Journal #7

Dear Maximus,

Greetings, dear cousin! Long has it been since your face has appeared before me. Alas, my news is not jubilant, but grave. The great Caesar, ruler of our beloved land, has been cruelly murdered by those unexpected. Marcus Brutus, our beloved ruler's best lover, has slain great Caesar with the help of other conspirators. His statement was one of absurdness. He slain him, he claims, for the ambition of Caesar. Brutus' speech was well-spoken and beautiful, and we nearly ignored humble Mark Antony and his own speech.

Mark Antony spoke of how the slaying of Caesar seemed a harsh price to pay for ambition. We grew weary of Brutus' claims of how he slew Caesar because of his ambition and that it was the right thing to do for the people of our land.

Brutus was wrong to slay Caesar, as Caesar was our ruler and did nothing to deserve such a harsh fate. Caesar even left every Roman more than fifty drachmas and multiple plots of land.

So I implore you, Maximus, believe what Mark Antony tells us and help your fellow lovers to track down and slay Caesar's murderers. They are villains, and the lives of those men must be brought to an end.

I will write you again when I obtain more information of the going ons of our people.

Your cousin,

Commodus

Journal #5

"They would not have you to stir forth today./ Plucking the entrails of an offering forth,/ They could not find a heart within the beast." (II.ii.41-43)

a. Caesar's servant is speaking.

b. Caesar's servant is speaking to Caesar.

c. Caesar, a few moments ago, asked the servant to meet with the augurers. Back in those days, if a dead bull contained no heart, it was a bad sign/omen.

d. Caesar denies the omen and decides to go anyway. He decides that the 'gods' have done this in the shame of cowardice.

"Besides, it were a mock/ Apt to be rendered, for someone to say/ "Break up the Senate till another time,/ When Caesar's wife shall meet with better dreams." (II.ii.101-104)

a. Decius Brutus is speaking.

b. Decius Brutus is speaking to Caesar.

c. Caesar tells Decius that he won't go to meet the Senate because of his wife's dreams about him being killed. Decius explains to Caesar that the Senate will mock him if he stayed home just because his wife was having bad dreams.

d. Caesar finally agrees to go out with Decius to meet with the Senate, ultimately leading to his death.

"And so near will I be/ That your best friends shall wish I had been further." (II.ii.132-133)

a. Trebonius is speaking.

b. Trebonius is speaking aside to himself.

c. Caesar has just told Trebonius to stay close to him when they were at the Senate. Trebonius now states to himself that Caesar will wish he had been farther.

d. Trebonius will stay close because he is one of the conspirators who later kills Caesar.

"Caesar, beware of Brutus, take heed of/ Cassius, come not near Casca, have an eye to Cinna,/ trust not Trebonius, mark well Metellus Cimber./ Decius Brutus loves thee not. Thou hast wronged/ Caius Ligarius. Ther is but one mind in all these/ men, and it is bent against Caesar. If thou beest not/ immortal, look about you. Security gives way to/ conspiracy. The might gods defend thee!" (II.iii.1-8)

a. Artemidorus is speaking.

b. Artemidorus is reading a letter to himself.

c. Artemidorus is reading a letter that he wants to give to Caesar to warn him about the conspiracy against him.

d. Artemidorus knows about the plot against Caesar and later tries to warn him about it, but Caesar ignores his pleas.

"This dream is all amiss interpreted./ It was a vision fair and fortunate."

a. Decius Brutus is speaking.

b. Decius Brutus is speaking to Caesar.

c. Caesar has told Brutus about Calphurnia's nightmares about his death. Decius Brutus convinces Caesar that the dream about his bleeding statue with Romans washing their hands in his blood is really a good sign. He is saying that it is really a sign that the Romans will suck the reviving blood from Caesar as though he is a god or a martyr.

d. Caesar ends up feeling foolish to even think of staying home, so he heads to the Senate with Decius Brutus and the rest of the conspirators.

