desire to win at being more Roman than the others in their different ways, to uphold a sense of themselves as important Romans, Romans, the “choice and master spirits of this age,” as Antony rather sarcastically calls the conspirators -- a very risky moment when he confronts them.

在莎士比亚眼中，罗马性中很有趣的一点就是：在罗马，唯一重要的只有男人之间的这些激烈的竞争和相互效仿，在他们心中：“我想成为你，但同时也想打败你。我崇拜你，但也想占有你的地位，所以我要努力取代你。我是该从正面拥抱你，还是从背后捅刀子？甚至与其他人一同合作，往你的背后捅刀子呢？”这其实也是兄弟之间会出现的情况。这揭示了罗马对罗马人做了什么，罗马对罗马自己做了什么，以及“罗马性”这个观念可能会让人们付出什么代价。所有人都必须在一定程度上牢记“罗马性”这个共同理想，这个理想可以暂时防止人们在对执政官这一职务的竞争中相互厮杀。他们是同一场游戏中的玩家，都渴望在游戏中获胜，希望在各个方面都比其他人更具“罗马性”，并维护自己作为重要罗马人，作为“当代英俊”的自我意识。“当代英俊”这个表达是安东尼对刺杀凯撒的密谋者们的嘲讽性称呼，他面对密谋者们说这番话的时候，情况是相当危急的。

This risky moment occurs when Antony confronts the conspirators just after Caesar’s murder. Brutus attempts to direct attention to the purity and goodness of their motives, saying, “pity to the general wrong of Rome / Hath done this deed.” And yet he says this just after he has told the conspirators to “bathe [their] hands in Caesar’s blood / Up to the elbows.”

在这样危急的情况下，安东尼面对着那群刚刺杀了凯撒的密谋者。布鲁图斯企图粉饰说他们的刺杀动机是纯洁良善的，他说：“我们因为不忍看见罗马的人民受到暴力的压迫，所以才不得以把凯撒杀死”。就在他说这段话之前，他让密谋者们“把手浸在凯撒的血里，一直到......手肘上。”

I’d hope that when anybody reads this play or watches this play, they keep an eye out for the discrepancy between the way in which people describe each other and the way in which they describe themselves especially, and what they actually do. Here's a play where people want to sound Roman while they also want to act like barbarians. One of the things that's always fascinated me about Julius Caesar is its combination of eloquence, rationality, the measured, plain spoken, direct way in which people speak, the way they sound so rational and sound so in control, and yet the traumatic things that they're doing -- this discrepancy between a kind of rationality and extremes of personal and political violence. There's a veneer of sort of literary respectability about the play, which often is a way in which the characters are masking what they're really doing from themselves and from each other.

我希望所有阅读和观看这部戏剧的人，都能够关注剧中人物在对他人和对自己的描述方式上的差异，并留意这些人物实际的所作所为。剧中角色既想表现出罗马人的特性，同时却又希望可以如野蛮人一样行事。《裘力斯·凯撒》一直以来都很吸引我的一点是戏剧将雄辩和理性，以及平实、直接、有分寸的说话方式相互结合。因此，剧中人物的发言，听上去很理性克制，但实际上他们做的却都是令人痛苦的极端行为，这体现出了理性与极端个人暴力、政治暴力之间的巨大分歧。戏剧在语言文字上“道貌岸然”，剧中人物常常用语言文字粉饰自己的所作所为，蒙蔽自己，诓骗他人。

Brutus feels perhaps the greatest need to hide what he is doing from himself. He is willing to go along with acts of violence, as long as he can paint them as selfless and purifying acts worthy of the name Brutus, the name of a family who helped found the Roman Republic itself.

布鲁图斯觉得，当下最重要的是让自己相信刺杀凯撒是必须之举。只要能够让自己相信某个暴力行为纯洁无私，能够对得起布鲁图斯这个建立起了罗马共和国的伟大家族，那么他就完全有理由去执行这个暴力行为。

Like most Romans in this play, he's absolutely led by his sense of what his own image ought to be and how he ought to be remembered, what adjectives are supposed to come with the word “Brutus.” And that includes patriot and freedom, lover and defender of Rome. And if he can be persuaded that he needs to defend Rome by killing the leader of Rome, then that's what he's going to do. And at the same moment, he's sort of being torn apart by it. It's not easy for him to commit to the assassination.

