The exact words
The scene
It is the morning of March 15, the Ides of March, in 44 BC. Caesar’s wife Calpurnia has spent the night dreaming of his statue spouting blood, and strange omens have been reported all over Rome. She begs him not to go to the Senate. Caesar refuses to be frightened: “Cowards die many times before their deaths; / The valiant never taste of death but once.” Of all the wonders he has heard, he says, the strangest is that men fear death, “seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come.”
The idea is simple and true. A fearful person lives through their own death again and again in imagination, every time they worry about it. A brave person refuses to waste life that way and meets death only once, when it actually arrives.
The irony
Shakespeare’s audience knew what was coming. Within hours Caesar will be stabbed to death in the Capitol by men he trusts, including Brutus. His courage in this scene is real, but it is mixed with pride. He nearly gives in to Calpurnia, then changes his mind when one of the conspirators flatters him and warns that the Senate will laugh at a Caesar who stays home because of his wife’s dreams.
The idea itself is older than Shakespeare. Plutarch, the Greek biographer Shakespeare read in Thomas North’s translation, reports that when Caesar’s friends urged him to keep a bodyguard, he said it was better to die once than to live always in fear of death.
How to use it
The line is a strong motto for courage in sport or business, and it can comfort people at a funeral when someone faced death bravely. In an essay on the play, mention its timing; the boast and the murder on the same day are what make the scene unforgettable.
What people get wrong
A simple motto about bravery from a heroic speaker.
Caesar says it to brush off his wife's warnings on the day he is killed. The line is brave and true, but it is also part of the pride that leads him to his death.
Timeline
- 44 BCJulius Caesar is assassinated in Rome on the Ides of March by a group of senators including Brutus and Cassius.
- 1579Thomas North's English translation of Plutarch's Lives, Shakespeare's main source, is published.
- 1599Julius Caesar is staged in London, one of the first plays at the new Globe.
- Act 2, Scene 2On the morning of the Ides, Caesar's wife Calpurnia begs him to stay home after terrible dreams. He answers with the famous lines.
Use it in a speech
Questions people ask
Who said “Cowards die many times before their deaths”?
Julius Caesar, as written by Shakespeare in Julius Caesar, Act 2, Scene 2. It is Shakespeare's line, not something the historical Caesar is recorded saying.
What does it mean?
People who are afraid of death suffer it many times in their imagination, while brave people experience it only once, when it actually happens.
Did the real Caesar say something like it?
Plutarch reports that Caesar, told he should have a bodyguard, said it was better to die once than always to be expecting death. Shakespeare turned that idea into verse.
Cite this quote
These cite the original source directly, so you can use them in an essay or paper. Always check your teacher's required style.
Sources
- William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 2, Scene 2. Folger Shakespeare Library.
- Plutarch, Life of Julius Caesar, translated by Thomas North (1579).
- The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Project Gutenberg.