Quote 1
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonorable graves. (1.2.142-145)
As Cassius tries to convince Brutus that Caesar needs to be taken down, he conjures up a vivid image of the Roman leader as a "Colossus" – a giant statue, like the Colossus of Rhodes. The funny thing is, Cassius also likes to go around talking about what a wimp Caesar is. Just a few lines earlier, Cassius tells Brutus the story of how Caesar almost drowned as a young boy and how he once became so ill that he acted like a "sick girl." So what's the deal with all of these competing images of Caesar in the play? Is he really an all-powerful figure, or is he made out to be a bigger threat than he really is?
Quote 2
CASSIUS
And why should Caesar be a tyrant then?
Poor man! I know he would not be a wolf
But that he sees the Romans are but sheep;
He were no lion, were not Romans hinds.
Those that with haste will make a mighty fire
Begin it with weak straws. What trash is Rome,
What rubbish, and what offal when it serves
For the base matter to illuminate
So vile a thing as Caesar! (1.3.107-115)
Here Cassius doesn't specifically blame Caesar for his would-be tyranny. He believes it's the responsibility of the people to show they won't be subjugated like "sheep." Cassius reasons that if a political leader behaves like a "wolf" or a "lion," it's only because the people have allowed him to do so. According to Cassius, it's the people's job to keep their leaders in check.
Quote 3
Men at some time are masters of their fates.
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings. (1.2.146-148)
As Cassius complains about Caesar's power, he claims that it's Rome's own fault for being servile to one man. Men, according to Cassius, are "masters of their fates," which means it's up to them to take down Caesar. This seems like a fine idea, but there's a lot of evidence in the play (like prophesies and omens that come true) that men don't have much control over their destinies.
Quote 4
CASSIUS
I know where I will wear this dagger then;
Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius.
Therein, you gods, you make the weak most strong;
Therein, you gods, you tyrants do defeat.
Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass,
Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron,
Can be retentive to the strength of spirit;
But life, being weary of these worldly bars,
Never lacks power to dismiss itself.
If I know this, know all the world besides,
That part of tyranny that I do bear
I can shake off at pleasure. Thunder still. (1.3.92-103)
Cassius has already proposed his plan of conspiracy, yet here he brings up the fact that he could take his own life and be free no matter what else happened. This is eerie given his death later in the play. It seems Cassius has a prophetic sense of how the entire matter will end for him and takes the opportunity to tell us that he accepts that fate nobly.
Quote 5
CASSIUS
Brutus, I do observe you now of late.
I have not from your eyes that gentleness
And show of love as I was wont to have.
You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand
Over your friend that loves you.BRUTUS
Cassius,
Be not deceived. If I have veiled my look,
I turn the trouble of my countenance
Merely upon myself. Vexèd I am
Of late with passions of some difference,
Conceptions only proper to myself,
Which give some soil, perhaps, to my behaviors.
But let not therefore my good friends be grieved
(Among which number, Cassius, be you one)
Nor construe any further my neglect
Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,
Forgets the shows of love to other men. (1.2.37-53)
It's obvious that male bonds are a big deal to the characters in the play. When Cassius asks Brutus why he's been so distant lately, Brutus goes out of his way to apologize to his pal for neglecting their friendship.
Quote 6
CASSIUS
And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus.
Were I a common laugher, or did use
To stale with ordinary oaths my love
To every new protester; if you know
That I do fawn on men and hug them hard
And after scandal them, or if you know
That I profess myself in banqueting
To all the rout, then hold me dangerous. (1.2.77-84)
Here Cassius tries to convince Brutus that he would make a better leader than Brutus' friend, Julius Caesar. Although Cassius claims he would never try to manipulate a friend, his excessive flattery seems to suggest otherwise.
Quote 7
CASSIUS
Caesar said to me 'Dar'st thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood
And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plungèd in
And bade him follow; so indeed he did.
The torrent roared, and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews, throwing it aside
And stemming it with hearts of controversy.
But ere we could arrive the point proposed,
Caesar cried 'Help me, Cassius, or I sink!'
I, as Aeneas, our great ancestor,
Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder
The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber
Did I the tired Caesar. And this man
Is now become a god, and Cassius is
A wretched creature and must bend his body
If Caesar carelessly but nod on him. (1.2.109-125)
In this passage Cassius relates a story that suggests that male friendship, from an early age, is marked by potentially deadly competition and rivalry. When a young Caesar double-dog-dared Cassius, his childhood friend, to swim across the Tiber River, it nearly cost Caesar his life. Cassius saved the "wretched creature" from drowning, so it's infuriating that now he has to bow every time he sees him in the street.
Quote 8
CASSIUS
Why, he that cuts off twenty years of life
Cuts off so many years of fearing death.
BRUTUS
Grant that, and then is death a benefit.
So are we Caesar's friends, that have abridged
His time of fearing death. Stoop, Romans, stoop,
And let us bathe our hands in Caesar's blood
Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords. (3.1.113-119)
After stabbing Caesar in the back (and the guts, arms, legs, and chest), Cassius and Brutus reason that they've done their pal a favor: now that Caesar's dead, he no longer has to worry about dying. Then Brutus has another good idea – the conspirators should wash their hands in their friend's blood to signal that they've freed Rome from tyranny.
Quote 9
CASSIUS
Strike as thou didst at Caesar, for I know
When thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him
better
Than ever thou lovedst Cassius. (4.3.116-119)
Cassius sure knows how to fight dirty. When he argues heatedly with Brutus, he throws Brutus' betrayal of Caesar in his friend's face and accuses Brutus of not loving him (Cassius) as much as he loved the man he helped kill. As nasty as he is, we think Cassius raises a valid point. How is one supposed to feel about his so-called pals when best friends think nothing of killing each other over political matters?