和剧中大部分罗马人一样，自我形象、自身应该被他人铭记的样子，以及与自己名字“布鲁图斯”相匹配的形容词有哪些等等绝对地左右着布鲁图斯的行为模式。作为罗马人，他应该爱国，享有自由，热爱罗马，维护罗马。所以，一旦他相信刺杀罗马的领导者凯撒是为了维护罗马的利益，那么他就会去进行刺杀。但同时，他在一定程度上也被这样的信念撕扯着。行刺对于他也绝非易事。

The only way Brutus can commit to the assassination is by perceiving it as a purely virtuous act. The moment something threatens to taint that moral purity, Brutus reacts violently. When Cassius suggests the conspirators “swear [their] resolution,” Brutus launches into a lengthy speech denouncing the idea, because an oath, he says, would “stain / The even virtue of our enterprise.”

布鲁图斯愿意行刺，唯一的理由就是他相信此次行刺是一次纯洁崇高的行为。一旦有东西玷污了道德的纯洁性，布鲁图斯就会激烈反抗。凯歇斯建议密谋者们“宣誓表示决心”时，布鲁图斯说了一大段话驳斥这个提议，在他看来宣誓“会污蔑堂堂正正的义举”。

We know that Brutus has already sort of talked himself into it, but the suggestion that they should take an oath seems to set off the same alarm bells for Brutus as the idea that Caesar should be king. It implies some kind of special religious sanction. He says, “No, I want to believe that it's purely common sense, that any sensible thinking Roman would see that this is the right thing to do. And if that isn't the case, then we shouldn't be doing it.” It's a kind of vanity. I mean, Caesar has spectacular hubris, but Brutus has this very touchy sense that it's much more “Brutus” to just do it because it's right. You shouldn't have to actually sign up to be a conspirator. Brutus has this deep conviction that what they're doing is idealistic, and the more it deals in ideals, then the better and more powerful it is.

其实我们都知道，布鲁图斯此时已经说服自己接受行刺这个行为了，但宣誓的建议似乎和凯撒应该加冕称王一样让布鲁图斯心中警铃大作。因为，宣誓暗示着某种特殊的宗教约束。他一定在想“不，我想要相信这纯粹是人们的共识，是常识。任何一个理智的罗马人都会认为这是正义之举。否则，我们就根本不应该做这件事。”这完全是自欺欺人。凯撒的确狂妄傲慢，但布鲁图斯之所以会产生这样“小心眼”的想法，不过是为了让整件事情做起来更加的“布鲁图斯”。密谋者不需要签订什么实际契约，因为布鲁图斯深信自己做的是理想正义之事，这件事越贴近理想，就越高尚、越有力量。

Brutus does show courage and nobility in his idealism. As Caesar’s close friend, he could probably have enjoyed a powerful and comfortable role under Caesar’s reign. Instead he risks his position and his life to take a stand against Caesar for the sake of the Republic. He says at Caesar’s funeral that he would kill himself too, to help his country, and there’s no reason to doubt his word. But in his idealism, he doesn’t simply risk his own life. He risks the success of his cause. Cassius realises that Antony might rise in opposition against them after the assassination and so he suggests that Antony should not “outlive Caesar.” But Brutus overrules him, saying, “Let’s be sacrificers, but not butchers … purgers, not murderers.” If they kill only Caesar, Brutus says, then their motives will seem “necessary and not envious.” Brutus wants to see himself as an honorable protector of Rome, not an envious murderer disposing of a rival. And so he lets Antony live, even though Antony will certainly prove a dangerous rival after Caesar is dead.

