Question

I need some help understanding this passage?

Over thy wounds now do I prophesy,-- Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips, To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue-- A curse shall light upon the limbs of men; Domestic fury and fierce civil strife Shall cumber all the parts of Ital?

Answer 1

I'm guessing Shakespeare. The speaker talks of future Civil War in Italy. With a bunch of bloody imagery.

Explanation:

Over thy wounds now do I prophesy,-- Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips, To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue-- A curse shall light upon the limbs of men; Domestic fury and fierce civil strife Shall cumber all the parts of Ital?

I tell the future over your wounds. Your wounds are like open, unspeaking, red mouths. They (the wounds) beg for me to speak (to articulate for them) and foretell of a curse on men. Civil War will spread over Italy.

The last sentence is Domestic (internal to the country) fury and fierce civil fighting shall encumber (cause the crippling of normal life) in all parts of Italy.

Answer 2

See below:

Explanation:

This is a partial quote from a soliloquy by Anthony in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1.

Caesar has just been betrayed by his closest friend, Brutus, and stabbed mercilessly by Brutus and another Roman senator, Cassius (quite upset that Caesar has declared himself Emperor). The murderers, already beginning to regret the act - mostly because they know Caesar was very popular with the people. They fear they the people won't react well when they hear of his death.

And so they ask Antony to take care of dealing with the body and the funeral rights. In fact, they go so far as to ask Antony, in the performance of the funeral rights, to extol Caesar's virtues and to tell the populace that Antony is saying all this good stuff by permission of the Senate!(Yes - the guys who just killed him!)

They leave the stage, leaving Caesar's bleeding body on the ground and Antony speaking aloud.

I've copied and pasted a modern translation here - this link to nfs.sparknotes has the full text of the more traditional English translation along with this more modern one:

Oh, pardon me, you bleeding corpse, for speaking politely and acting mildly with these butchers! You are what’s left of the noblest man that ever lived. Pity the hand that shed this valuable blood.

Over your wounds—which, like speechless mouths, open their red lips, as though to beg me to speak—I predict that a curse will fall upon the bodies of men.

Fierce civil war will paralyze all of Italy. Blood and destruction will be so common and familiar that mothers will merely smile when their infants are cut to pieces by the hands of war. People’s capacity for sympathy will grow tired and weak from the sheer quantity of cruel deeds.

And Caesar’s ghost, searching for revenge with the goddess Ate [Ate is the Greek goddess of discord and vengeance] by his side, just up from Hell, will cry in the voice of a king, “Havoc!” and unleash the dogs of war. This foul deed will stink up to the sky with men’s corpses, which will beg to be buried.

And you thought it was bad when your city's team didn't win the championship game and the populace rioted.

In the end, Antony turns the tables on the murderers, channels the fury of the populace, and manages to place Octavius in control...