Quote 10
CASSIUS
[...]How many ages hence
Shall this our lofty scene be acted over
In states unborn and accents yet unknown! (3.1.124-126)
Cassius predicts how the actions of the conspirators against Julius Caesar will be "acted" out in future "states unborn and accents yet unknown." This is Shakespeare's way of winking at the audience, who is watching this play centuries later, in a "state unborn" (16th century England), being performed in a language that didn't exist yet (English).
Quote 11
CASSIUS
[Aside to Brutus] You know not what you do. Do
not consent
That Antony speak in his funeral.
Know you how much the people may be moved
By that which he will utter? (3.1.255-259)
When Brutus grants Antony permission to speak at his friend Caesar's funeral, Cassius seems to be the only person who knows how dangerous Antony's speech will be. As we know, Antony plays the crowd perfectly (just like Caesar did back in Act 1), and his delivery of a carefully crafted speech helps incite a civil war.
Quote 12
CASSIUS
For once, upon a raw and gusty day,
The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
Caesar said to me 'Dar'st thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood
And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plungèd in
And bade him follow; so indeed he did.
The torrent roared, and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews, throwing it aside
And stemming it with hearts of controversy.
But ere we could arrive the point proposed,
Caesar cried 'Help me, Cassius, or I sink!'
I, as Aeneas, our great ancestor,
Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder
The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber
Did I the tired Caesar. And this man
Is now become a god, and Cassius is
A wretched creature and must bend his body
If Caesar carelessly but nod on him. (1.2.107-125)
There's nothing like a little (un)friendly male competition, is there? Here, Cassius tells Brutus the story of how Caesar, as a young boy, challenged him to swim across the Tiber River, where Caesar's show of masculine bravado nearly cost him his life.
Quote 13
CASSIUS
'Alas,' it cried 'Give me some drink, Titinius'
As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me
A man of such a feeble temper should
So get the start of the majestic world
And bear the palm alone. (1.2.134-138)
In order to undermine Caesar's power and authority as a Roman leader, Cassius relates a story about how Caesar once fell ill and begged for water "like a sick girl." Apparently, for these Romans, becoming sick or "feeble" and showing signs of weakness compromise one's masculinity and ability to rule.
Quote 14
CASSIUS
Let it be who it is. For Romans now
Have thews and limbs like to their ancestors.
But, woe the while, our fathers' minds are dead,
And we are governed with our mothers' spirits.
Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish. (1.3.83-87)
Hmm. We seem to be detecting a pattern here. In the last passage, Cassius equated Caesar's illness with "girliness." Here, he claims that "the yoke" of Caesar's tyranny has turned all the Roman men into "womanish" mama's boys.
Quote 15
CASSIUS
'Tis just,
And it is very much lamented, Brutus,
That you have no such mirrors as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye,
That you might see your shadow. I have heard
Where many of the best respect in Rome,
Except immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus
And groaning underneath this age's yoke,
Have wished that noble Brutus had his eyes.
BRUTUS
Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius,
That you would have me seek into myself
For that which is not in me? (1.2.60-71)
Cassius sure is smarmy, don't you think? It's obvious he wants Brutus to join the conspiracy against Caesar, but instead of coming right out and asking him, he tries to stroke Brutus' ego by suggesting that the people are clamoring for Brutus to lead Rome.
Quote 16
CASSIUS
Men at some time are masters of their fates.
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves that we are underlings.
'Brutus' and 'Caesar'—what should be in that
'Caesar'?
Why should that name be sounded more than
yours?
Write them together, yours is as fair a name;
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;
Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with 'em,
'Brutus' will start a spirit as soon as 'Caesar.' (1.2.146-156)
Cassius seems to think that by playing on his desire for personal glory, he can sway Brutus to join the conspirators. The thing is, we're not sure if Brutus is interested in self-gain. It seems Cassius keeps bringing up personal gain because it's <em>his</em> motivation for taking down Caesar.
Quote 17
CASSIUS
Well, Brutus, thou art noble. Yet I see
Thy honorable mettle may be wrought
From that it is disposed. Therefore it is meet
That noble minds keep ever with their likes;
For who so firm that cannot be seduced? (1.2.320-324)
Even though Cassius thinks Brutus is a "noble" guy, he also thinks that just about anyone, including Brutus, can be manipulated or "seduced."
Quote 18
CASSIUS
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 glancèd at
And after this, let Caesar seat him sure,
For we will shake him, or worse days endure. (1.2.327-334)
Cassius hopes that by planting fake letters from "citizens" urging Brutus to lead Rome, Brutus will be convinced to join the conspiracy against Julius Caesar.
Quote 19
CASSIUS
Stoop then, and wash.
[They smear their hands and swords with Caesar’s blood.]
How many ages hence
Shall this our lofty scene be acted over
In states unborn and accents yet unknown!
BRUTUS
How many times shall Caesar bleed in sport,
That now on Pompey's basis lies along
No worthier than the dust!
CASSIUS
So oft as that shall be,
So often shall the knot of us be called
The men that gave their country liberty. (3.1.123-132)
The conspirators believe they'll go down in history for their act, yet they arrogantly (or naively) assume they will be remembered as heroes, not traitors. The glory of being preserved by history is enough of a lure that that's what they dwell on after the murder, second only to having liberated Rome.
Quote 20
CASSIUS
I did not think you could have been so angry.
BRUTUS
O Cassius, I am sick of many griefs.
CASSIUS
Of your philosophy you make no use
If you give place to accidental evils.
BRUTUS
No man bears sorrow better. Portia is dead. (4.3.164-168)
Brutus exercises another type of humility here: stoicism, or the realization that life is a burden that each man has to bear. He figures he might as well bear suffering nobly rather than getting worked up over every little thing, like his wife dying or murdering his best friend.