布鲁图斯对自己的理想主义信念展现出了勇气和崇高。作为凯撒的好友，在凯撒的王权统治下，他也许依旧可以享受崇高的地位，掌握重权。但如今他却冒着丢掉地位、失去生命的风险，站在了凯撒的对立面，去维护罗马共和国。在凯撒的葬礼上，他说他愿意为国家献出自己的生命，我们完全有理由相信他的这番话是绝对真诚的。但为了他的理想主义信念，他不仅冒着失去生命危险，甚至还冒着可能失败的风险。当时凯歇斯意识到，在行刺凯撒后，安东尼很有可能与他们反目成仇，于是便建议将安东尼也一道杀死。但布鲁图斯反驳说他们“要做献祭的人，不要做屠夫......要做恶势力的清扫者，而不是杀人的凶手”。布鲁图斯表示，如果他们只杀死凯撒，那么他们的动机就是“必要且不带嫉妒的”。布鲁图斯希望将自己视作罗马的崇高守护者，而不是一个因为嫉妒而去杀害对手的杀人犯，所以，他不希望杀死安东尼。但后来我们也都知道了，凯撒死后，安东尼的确成了他们的绝大威胁。

It's absolutely the kind of almost insane idealism that Shakespeare diagnoses among Romans, especially among Republican Romans. The ideal of Rome, the ideal of Roman honor, is so great and so sacred that to actually think in practical terms would be sort of beneath them and would be -- it would stain their causeif they just killed the people who were really going to mess things up for them. That would look pragmatic. Whereas what they're doing is noble and definitive, as far as Brutus is concerned, this great symbolic act, which is supposedly going to immediately bring about an entirely new epoch, in which having to worry about whether Antony is really good at summoning an army and dealing with a crowd isn't going to matter.

这绝对是莎士比亚在罗马人中，尤其是罗马共和国时期那些罗马人身上看到的几乎疯狂的理想主义信念。罗马的理想和罗马荣誉观念是极度伟大神圣的，用具体的话语来表达这些问题，在一定程度上都会低估它们，如果说只是简单粗暴地杀死那些可能带来混乱的人，就会玷污这些纯洁崇高的义举，这么做看似很有道理，然而在布鲁图斯看来，他们所做的无疑是高尚之举，这种了不起的行为，理应立刻开启一个全新的时代，在这个时代中，对于安东尼是否的能够召集军队、应对群众是根本不需要考虑，不需要担心的。

Of course, Antony does turn the Roman crowd against the conspirators and he does summon an army that defeats Brutus’s forces and puts an end to the Republic that Brutus held so dear. And yet, when Brutus perceives his defeat and prepares to kill himself, he utters some puzzling words: “I shall have glory by this losing day / More than Octavius and Mark Antony / By this vile conquest shall attain unto.” It’s strange that Brutus sees this conquest as “vile” when it will decide the fate of the Republic. But Brutus seems to believe that upholding political ideals is more noble than carrying out the practical tasks of politics, like conquering. He believes that giving his life for his ideals has proved his nobility -- and so, to him, the loss is actually glory.

当然，在后续剧情中，安东尼的确成功地挑起了罗马民众对于密谋者们的仇恨，并且召集了一支军队，击败了布鲁图斯的武装，最终终结了布鲁图斯视若珍宝的罗马共和国。不过，在布鲁图斯接受失败，并打算自杀时，他说出了一些令人颇感困惑的话，他说：“我今天虽然战败了，可是将要享有比奥克泰维斯和马克·安东尼在这次卑鄙的胜利中所得到的更大的光荣”。布鲁图斯认为这次决定罗马共和国未来的命运的胜利是一次“卑鄙的”胜利，因为他觉得坚持政治理想比进行征服等政治行动更加高尚。他认为为理想而献身可以证明自身的崇高精神，所以对他而言，他虽然战败了，但却获得了更大的光荣。

Like many tragic characters, doomed characters in Shakespeare, Brutus sees himself as exempt from the social contract. Political ideals are more important than what I owe to my friends, what I owe to my family -- they are less significant than my status as the noblest Roman of them all. I need to carry out this violent act to transform the social structure. And that's more important to me and to my ego than actually holding, doing the things that holds society together and hold the family together.

