Hey there, listeners. I'm Isaac Butler, host of Slate's new podcast, Lend Me Your Ears.

The show is a six-part miniseries exploring how Shakespeare dramatized the political anxieties

of his day and how his plays speak to our own. In this episode that you're about to hear,

we talk about Julius Caesar and why a playwright living under a monarchy in the late 16th century

might be so fascinated by the fall of the Roman Republic.

You can find out more at slate.com slash Shakespeare

and subscribe to lend me your ears wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks for listening and enjoy. Welcome to Let Me Your Ears, a podcast about Shakespeare in politics.

I'm Isaac Butler. In this episode, we're going to be talking about a play that still has the power

to upset theatergoers today. And of course, we know Julius Caesar's character as the lead.

When that character was brought forth and it was Donald Trump, I mean, they didn't specifically say it, but his hair, blonde, reddish, had the ties tied too long.

He was obviously the leader.

Knowing where that was going, I was appalled.

Act 1. That part of tyranny that I do bear. Right after the election, I sat down and reread Julius Caesar. It's actually where the idea for this podcast was born. I re-read it because I was deeply worried about the state of our republic.

And I was struck by this speech where Brutus is contemplating killing Julius Caesar

because he's worried Caesar will become a dictator.

The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power.

And to speak truth of Caesar. I have not known when his

affection swayed more than his reason, but tis a common proof that lowliness is young

ambition's ladder, where to the climber upward, turns his face. But when he once attains the utmost round,

he then unto the ladder turns his back, looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees by which

he did ascend, so Caesar may, then, lest he may prevent.

...