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Mark Antony
Ra is the ancient Egyptian god of the sun. He’s one of the most important deities in ancient Egyptian religion. While the play describes him as having a hawk’s head, ancient Egyptian religion most often depicts him as a falcon-headed male. As a character, Ra appears only in the play’s Prologue, where he delivers a monologue that insults his audience and establishes a historical and cultural context for Caesar and Cleopatra. In addition, religious imagery depicting Ra appears throughout the play.
Ra Quotes in Caesar and Cleopatra
The Caesar and Cleopatra quotes below are all either spoken by Ra or refer to Ra. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Prologue
Quotes
Ye poor posterity, think not that ye are the first. Other fools before ye have seen the sun rise and set, and the moon change her shape and her hour. As they were so ye are; and yet not so great; for the pyramids my people built stand to this day; whilst the dustheaps on which ye slave, and which ye call empires, scatter in the wind even as ye pile your dead sons’ bodies on them to make yet more dust.
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All this ye shall see; and ye shall marvel, after your ignorant manner, that men twenty centuries ago were already just such as you, and spoke and lived as ye speak and live, no worse and no better, no wiser and no sillier.
An Alternative to the Prologue
Quotes
They care nothing about cowardice, these Romans: they fight to win. The pride and honor of war are nothing to them.
Act 2
Quotes
THEODOTUS. What is burning there is the memory of mankind.
CAESAR. A shameful memory. Let it burn.
THEODOTUS (wildly). Will you destroy the past?
CAESAR. Ay, and build the future with its ruins.
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Get the entire Caesar and Cleopatra LitChart as a printable PDF.
Ra Quotes in Caesar and Cleopatra
The Caesar and Cleopatra quotes below are all either spoken by Ra or refer to Ra. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Prologue
Quotes
Ye poor posterity, think not that ye are the first. Other fools before ye have seen the sun rise and set, and the moon change her shape and her hour. As they were so ye are; and yet not so great; for the pyramids my people built stand to this day; whilst the dustheaps on which ye slave, and which ye call empires, scatter in the wind even as ye pile your dead sons’ bodies on them to make yet more dust.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
All this ye shall see; and ye shall marvel, after your ignorant manner, that men twenty centuries ago were already just such as you, and spoke and lived as ye speak and live, no worse and no better, no wiser and no sillier.
An Alternative to the Prologue
Quotes
They care nothing about cowardice, these Romans: they fight to win. The pride and honor of war are nothing to them.
Act 2
Quotes
THEODOTUS. What is burning there is the memory of mankind.
CAESAR. A shameful memory. Let it burn.
THEODOTUS (wildly). Will you destroy the past?
CAESAR. Ay, and build the future with its ruins.
Related Characters:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