和莎剧中很多悲剧人物一样，布鲁图斯认为自己可以不受社会契约的束缚。为了政治理想，他宁愿亏欠朋友，亏欠家人。作为最崇高的罗马人，他自认为拥有比他们更加崇高的地位。他认为自己必须实施这个暴力行为，改变社会结构。相较于维护社会统一和家庭团结，这次刺杀对于自我价值而言是更为重要的。

But it’s family that reveals that Brutus isn’t always the perfect Roman he would like to be. Brutus believes that a Roman should be a Stoic: someone capable of subduing their passions and enduring pain with indifference. We see Brutus’s apparent stoicism on display when an officer tells him that his wife has killed herself, and he responds calmly with, “Why, farewell, Portia … With meditating that she must die once, / I have the patience to endure it now.”

但在家庭方面，布鲁图斯却表现得并非是他心目中的那种完美罗马人模样。布鲁图斯坚信罗马人应该是坚持坚忍克己的斯多葛学派态度，克制内心的热情，对痛苦淡然处之。当一位军官向布鲁图斯禀报说他的妻子鲍西娅自杀身亡时，布鲁图斯展现出了强大的隐忍，面对妻子的死讯，他只是平静地表示：“那么再会了，鲍西娅！想到她总有一天会死，使我现在能够忍受这一个打击”。

You're not to admit that you're upset by the fact you've just heard your wife swallowed fire -- “Yes, well, you always knew she was mortal. This is not a problem. Let's get on with business.” You know, it's a preening moment, a moment of showing off your Brutusy Stoical image.

即便是刚听说了妻子吞火而死的消息，他也不能流露出悲伤，还在表达“好的，我知道她总有一天会死的。所以这不是问题。我们继续讨论事业吧。”其实我们都可以感觉到他此时的言行是很刻意的，他想要刻意要展现出布鲁图斯式的斯多葛学派隐忍模样。

But this moment is, in fact, only a show. Brutus already knew that Portia had died. When he was alone with Cassius earlier, he told him this news and admitted he was “sick with many griefs.” In front of his men, Brutus puts on an act of calm endurance. But in private, he reveals his pain.

而实际上，这一切确实都是刻意的作秀。因为，在此之前布鲁图斯就已经收到了鲍西娅的死讯。在他和凯歇斯独处时，他便向凯歇斯透露了这个消息，并承认他的“心里有许多烦恼”。但是在手下面前，他又摆出了平静隐忍的姿态。可是在私底下，他还是流露出了内心的苦楚。

In that row with Cassius, you got a glimpse of the fact that he was vulnerable and human and that he was really suffering over the fact that Portia had killed herself. So that sort of broadening-out of Brutus into somebody messed up and lost and somebody in pain can be very, very powerful in that scene.

在与凯歇斯的那次争吵中，我们可以瞥见他的脆弱和人性，可以感受到他因鲍西娅的自杀而万分痛苦。这在一定程度上让我们感受更全面地了解了布鲁图斯，让我们看到了他混乱、迷茫、痛苦的一面，这一点在这场戏中是十分令人震撼的。

Another powerful scene is the encounter between Brutus and Portia the night before the assassination, when Portia reveals a wound she inflicted on her own thigh as proof of her self-control. She wants to demonstrate her own Stoic endurance so Brutus will see that she deserves a larger role in his life. The problem is that Shakespeare’s Rome, which values public, political, and military prowess, affords little role for women.

在行刺凯撒的前一夜，布鲁图斯与鲍西娅的一场戏也是同样震撼人心。当时，鲍西娅向布鲁图斯展示了她在自己大腿上划出的一道伤口，她这么做是为了证明自己也是有自控力的人，她希望布鲁图斯可以看到自己身上那种斯多葛学派的隐忍，这样她也就能在布鲁图斯的生活中发挥更大的作用。但问题是，在莎士比亚笔下的罗马，它虽然崇尚公众领导力、政治造诣、军事才能，但却很少给予女性发挥自身作用的机会。

In Rome, this entirely male public world, women are just kind of shut away at home. Portia, trying to persuade Brutus to take her seriously as an equal, proves that she's a great Stoic, not only by wounding herself to show that she can stand pain like a man, like a soldier, but she wounds herself in the thigh, which is a sort of weirdly sexual thing to do. You know, she does this act of self-harm, which looks like a kind of un-sexing herself. The only way in which she can work with Brutus is by declaring herself an honorary man, an honorary person outside sexuality.

