Act 4, Scene 9 Summary

Caesar's guards are talking about plans to attack at dawn. Enobarbus is heard praying to the moon for forgiveness from Antony and for a quick death. He dies.

Act 4, Scene 9 Analysis

For Roman writers, like Seneca, with whom Shakespeare and his contemporaries would have been familiar, suicide was considered a noble death; for Shakespeare's Christian audiences, it would be considered a sin, which would carry terrible spiritual consequences. If we choose to assume that Enobarbus' death was self-inflicted, (he certainly wished for it), we can understand it as the fitting and honorable result of his disloyalty.

The moon is a symbol of war and wisdom, represented in Roman mythology by the god Apollo. Enobarbus' prayer to the moon can be seen as a final gesture to the traditional values that he has abandoned in joining Caesar.

The conversation between the guards...