Julius Caesar — Act IV, Scenes 1 to 3: Scene 3, retold: the quarrel in Brutus's tent

Foundation first: the words and ideas of the quarrel

Stoicism. A Stoic believes a wise man bears pain and loss calmly and does not let anger or grief control him. Brutus follows this philosophy. When Cassius says, "Of your philosophy you make no use, / If you give place to accidental evils", he means: you are not practising your Stoic calm. Brutus answers, "No man bears sorrow better", and then reveals the real reason for his anger.

Hot temper in old words. Shakespeare's audience believed that moods came from fluids in the body ("humours"). That is why the quarrel is full of words for a hot temper.

Devices to spot. Rhetorical question ("Shall I be frighted when a madman stares?"), hyperbole ("as high Olympus"), apostrophe, addressing someone absent ("Be ready, gods … Dash him to pieces!"), repetition ("I did send … I did send") and irony (the honest man who wants bribe money).

Two natures. Compare the two men before you read the scene.

7. Lucius Pella and the "itching palm"

Cassius states his complaint: Brutus has condemned and disgraced Lucius Pella for taking bribes from the Sardians, and has ignored Cassius's letters pleading for Pella, whom Cassius knew. Brutus replies that Cassius wronged himself by writing for such a man. Cassius argues that in times of war it is not wise to criticise every small fault ("every nice offence").

Brutus strikes back: Cassius himself is accused of having "an itching palm" — a greedy hand eager for money — and of selling offices for gold to people who do not deserve them. Cassius is stung: if anyone but Brutus said this, it would be his last speech.

8. "Remember March, the ides of March remember"

Brutus reminds him why they killed Caesar:

"Remember March, the ides of March remember: Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake? … What, shall one of us That struck the foremost man of all this world But for supporting robbers, shall we now Contaminate our fingers with base bribes …? I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon, Than such a Roman."

They killed "the foremost man of all this world" for justice, partly because he protected robbers (corrupt officials); should they now dirty their own hands with bribes? Brutus would rather be a dog howling at the moon than such a Roman.

9. The quarrel grows

The argument becomes personal and childish:

• Cassius: "I am a soldier, I, / Older in practice, abler than yourself / To make conditions." — Brutus: "Go to; you are not, Cassius."
• Brutus calls him "slight man" and mocks his "rash choler" (hot temper): "Shall I be frighted when a madman stares?" He will use Cassius "for my mirth, yea, for my laughter, / When you are waspish."
• Cassius: "I said, an elder soldier, not a better: / Did I say 'better'?" — Brutus: "If you did, I care not."
• Cassius: "When Caesar lived, he durst not thus have moved me." — Brutus: "you durst not so have tempted him."
• Cassius: "Do not presume too much upon my love; / I may do that I shall be sorry for." — Brutus: "You have done that you should be sorry for. / There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats, / For I am arm'd so strong in honesty / That they pass by me as the idle wind."

10. "I did send to you for certain sums of gold"

Now Brutus reaches his real grievance:

"I did send to you For certain sums of gold, which you denied me; For I can raise no money by vile means: By heaven, I had rather coin my heart, And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash By any indirection."

Brutus asked Cassius for gold to pay his legions, and Cassius refused. Brutus himself cannot raise money by dishonest means — he would rather turn his heart into coins and his blood into drachmas than squeeze money from poor peasants by crooked methods. (2025 specimen Q3.)

Here is the hypocrisy that the 2027 specimen asks about: Brutus has just condemned Cassius for raising money by bribes, yet he is angry that Cassius did not send him some of that money. He wants clean hands while living on money raised by other people's unclean ones. (2027 specimen Q1(iii).)

Cassius protests, "I denied you not. … he was but a fool that brought / My answer back." He is deeply hurt: "Brutus hath rived my heart: / A friend should bear his friend's infirmities, / But Brutus makes mine greater than they are." Brutus: "I do not like your faults." Cassius: "A friendly eye could never see such faults." Brutus: "A flatterer's would not, though they do appear / As huge as high Olympus."

11. "Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come"

Cassius breaks down:

"Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come, Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius, For Cassius is aweary of the world; Hated by one he loves; braved by his brother; Check'd like a bondman; all his faults observed, Set in a note-book, learn'd, and conn'd by rote, To cast into my teeth."

