the dogs of war is a phrase spoken by Mark Antony in Act 3 , Scene 1 , line 273 of William Shakespeare 's '' Julius Caesar '' : " Cry ' Havoc ! , ' and let slip the dogs of war . " 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 Italy , Antony even imagines Caesar 's spirit joining in the exhortations : " ranging 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 . " 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 . 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 Greek warrior Aratus
Caesar 's assassination
Assassination of Julius Caesar
The dogs of war (phrase)