In lines 48-163 of act III scene 1, examine Antony's monologue carefully and in an essay relate his message in this speech. In Julius Caesar,...

In Act III, Scene 1, of Shakespeare's Julius
Caesar, the "Ides of March have come" as the soothsayer tells Caesar.  But,
he ignores the warning and refuses to read the message of Artimdedorus.  Consequently,
the conspirators are able to slay the ruler.  After they stab Caesar repeatedly,
Anthony, who has been led away by Trebonius, Antony's servant comes to Brutus and the
others and asks for permission on behalf of Antony to speak.  Against the advice of
Cassius, Brutus agrees. 

Knowing what an idealist Brutus
is, Antony takes a chance and tells the conspirators that he is ready to die if they
wish:

I do
beseech ye, if you bear me hard,

Now, whilst your purpled
hadn do reek and smoke,

Fulfill your pleasure.  Live a
thousand years,

I shall not find myself so apt to
die;

No place will please me so, no mean of
death,

As here by Caesar, and by  you cut
off,

The choice and master spirits of this age.
(III,i,156-168)

Here Antony
takes a great risk, but his servant, in repeated his persmission, has probably
also relayed the words of Brutus, "Thy master is a wise and valiant Roman; I never
thought him worse" (III,i,138-139).  So, Marc Antony understands that Brutus is so much
of an idealist that he is unrealistic about the motives of others.  Therefore, counting
on this idealism of Brutus, he feigns his readiness to be assassinated alongside
Caesar. 

By saying these words in the presence of Brutus
and the others, Antony has them off guard, so to speak.  Then, when he does give his
funeral oration, the conspirators do not at first suspect him of wanting to undermine
their "noble" cause until it is too late and Antony has the Roman crowd incensed and a
bloody civil war commences.

The meaning of Marc Antony's
monologue becomes even more apparent to the audience after the conspirators leave.  For,
in his soliloquy, Antony reveals his true feelings as well as his intentions:  He places
a curse upon the "limbs of men";

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Domestic fury and fierce civil
strife

Shall cumber all parts of
Italy;

Blood and destruction shall be so in use
(III,i,261-265)