The Estimation of the Noble Romans in Divers Ages

By David Trumbull COPYRIGHT, 2006

THE AGES AND THE MEN
MARCUS BRUTUS, 85-42 B.C.
Classical Age
Our representative writer is Plutarch

Praised for purity of motive in the assassination of Caesar.

...the chief glory of both [Brutus and Dion] was their hatred of tyranny, and abhorrence of wickedness. This was unmixed and sincere in Brutus; for he had no private quarrel with Caesar, but went into the risk singly for the liberty of his country.
The Christian Middle Ages
Our representative writer is Dante
Dante places Brutus in Judecca, in the Ninth, or lowest, Circle of Hell, with betrayers of benefactors. His fellow sufferers are co-conspirator Cassius and Judas Iscariot
    Inferno, Canto 34.
Rennaisance
Our representative writer is Shakespeare

The noblest Roman of them all.

This was the noblest Roman of them all:
All the conspirators, save only he,
Did that they did in envy of great Caesar;
He only, in a general-honest thought
And common good to all, made one of them.
His life was gentle; and the elements
So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, "This was a man!"
    Julius Caesar, V:5.