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.
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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
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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!"
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