Clarke Part XXXII
Act III scene 2
(immediately following the character assasination)

Antony.
Friends, Americans, countrymen, lend me your eyes;
I come to praise Clarke, not to bury him.
The evil things that men do live on after them;
The good things are often buried with their resignation.
Let it be this way with Clarke. The noble Rice
Has told you that Clarke was ambitious.
If that were true, it was a terrible fault,
And Clarke has paid for it mildly.
Here, with the permission of Bush and the rest
(For Bush is an honorable man;
So are they all, all honorable men),
I come to speak in Clarke’s defence.
He has sent the CIA to bring many captives home to Langley,
Who fill the federal prisons.
Did this seem ambitious in Clarke?
When O’Neill was buried, Clarke has wept;
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.
But Rice says he was ambitious;
And Rice is an honorable woman.
You all saw that on C-Span
Gorton offered him a chance to claim he would have prevented 9/11,
Which he refused by saying “no”. Was this ambition?
But Rice says he was ambitious;
And surely she is an honorable woman.
I am speaking not to disprove what Rice said,
But I am here to say what I do know.
You all loved him once, for good reasons.
What reason keeps you from arguing for him, then?
O judgment, you have run away to dumb animals,
And men have lost their intelligence! Bear with me,
My brain is in the book there by Clarke,
And I must pause until it comes back to me.
…

Only today the word of Clarke might
Stand against the world. He fights lies here,
And not all will stoop so low as to pay him respect.
O gentlemen! If I wanted to stir up
Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,
I would be doing Bush wrong, and Cheney wrong,
Who, you all know, are honorable men.
I will not do them wrong. Instead, I choose
To wrong the dead to wrong myself and you,
Rather than wronging such honorable men.
But here's testimony with Clarke's oath.
I found it in the Senate cloak room; it's his testimony.
Just let the public hear this testimony,
Which (pardon me) I do not mean to read,
And they would go and kiss live Clarke's hands
And dip their handkerchiefs in his sacred ink;
Yes, beg a hair from him to remember him by
(in short supply in both cases by the way)
And when they are dying, mention it in their wills,
Bequeathing it as a valuable inheritance
To their children.
…

Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it.
It is not proper that you know how much Clarke loves you.
You are not wood, you are not stones, but men;
And since you are men, if you hear Clarke's testimony,
It will excite you, it will make you mad.

…

Now let it work. Mischief, you are loose,
Take whatever path you want.