Journal #4

Quotes from Julius Caesar, Act I:

"I shall remember. When Caesar says "Do this," it is performed." (I.ii.12-13)

a. Mark Antony is speaking.

b. Mark Antony is speaking to Caesar.

c. Caesar has just told him to touch Calphurnia, Caesar's wife. It was believed that if a runner touched an infertile woman, she would be able to have children again.

d. Mark Antony is loyal to Caesar and will do anything he asks or commands. Antony is like a loyal dog with no mind of his own. He just wants to keep Caesar happy.

"Brutus" and "Caesar" --- what should be in that "Caesar"? Why should that name be sounded more than yours?" (I.ii.149-152)

a. Caius Cassius is speaking.

b. Caius Cassius is speaking to Marcus Brutus.

c. Caius Cassius is trying to convince Brutus that Caesar is weak. He also wants Brutus to help him bring Caesar's reign tumbling down. In other words, he wants help assassinating Caesar.

d. In this quote, Caius Cassius is using jealousy to provoke Brutus' anger. He asks Brutus what the difference is between him and Caesar, and why Caesar's name is shouted in the streets instead of Brutus'. Cassius' words hit a sore spot in Brutus' pride and nearly has him agreeing at that moment to help kill Caesar.

"Let me have men about me that are fat,/ Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep a-nights./ Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look./ He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous." (I.ii.202-205)

a. Julius Caesar is speaking.

b. Julius Caesar is speaking to Mark Antony.

c. Julius Caesar sees that Cassius looks sneaky and devious. He'd rather have a corpulent man around him, because the corpulent man would make Caesar feel safer. The corpulent man would at least seem a lot less devious and plotting than Cassius. It was the opinion that most of the time a man who was thinner, older, and handsome was more powerful and smart than most others.

d. Julius Caesar doesn't trust Cassius, and rightfully so. Mark Antony ends up convincing him that Cassius is harmless, but Caesar should have gone with his gut and stayed on edge so that he could be ready if anything dangerous occurred. If he had gone with his instincts, he would have been safer and maybe even become conscious of his plotted assassination.

"Tis very like; he hath the falling sickness." (I.ii.265)

a. Marcus Brutus is speaking.

b. Marcus Brutus is speaking to Cassius and Casca.

c. Casca just told Brutus and Cassius that Caesar "fell down in the marketplace and foamed at mouth and was speechless" (I.ii.262-264). Apparently, Caesar has epilepsy.

d. This is very important because it's another stick in Casesar's side. With the inclusion of being unable to swim, deaf in one ear, and acting like a sick girl when he was ill, this shows another one of Caesar's weaknesses. This only goads Cassius further until he finally gets Brutus on his side in Act II.

"I will this night/ In several hands in at his windows throw,/ As if they came from several citizens,/ Writings, all tending to the great opinion/ That Rome holds of his name, wherein obscurely/ Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at." (I.ii.327-332)

a. Caius Cassius is speaking.

b. Caius Cassius is speaking to himself.

c. Brutus almost agreed to help Cassius kill Caesar, but he ended up not doing that. Cassius has decided that he will write a bunch of letters and sign them as though they are from different citizens in Rome. The letters will say that they also want Caesar killed. Cassius plans to place the letters at Brutus' window.

d. Cassius believes that this will completely change Brutus' mind, and he is right. This choice will become the turning point in Brutus' alliances.

"Yes, you are. O Cassius, if you could/ But win the noble Brutus to our party---" (I.iii.145-146)

a. Cinna is speaking.

b. Cinna is speaking Caius Cassius.

c. Cinna, Cassius, and Casca are plotting against Caesar and Cinna wants Brutus to come over to their side/alliance.

d. The three conspirators realize that Brutus would be a very useful weapon to have on their side. Brutus, as Caesar's best friend, would be the one person Caesar would trust above all others. If Brutus was on their side, all worries and doubts they had about how they would convince Caesar to leave his house on the ides of March would disappear.