Read the extract from 'Julius Caesar' Act 5, Scene 1, given below and answer the questions that follow: Cassius: Then, if we lose this battle, You are contented to be led in triumph Through the streets of Rome? Brutus: No, Cassius, no: think not, thou noble Roman, That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome; He bears too great a mind. But this same day Must end that work the ides of March begun; And whether we shall meet again I know not. Therefore our everlasting farewell take: Forever, and forever, farewell, Cassius. If we do meet again, why, we shall smile; If not, why then, this parting was well made.
Earlier in this scene, Cassius had confided to Messala a strange occurrence that he had observed when his army was on its way from Sardis to Philippi. Describe this strange occurrence.
Topic: Act 5 Scene 1 — the omen of the eagles
Answer
Two mighty eagles had settled on the foremost standards of his army and travelled with it from Sardis, feeding from the soldiers’ hands. That morning, however, the eagles had flown away, and in their place ravens, crows and kites circled overhead, looking down on the men as though they were sickly prey. Cassius took this as an omen that their army was doomed.
Give the full sequence — eagles present and tame, eagles gone, carrion birds in their place — and then state its meaning, since the omen is the point. Worth adding: Cassius had been an Epicurean who scorned omens, and his new belief in them shows how far his confidence has been shaken before the battle even begins.