In our last newsletter, I wrote a short piece in which I mistakenly said that William Shakespeare, in Julius Caesar, 1599, wrote the following:

“Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. .. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and with patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader, and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.”

Many readers wrote to me to let me know that this quote is not in Julius Caesar. I apologize to everyone for this error. We at Save the Pine Bush strive to tell the truth, and the last thing I want to do is mis-quote the Bard.

See "The Pine Bush and Bombs Part II"

Printed in the January/February 2003 Newsletter