Shakespeare's Small Time & Lesse Speake (Brutus and Macbeth)

Cassius and Lady Macbeth are similar roles, and so it is no wonder that Brutus and Macbeth respond similarly to their respective deaths.  Time once again rears its ever present head in the small eulogies that Brutus and Macbeth pay to their loved ones.  They speak of it not being the right time for death or not having the right amount of time to pay full tribute, and yet in the little bit of time that they have they speak the perfect amount of perfect words.  First, Brutus:  

                     Are yet two Romans living such as these?
                     The last of all the Romans, fare thee well!
                     It is impossible that ever Rome
                     Should breed thy fellow. Friends, I owe more tears
                     To this dead man than you shall see me pay.
                     I shall find time, Cassius, I shall find time.

And Macbeth:

                    She should have died hereafter;
                    There would have been a time for such a word.
                    To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
                    Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
                    To the last syllable of recorded time,
                    And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
                    The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
                    Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
                    That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
                    And then is heard no more: it is a tale
                    Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
                    Signifying nothing.

And then, for both men, it's once more unto the breach.... and then, no more.

But these two speeches often get taken for granted.  I think a lot of Shakespeare's words do.  They get read and heard and quoted and played with so often that many people forget or don't even realize just how piercing they are.  This was a particularly difficult post for me to write, because every time I read or hear "The last of all the Romans," I lose it.  That's "Renown and grace is dead" to me.  Great men are dead.  A great society is dead.  An era is dead.  Something is lost that can never be retrieved or repeated. 

What a tribute.  The last of all the Romans.  There'll never be another one like Cassius.  Perhaps, that's a good thing.  In the beginning of the play, Caesar was wary of men like Cassius.  Here, in Brutus' words, there is a touch of that, too, but moreover, would there were more men like Cassius.  Both men are right. 

Side note: Who would call Iago, "The last of all the Venetians?"  After all, he is not even worthy of death; 'tis happiness to die.  Perhaps this is something that Iago realizes, though, which is maybe why he doesn't even take the officer's way out.  His battle was not even a battle worth losing and taking his own life for.  He will go on as a Spartan dog with no journey shortly to go....