Which character says Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

• A. Antony
• B. Brutus
• C. Caesar
• D. Calphurnia

Answer: (A)

This line is Antony’s opening moment in Julius Caesar, delivered in Act III, Scene II during his funeral oration. He chooses to address the crowd as “Friends, Romans, countrymen” to quickly establish trust and kinship, drawing them into a shared space. Saying he comes to bury Caesar, not to praise him, sets up a careful, noncombative tone—he appears respectfully mournful, which makes the crowd more receptive to what comes next. Yet the statement signals a deeper purpose: Antony will praise Caesar and gently undermine the conspirators’ justification, using irony and careful phrasing to plant doubt about Brutus’s claim that Caesar was ambitious. The line isn’t spoken by Brutus, Caesar, or Calphurnia, so recognizing Antony as the speaker helps you see how he manipulates the crowd while maintaining a veneer of loyalty.