was brutus a traitor or a patriot? essay sample

“ Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, To cut the head off and then hack the limbs, Like wrath in death and envy afterwards; For Antony is but a limb of Caesar: Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.” Here Brutus explains that while they must kill Caesar to save Rome from dictatorship, they must not kill Marc Antony as well, or they will appear to be cold blooded killers in the eyes of the people rather than defenders of the country.

“ If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar’s, to him I say, that Brutus’ love to Caesar was no less than his. If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: –Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men?” This evidence shows that Brutus felt the people in Rome and the country itself had more importance than Caesar, and that Caesar was killed for the greater good. As shown in the evidence Brutus is not a traitor but a patriot.