ENOBARBUS  [aside to Agrippa] Will Caesar weep?

AGRIPPA        [aside to Enobarbus] He has a cloud in’s face.

ENOBARBUS  [aside to Agrippa] He were the worse for that, were he a horse;

So is he, being a man.

AGRIPPA        [aside to Enobarbus] Why, Enobarbus,

When Antony found Julius Caesar dead

He cried almost to roaring, and he wept

When at Philippi he found Brutus slain.

ENOBARBUS  [aside to Agrippa] That year indeed he was troubled with a rheum.

What willingly he did confound he wailed,

Believe’t, till I wept too.                    (3.2.51-60)

Mocking, fascinated, appalled from Enobarbus: is Caesar actually on the point of tears? Will Caesar weep? This is a bit awkward, embarrassing, don’t look now, don’t stare. Looks a bit like it, says Agrippa, he has a cloud in’s face, on the verge of raining, as Caesar swallows heavily, tries not to let his chin tremble… Agrippa’s conceit of the cloud eclipsing Caesar’s typically sunny and smiling demeanour (not) allows Enobarbus to make a sarcastic joke, he were the worse for that, were he a horse, because a cloud is a dark patch on a horse’s face, regarded as a fault (who knew? Shakespeare’s audience, with a high level of equine knowledge among them). And he’s the worse for it being a man, adds Enobarbus, somewhat sharply; it’s not a good look, a triumvir fighting back tears as he farewells his sister. (The fleeting image of Caesar as a horse is also absurd, making him ridiculous.) Agrippa takes Caesar’s part, or at least play’s devil’s advocate (Caesar is, after all, his boss): why, Enobarbus, when Antony found Julius Caesar dead he cried almost to roaring. Your man isn’t any better: it wasn’t just that he was on the verge of tears, wobbly-lipped and sniffing, it was proper howling. And he wept when at Philippi he found Brutus slain. Antony’ll cry over anything, even the death of his enemy, on the battlefield. (Actually it perhaps makes Antony sound better, this, his tears at the death of Brutus in particular.) Enobarbus isn’t having any of it and his instinct is always for bathos and the deflation of praise: that year indeed he was troubled with a rheum. Antony had a cold! that whole time! his nose never stopped running, his eyes were watering continually! But, yes, what willingly he did confound he wailed, believe’t, till I wept too. On that occasion, even though Brutus was his enemy, even though he wanted him dead, Antony wailed, lamented and mourned him, until I was in tears myself. Truth. Enobarbus is just a bit better at this than Agrippa, at making Antony sound Caesar’s superior, even in his apparently inappropriate or excessive displays of emotion. Antony can be moved; Antony is a passionate man. Caesar’s just a bit sentimental.