He is so frustrated and hurt that he invites his enemies to take their revenge on him alone. (2027 specimen Q1(vi).) He offers Brutus his dagger and his "naked breast": "Strike, as thou didst at Caesar; for, I know, / When thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him better / Than ever thou lovedst Cassius."

12. Reconciliation

Brutus is moved: "Sheathe your dagger." He admits his own anger is like fire in a flint — "yoked with a lamb / That carries anger as the flint bears fire; / Who, much enforced, shows a hasty spark, / And straight is cold again." Cassius asks whether he has lived only to be mocked by Brutus; Brutus admits, "When I spoke that, I was ill-temper'd too." "Give me your hand." "And my heart too." Cassius asks Brutus to bear with the "rash humour which my mother gave me"; Brutus promises that when Cassius is too sharp, "He'll think your mother chides, and leave you so."

13. The intruding Poet

A Poet forces his way past the guards, crying that the generals should "Love, and be friends, as two such men should be; / For I have seen more years, I'm sure, than ye." Cassius laughs ("how vilely doth this cynic rhyme!"), but Brutus angrily drives him out: "What should the wars do with these jigging fools?" The comic interruption relieves the tension.

14. "Portia is dead"

Brutus calls for wine. Cassius says, "I did not think you could have been so angry." Brutus: "O Cassius, I am sick of many griefs." Cassius reminds him of his Stoic philosophy (to bear misfortune calmly). Brutus: "No man bears sorrow better. Portia is dead."

Cassius is shocked — "How 'scaped I killing when I cross'd you so?" Brutus explains briefly: Portia, unable to bear his absence and grieving that Octavius and Antony had grown so strong, became distracted and, while her attendants were absent, "swallow'd fire" (burning coals). Brutus says, "Speak no more of her. Give me a bowl of wine. / In this I bury all unkindness, Cassius." Cassius: "My heart is thirsty for that noble pledge."

The quarrel is now explained: Brutus had been carrying this private grief all along.

15. News from Rome: the proscriptions and Philippi

Titinius and Messala arrive. Letters report that Octavius and Antony are marching with a mighty army towards Philippi. By proscription, the triumvirs have put to death a hundred senators (Messala's letters; Brutus's letters say seventy), among them Cicero.

Messala asks whether Brutus has heard from Portia; Brutus says he has not, and Messala tells him of her death. Brutus answers calmly: "Why, farewell, Portia. We must die, Messala: / With meditating that she must die once, / I have the patience to endure it now." Messala admires him: "Even so great men great losses should endure." Cassius whispers that he knows the theory as well as Brutus, "But yet my nature could not bear it so." (Many editors think Shakespeare's text keeps two versions of the news; others read Brutus's reply to Messala as a deliberate show of Stoic calm before his officers.)

16. The war council: "There is a tide in the affairs of men"

Brutus proposes marching at once to Philippi. Cassius disagrees:

"'Tis better that the enemy seek us: So shall he waste his means, weary his soldiers, Doing himself offence; whilst we, lying still, Are full of rest, defence, and nimbleness."

Cassius's sound military plan is to stay where they are and let the enemy wear itself out marching to them. (2025 specimen Q1(v).)

Brutus overrules him. The people between Sardis and Philippi support them only by force and give unwillingly; the enemy, marching through them, would gather new soldiers and come "refresh'd, new-added, and encouraged." Their own legions are "brim-full", their cause "ripe"; the enemy grows every day, while they, at their height, can only decline:

"There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat; And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures."

Life is like the sea: there is a moment (the high tide) which, if seized, carries a man to success; if missed, his whole life is stuck in shallow water and misery. Cassius gives way once more: "Then, with your will, go on; / We'll along ourselves, and meet them at Philippi." This is Brutus's last and fatal mistake: every time he has overruled Cassius — sparing Antony, letting Antony speak, now marching to Philippi — he has been wrong.

They part as friends: "Never come such division 'tween our souls!" "Every thing is well." "Good night, good brother."