在罗马，这个完全以男性占主导的国家，女性只能守在家中。为了让布鲁图斯将自己视作是平等的伙伴，鲍西娅向他证明自己也具备斯多葛学派隐忍能力，她划伤自己不仅仅是为了证明自己可以像男性、像士兵一样忍受痛苦，而且她划伤自己大腿的这个也带着些许不同寻常的性意味。她的这个自残行为似乎是为了摆脱自己的性别特色。对于鲍西娅而言，要想与布鲁图斯共事唯一的方法就是宣称自己为尊贵的男性，摆脱性别的束缚，成为一个值得尊敬的人。

Portia also reminds Brutus that she is the daughter of Cato, a Roman Senator famous for his stoicism. Her noble ancestry makes her “stronger than [her] sex,” she insists. But while Shakespeare focuses attention on Portia’s father, he deliberately diverts attention from Brutus’s.

同时，鲍西娅还提醒布鲁图斯说自己是凯图女儿，凯图是一位以坚忍而著称的元老院议员。她一再强调自己尊贵的血统让她比一般的女性更为优秀出色。不过，虽然莎士比亚在创作时关注到了鲍西娅的父亲，但他却故意避开了对布鲁图斯父亲的描述。

One thing that's quite important here is that Shakespeare suppresses one key detail, which is that there were rumors that Brutus was Caesar's illegitimate son. In the play, what Brutus does is symbolically parricide, but it's not definitely genetic parricide. He's not given that simple motivation of being a resentful, illegitimate son. As always, Shakespeare makes people's motivations more obscure to them and more interesting to us than they ever are in the sources.

这暗示了很重要的一点，莎士比亚这么做是在有意掩盖一个关键细节。当时有传言说布鲁图斯是凯撒的私生子。剧中，布鲁图斯的行为象征着弒亲，但这他所杀害的却又不是与自己有着绝对血缘关系的亲人。莎士比亚不希望将布鲁图斯刻画成一个因为充满仇恨而杀害至亲之人的私生子。他在创作中一贯喜欢模糊剧中人物的行为动机，这样一来，相较于最初的故事版本，莎剧中人物的动机就对我们就会有着更强大的吸引力。

This way of developing characters, allowing them to have complex, mixed, not fully transparent or logical motivations, is one of the hallmarks of Shakespeare’s writing.

进一步创作人物形象，赋予他们复杂、多样的行为动机，赋予他们无法琢磨透彻，也无法从逻辑上进行推演的动机，正是莎士比亚创作的鲜明特色之一。

Shakespeare always complicates the motive we’re expecting. We've been told that Brutus is, you know, this glorious, lost cause of Republicanism. But what we get is a Brutus who doesn't really know what he's doing and finally feels terrible kind of regret and sense of being lost, even at the same moment that he's saying, “But at least, you know, at least I'm not being taken prisoner. At least I'm still Roman enough to kill myself.” It's -- you know, these are mixed feelings, Shakespeare deals in mixed feelings. It's what makes him better than so many other Elizabethan writers and so many modern ones as well.

莎士比亚经常将我们所期待的动机变得更加复杂难以理解。我们期待布鲁图斯是一位为了共和主义而努力的人，虽然他的为之奋斗的事业以失败告终，但他却获得了无上的光荣。可是在欣赏戏剧时，我们却发现我们所看到的布鲁图斯并不是完全明白自己所追求的究竟是什么，他在最后甚至也产生了痛苦的悔恨和挫败感，虽然他口中依旧说着“至少我没有被俘虏。至少我能够像一个真正的罗马人一样了断自己的性命”，但从这里我们还是可以感受到他内心交织的多种情绪，这就是莎士比亚为我们营造的“百感交集”的体验。这种创作手法让莎士比亚远远胜过伊丽莎白时期的其他作家，甚至也远胜于当代的众多作家。

Shakespeare also leaves the audience with mixed feelings. As we noted in our introductory course, he grew up in an educational system centered on debate, exploring both sides of any question -- including the question of whether Caesar’s assassination was a good thing. His own play about Julius Caesar sets out many debates between characters and lays out many different perspectives on honor, politics, & justice, so that the audience must come to their own judgment.

