Question

FLAVIUS. Go, go, good countrymen, and for this
fault

Assemble all the poor men of your sort;

Draw them to Tiber banks, and weep your tears

Into the channel, till the lowest stream

Do kiss the most exalted shores of all.

–The Tragedy of Julius Caesar,
William Shakespeare

Read the passage. What is the best paraphrase of the text?

Go, go, citizens. To make up for doing wrong, gather up all the poor men like yourselves. Lead them to the river and cry into it until it overflows.
Go, go, citizens. It’s your fault that the poor men are assembled. Weep your tears into the river to bless the shore.
Countrymen, it’s your fault for bringing all these poor men together. The stream is so low, you should weep your tears into the river.
Countrymen, gather at the banks of the river. Kiss the shores until the water begins to rise.

Answer 1

The first option. It correctly captures Flavius’s meaning: as a (sarcastic) punishment, gather the poor and cry into the Tiber until the water rises to kiss even the highest shores.