17. Lucius, the music, and the Ghost

Brutus asks Varro and Claudius to sleep in his tent. He finds the book he had been looking for in his gown pocket and asks his young servant Lucius to play music. Lucius plays and falls asleep over his instrument; Brutus gently removes it so it will not break: "Gentle knave, good night; / I will not do thee so much wrong to wake thee." This small scene shows Brutus's gentleness and kindness to his servants.

As Brutus reads, the candle burns dim and the Ghost of Caesar appears:

The Ghost vanishes. Brutus wakes Lucius ("The strings, my lord, are false"), Varro and Claudius; none of them saw anything. Brutus sends word to Cassius to move his forces early. The Ghost is Caesar's spirit "ranging for revenge", as Antony prophesied, and it foreshadows Brutus's death at Philippi.

Reading between the lines

• Why does Brutus attack so fiercely? The quarrel starts with Lucius Pella, but the real causes lie deeper. Brutus is carrying grief for Portia (we only learn this later), and he is short of gold. Pride and pain make him harsh.
• The hypocrisy. He condemns Cassius for selling offices and calls money "trash". Then he complains that Cassius refused to send him some. He wants clean hands and a full purse. That is the point the 2027 specimen tests.
• "I denied you not." Cassius says that the messenger, "a fool", brought back the wrong answer. Whether or not this is true, it shows Cassius would rather blame a servant than break with Brutus.
• "Strike, as thou didst at Caesar." This is a bitter, wounded line. Cassius says: kill me as you killed Caesar. Even when you hated Caesar most, you loved him better than you have ever loved me. He means that Brutus has never given him the love he gave to Caesar. The line hurts because it turns the assassination into a measure of their friendship.
• The lamb and the flint. Brutus answers with a gentle image. Cassius is "yoked with a lamb": Brutus's anger is a spark from flint, bright and quick, then cold. The image is an apology without the word.
• Why the Poet? The Poet comes in just after the handshake. His rhyme and his plea ("Love, and be friends") show how silly the quarrel looked from outside. He lowers the temperature. He also reminds us that the Poet is older ("I have seen more years") and wiser than the generals.
• Why is Portia's death told after the quarrel? Shakespeare lets us see the quarrel first and then explain it. With Portia's death in mind, Brutus's bad temper becomes human. Cassius is shocked: "How 'scaped I killing when I cross'd you so?"
• The tide speech. Brutus's argument sounds wise because of its splendid image. But his reason is only half right. Cassius's plan was safer; Brutus's plan is bolder. A fine image is not a sound plan. This is the tragic error.
• The Ghost. Brutus first blames "the weakness of mine eyes". The Ghost calls itself his "evil spirit", the bad genius that follows him because he killed Caesar. It appears to Brutus alone. The others see nothing. The boy says only, "The strings, my lord, are false."

Worked examples

Example 1 (MCQ, 1 mark). Brutus scolds Cassius for taking bribes and soon after complains that Cassius has not given him money. This shows that Brutus is ______. (a) hypocritical (b) jealous (c) miserly (d) vengeful

Model answer. (a) hypocritical. He says money raised in doubtful ways is "vile trash", then demands a share of it. This question was set in the 2027 specimen paper, Q1(iii).

Why this scores: name the word, then show the contradiction in one line.

Example 2 (full extract question, 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 4). Read the extract and answer.

(i) What has Cassius been accused of just before this? [3] (ii) Who does Brutus mean by "the foremost man of all this world", and why was he killed? [3] (iii) Explain: "I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon, / Than such a Roman." [3] (iv) What does Cassius do when Brutus finishes? [3] (v) What does this speech reveal about Brutus? Is he consistent in his behaviour later in the scene? [4]

Model answers. (i) Brutus has accused Cassius of having "an itching palm": of selling offices for gold to people who do not deserve them. (ii) He means Julius Caesar. Brutus says the conspirators killed him "for justice' sake", because Caesar, he says, had supported robbers (corrupt officials). (iii) Brutus says he would rather be a dog howling uselessly at the moon than a Roman who takes bribes. It shows his loathing of corruption. (iv) Cassius is stung and angry: "Brutus, bay not me; I'll not endure it." He says he is an older soldier and abler to make terms, and that Brutus forgets himself. (v) The speech shows Brutus as idealistic, proud and self-righteous. He judges by high principles. But he is not consistent: a few lines later he angrily complains that Cassius did not send him gold, money raised by the methods he has just condemned.

