Who says 'Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears'?

Mark Antony says “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears” in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.

He opens his funeral speech over Julius Caesar’s body in Act III, Scene 2. Brutus has already addressed the Roman crowd and argued that Caesar had to die because he was ambitious. The conspirators allow Antony to speak only on the condition that he will not openly attack them.

Antony follows that restriction on the surface while quietly turning the crowd against the assassins. He repeatedly calls Brutus and the conspirators “honourable men,” but the phrase becomes increasingly sarcastic as Antony recalls Caesar’s generosity, compassion for the poor, and refusal of the crown. He then displays Caesar’s wounds and reads the provisions of Caesar’s will, intensifying the citizens’ anger.

The line is often confused with the play’s title or with Brutus, who also gives a major speech in the same scene. Julius Caesar is the play; Mark Antony is the character delivering the famous funeral oration.