The dogs of war (phrase)

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Punch cartoon from 17 June 1876. The Russian Empire preparing to let slip the "Dogs of War" and its imminent engagement in the growing Balkan conflict between Slavic states and the Ottoman Empire, while the policeman John Bull (Britain) warns Russia to take care. The Slavic states of Serbia and Montenegro declared war on the Ottoman Empire two weeks later. Punch - The Dogs of War.png
Punch cartoon from 17 June 1876. The Russian Empire preparing to let slip the "Dogs of War" and its imminent engagement in the growing Balkan conflict between Slavic states and the Ottoman Empire, while the policeman John Bull (Britain) warns Russia to take care. The Slavic states of Serbia and Montenegro declared war on the Ottoman Empire two weeks later.

The dogs of war is a phrase spoken by Mark Antony in Act 3, Scene 1, line 273 of William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar : "Cry 'Havoc!', and let slip the dogs of war."

Contents

Synopsis

In the scene, Mark Antony is alone with Julius Caesar's body, shortly after Caesar's assassination. In a soliloquy, he reveals his intention to incite the crowd at Caesar's funeral to rise up against the assassins. Foreseeing violence throughout Rome, Antony even imagines Caesar's spirit joining in the exhortations: "raging for revenge, with Ate by his side come hot from hell, shall in these confines with a Monarch's voice cry 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war." [1]

Interpretation

In a literal reading, "dogs" are the familiar animals, trained for warfare; "havoc" is a military order permitting the seizure of spoil after a victory; and "let slip" is to release from the leash. [2] [3] [4] Shakespeare's source for Julius Caesar was The Life of Marcus Brutus from Plutarch's Lives , and the concept of the war dog appears in that work, in the section devoted to the ancient Greek warrior Aratus of Sicyon. [5] [6]

Apart from the literal meaning, a parallel can be drawn with the prologue to Henry V , where the warlike king is described as having at his heels "famine, sword and fire", like hounds awaiting employment. [7]

Along those lines, an alternative proposed meaning is that "the dogs of war" refers figuratively to the wild pack of soldiers "let slip" by war's breakdown of civilized behaviour and/or their commanders' orders to wreak "havoc", i.e., rape, pillage, and plunder. [8] [9] [ unreliable source ][ unreliable source ]

In another interpretation, employing the meaning of "dog" in its mechanical sense ("any of various usually simple mechanical devices for holding, gripping, or fastening that consist of a spike, bar, or hook"), [10] the "dogs" are "let slip" as an act of releasing. Thus, the "dogs of war" are the political and societal restraints against war that operate during times of peace.

The phrase has entered so far into general usage that it is now regarded as a cliché, according to the lexicographer Eric Partridge. [11]

Victor Hugo uses "dogs of war" as a metaphor for cannon fire in chapter XIV of Les Misérables :

Another cannonade was audible at some distance. At the same time that the two guns were furiously attacking the redoubt from the Rue de la Chanvrerie, two other cannons, trained one from the Rue Saint-Denis, the other from the Rue Aubry-le-Boucher, were riddling the Saint-Merry barricade. The four cannons echoed each other mournfully. The barking of these sombre dogs of war replied to each other. [12]

The Troy University Marching Band announcer reads the passage as part of the band's pregame show at every home football game. [13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Shakespeare, William (1996). The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Wordsworth Editions. p.  597. ISBN   978-1-85326-895-3.
  2. ↑ "dog, n1 1(d); havoc, n". Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. 1989. esp[ecially] in Shakespearian phr[ase] the dogs of war
  3. ↑ From the fourteenth century an unauthorised call to "havoc" during battle was punishable by death. Keen, Maurice (1995). "Richard II's Ordinances of War of 1385". In Archer, Rowena; Walker, Simon (eds.). Rulers and Ruled in Late Medieval England: Essays Presented to Gerald Harriss. London: Hambledon Press. pp. 33, 36. ISBN   1-85285-133-3.
  4. ↑ Bate & Rasmussen (2007), p. 1834.
  5. ↑ Bate & Rasmussen (2007), p. 1803.
  6. ↑ Plutarch (1926) [1914]. "The Life of Aratus". Parallel Lives . Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. Loeb Classical Library. 24 – via University of Chicago.
  7. ↑ Cornwall (1843), p. 517.
  8. ↑ Martin, Gary. "The phrase 'Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war'". The Phrase Finder. Retrieved April 2, 2021.
  9. ↑ Peter Pappas, "Shakespeare for All Time" blog. "Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Dogs of War".
  10. ↑ "Definition of DOG". www.merriam-webster.com.
  11. ↑ Partridge, Eric (1940). A Dictionary of Clichés. London: Routledge. p. 253. OCLC   460036269.
  12. ↑ Hugo, Victor (1862). "Chapter XIV—Wherein will appear the name of Enjolras' mistress". Les Misérables – via Project Gutenberg.
  13. ↑ Troy University Sound of the South – Pregame 2019. 29 September 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2022– via YouTube.

Bibliography

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