Was Shakespeare a charlatan?

[Enrique]

In this video clip the narrator says (6:12) that Caesar having said "Et tu, Brute" while he was stabbed to death in the Senate was an invention of Shakespeare. What do you think?

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPf27gAup9U[/YOUTUBE]

[RobertH]

Shakespeare knew his business.
He lived in a Latinized culture and so 'et tu Brute' was perfectly acceptable.
There is very good authority for the quote. In fact if you want to be really accurate for the quote what he really said was in Greek, even Romans used Greek as a kind of emotional and poetic shorthand.
What he said was:_
' kai su teknon.'
which means, 'and you too, son.'
It's generally agreed that Caesar had had an affair with Brutus' mother and that he was the natural son.
If you're interested the most brilliant account of these events is by the German historian Christian Meier, one of the best books I've ever read.
The video clip is, frankly, irritating.

[Enrique]

Yes, the words appear in Plutarch [humm... perhaps no], as well as the fact that he said them in Greek (thou "son" is not within "et tu Brute"). They must be in Suetonius, too, though these men lived long after the facts, so how do we know that Caesar really pronounced such words? In any case, that does not make Shakespeare a liar, because it was common belief in his time. By the way, I'm almost certain that Shakespeare read Plutarch, but what translation could that have been?

[Peter]

I'm always sceptical about quotes from the ancient past - good theatre though which is what Shakespeare was about!

[Enrique]

Ancients liked to embellish history. They knew posterity would speak about those facts long after them.

[Enrique]

In order to make up for the bad video in post no.1, here is a worthier site:

http://www.romeartlover.it/

[glindhot]

Et Tu

In 1949, I was at high school. I also had a part-time job. My employer, on finding I was studying Julius Caesar, told me he had also studied Julius Caesar at college (about 1913).

He laughed as he recalled a particular episode during his studies. A class member when asked to translate "Et tu, Brute?" answered "And you too, you brute?"

I still have a memento of our Julius Caesar discussions for he gave me his complete Shakespeare.

[Peter]

Ancients liked to embellish history. They knew posterity would speak about those facts long after them.

I think it's common to human nature regardless of era.

[Peter]

In 1949, I was at high school. I also had a part-time job. My employer, on finding I was studying Julius Caesar, told me he had also studied Julius Caesar at college (about 1913).

He laughed as he recalled a particular episode during his studies. A class member when asked to translate "Et tu, Brute?" answered "And you too, you brute?"

I still have a memento of our Julius Caesar discussions for he gave me his complete Shakespeare.

Love it - thanks!

[Enrique]

He laughed as he recalled a particular episode during his studies. A class member when asked to translate "Et tu, Brute?" answered "And you too, you brute?"

In Spanish, which is my mother tongue, Brutus is written Bruto, which also means brute.