In Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar occurs the line which is in the subject of this essay. The line is part of the speech of Caesar's reply to Calpurnia's warning that he should not move out of doors as evil omens point to some danger to his life. Caesar refuses to be upset by the omens and declares that death has not terrors for him. He is no coward and so he ignores the dangers that threaten him. The word 'Fear', he says, does not exist in his vocabulary. He throws a challange at death and refuses to be frightened by it. He could never have been a great soldier if he had stood in fear of death. Caesar rightly says that the brave people taste death only once.
Caesar's attitude to death is, indeed, the right one. Death is a necessary and unavoidable end of life. Nobody has ever conquered death. Death comes to all, kings and beggars, rich and poor, princes in their castles and humble folk in their huts. Death lays its, icy hands upon all creatures without distinction. Knowing the supreme power of death, it is the height of folly for a man to tremble with fear at the thought of it. It shows an utter lack of spirit to turn pale at the mention of death. It is extreme cowardice to shrink from the dangers of life and mark of bravery to face them.
A coward lives in constant dread. His heart sinks at the thought of death which is like a sword of damocles hanging over his head. The outbreak of war, a riot, the tremors of an earthquake, the possibility of a famine or a flood, all these make the coward shudder with fear. He imagines that he will be the first casualty in any of these situations. He eyes his food with suspision because there might be poison in it. If he stands on a sea-shore or a river-bank, a wave of fear sweeps over him at the idea of being accidentlly drowned. As he walks along a road, he is over careful not to step down the pavement least he should be run over by a motor vehicle.