莎士比亚也会让观众们产生交织矛盾的复杂情绪。在最开始的导读节目中，我们就曾介绍说，莎士比亚所接受的教育以辩论为核心，它鼓励学生探寻问题的两面性，刺杀凯撒是否是正义的一定也是他们的辩题之一。在《裘力斯·凯撒》中，莎士比亚提出了很多有关不同角色的讨论，他从不同角度探讨了荣誉、政治、公平正义等问题，观众们可以根据自己的判断得出种种不同的结论。

Characteristically, it being Shakespeare, the characters are allowed their own valuations of the situation at different points. It's not that one of them is definitely given the kind of editorial imprimatur and we're told, oh, yeah, he was right. One bunch of people lose the battle, which means another bunch of people win the battle. No, Shakespeare is not the kind of playwright who says, Therefore, this was simply a glorious victory.

剧中角色都极具莎士比亚特色，在不同时间点，他们对于当下情况都有着自己独特的价值评判。这并不是说他们中的某个人一定会被赋予某种评价性的标签，就像有人对我们说：他是对的。一群人输了战争往往意味着另一群人获得了胜利。但在莎士比亚这里可不一样，他不是那种会简单将定义光荣胜利的剧作家。

Brutus calls the battle of Philippi a “losing day.” Octavius calls it a “happy day.” Both claim the glory. Where you believe the glory lies depends partly on what kind of play you take this to be.Is Julius Caesar a tragedy centered on one doomed but noble figure? If so, you might see Brutus’s death as the play’s true climax, an event that marks him as the hero. But you might also see the play as a history, not focused on one heroic death but on the ever-changing march of events and the ever-changing cast of characters who -- like Octavius -- are most successful in steering them.

布鲁图斯称腓力比之战是“失败”，而奥克泰维斯则称其为“胜利”，但在他们心中，这一场战役却都为他们带来了光荣。光荣究竟源于哪里取决于你如何看待这部戏剧。你将《裘力斯·凯撒》看作一部以单一悲剧性崇高人物为核心的悲剧吗？如果是这样的话，那么你一定会觉得布鲁图斯之死才是全剧真正的高潮，这个事件让他成为了真正的英雄。但如果你将这部剧看作是一部历史剧的话，那么历史剧不会只关注一位英雄人物的死亡，它关注的是一系列不断变化的事件，一系列不断变化的人物。所以，在这种情况下，奥克泰维斯这类人才是最成功的。

It depends whether you think this is a play about the destined, meaningful death of one person who has shaped their own death to make it really say something about themselves. Is this a play about a world that actually cares whether Caesar lives or dies? Or is this just a sort of documentary about something that happened in one particular political system? You know, we know Brutus is going to die. Is he simply a sort of, as he sees himself towards the end, the last hero of a great lost cause, or is he just a deluded and incompetent politician who made the wrong choices?

你是否将这部剧看作是关于个人命中注定的、有意义的死亡的戏剧，也会影响你对这个问题的理解。布鲁图斯这个人物决定了自己的死亡，用死亡表达了自己的态度和想法。所以戏剧构建的事件真的关注凯撒的生和死吗？还是说这不过是对某个特定政治体制中某起事件的记录？我们都知道布鲁图斯会死。他是否真的就像自己所认为的那样是一场失败事业中最后的英雄？还是说，他不过是一个自欺欺人、不断做出错误决定的无能政治家？

The question of Brutus’s heroism, like many others in the play, has divided readers for generations. You can consider these questions during our next episode as you listen to some of the play’s key speeches -- including the famous dueling speeches of Brutus and Antony at Caesar’s funeral. Today, we see all too well how political rhetoric can inspire and divide -- and so we can draw lessons for our own time from Shakespeare’s searing analysis of rhetoric’s power.

和剧中很对其他角色一样，历代读者们之间对于布鲁图斯身上的英雄主义都有着截然不同的看法和理解。大家可以带着这些问题收听我们下集节目中选取的经典台词段落，这些选段中就包括布鲁图斯和安东尼在凯撒葬礼上的演讲。今天我们深切体会到了政治上的雄辩技巧对于民众的激励和分裂，从莎士比亚对于雄辩口才的尖锐剖析中，我们也可以吸取经验教训，为我们当下的这个时代和自己的生活所用。