“A lioness hath whelped in the streets;
And graves have yawn’d, and yielded up their dead.” (JC.2.1)
Tips for Use. Question the veracity of your adversary’s statements by pointing to the their improbability. For example, “… And now you will also tell me that a lioness hath whelped in the streets and graves have yawned and yielded up their dead.” In the book “Your Daily Shakespeare” you will find this and several other inputs and cross references to lines suitable for a similar situation.
In the play. Calphurnia, Caesar’s wife, tries to persuade him to stay at home, given the reports of strange events occurring in the streets of Rome. Besides lionesses and resurrected dead, armies were seen fighting in the sky, “Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds, In ranks and squadrons and right form of war…” and more.