The Text
JULIUS CAESER
ACT I
SCENE I. Rome. A street.
Enter FLAVIUS, MARULLUS, and certain Commoners
FLAVIUS
Hence! home, you idle creatures get you home:
Is this a holiday? what! know you not,
Being mechanical, you ought not walk
Upon a labouring day without the sign
Of your profession? Speak, what trade art thou?
First Commoner
Why, sir, a carpenter.
MARULLUS
Where is thy leather apron and thy rule?
What dost thou with thy best apparel on?
You, sir, what trade are you?
Second Commoner
Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am but,
as you would say, a cobbler.
MARULLUS
But what trade art thou? answer me directly.
Second Commoner
A trade, sir, that, I hope, I may use with a safe
conscience; which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles.
The Scene
The common people had gathered to welcome Caeser. The common citizens and artisans of Rome have come out in the streets to see Caeser pass and to rejoice his triumphs. Artisans means – common people. The tribunes, Flavius and Marullus, who do have no sympathy for Caeser, rebuke the people most vehemently chase them home. They drive them away from the street, for they do not want Caeser to be shown any mark of honour. The crowd disperses “tongue tied in their guiltiness”. Flavius goes away to disrobe the images of Caeser wherever he finds them “decked with ceremonies”.