Why this scores: (i) the accusation in Brutus's own phrase; (ii) the name and the motive; (iii) the paraphrase and the feeling; (iv) the reaction; (v) two traits and the contradiction with later behaviour.

Example 3 (full extract question, 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 4). Read the extract and answer.

(i) Where is Brutus? Who else is present, and what are they doing? [3] (ii) Whose Ghost is this? Why does it call itself Brutus's "evil spirit"? [3] (iii) What do the words "my blood cold and my hair to stare" show? [3] (iv) What does Brutus do just after the Ghost disappears? What do the others say? [3] (v) How does the Ghost foreshadow what is to come? What do Brutus's last words show about him? [4]

Model answers. (i) Brutus is in his tent near Sardis, late at night. His servant Lucius is asleep after playing music, and Varro and Claudius are asleep on cushions. Brutus has been reading by a dim candle. (ii) It is the Ghost of Julius Caesar. It calls itself Brutus's "evil spirit" because it is the bad genius that follows him as the result of killing Caesar; it comes to remind him of the debt. (iii) They show terror. His blood runs cold and his hair stands on end. This is the natural sign of fear in the presence of a supernatural thing. (iv) He wakes Lucius, Varro and Claudius and asks whether they saw anything. Lucius says, "The strings, my lord, are false", thinking he is still playing, and all deny seeing anything. Brutus then sends word to Cassius to set out early. (v) The Ghost says Brutus will meet it at Philippi: the place of the battle, where he will be defeated and die. Brutus's answer, "I will see thee at Philippi, then", shows that he is brave and accepts his fate, though shaken.

Why this scores: (i) place, people and actions; (ii) Caesar named and the reason for "evil spirit"; (iii) fear explained; (iv) action plus the others' answers; (v) the foreshadowing and the character trait, in two sentences.

Example 4 (4 marks). What do you understand about the relationship between Brutus and Cassius from the quarrel scene?

Model answer. Their friendship is deep but fragile. They are old comrades who call each other "brother". Under pressure they hurt one another: Brutus accuses and mocks, and Cassius lashes out and then offers his heart. Each is stung by the other's words because each cares what the other thinks. The quarrel ends in forgiveness ("Give me your hand." "And my heart too.") and the bowl of wine, which shows that the bond is stronger than the cause of the quarrel. But the cracks stay, and Cassius's later yielding to Brutus's plan shows how far he trusts him.

Why this scores: a clear summary in the first line, three quotations or events, and a link to the later action. Examiners award 1 mark for each valid point up to four.

Doubts cleared

Q. Is Cassius really guilty of bribery? Brutus says Cassius is "much condemn'd" for it, which means many people accuse him. Cassius does not prove his innocence; he says that small faults should be overlooked in wartime. The play leaves a doubt about his honesty.

Q. Why does Cassius say, "How 'scaped I killing when I cross'd you so?" He means: I was lucky you did not kill me, for I angered you at a time when you were so sad. He sees that his own words were cruel to a grieving man.

Q. Why does the Ghost appear to Brutus only? He is the one who carries the heaviest burden of Caesar's death. The others are asleep or see nothing. Brutus first thinks the vision comes from "the weakness of mine eyes", and the play lets us choose between a real spirit and his guilty mind.

Mistakes to avoid

• Writing that Brutus is jealous or miserly about the gold. The word the paper wants is hypocritical.
• In "who said it" answers, naming only the speaker. Give who speaks and to whom ("Brutus to Cassius").
• Copying lines from the extract. The 2025 examiners' report says many candidates "copied details verbatim" and lost marks. Put the idea in your own words.
• Missing the second half of a two-part question ("What do these words imply?", "How does his manner of dying contradict…?"). Mark both halves on the question paper.

Check yourself

1. What does Brutus ask Cassius for, and what does Cassius say in reply?
2. Who is Messala, and what news does he bring?
3. What does the Ghost say to Brutus before it disappears?

Answers: 1. Brutus asks for gold to pay his legions; Cassius says, "I denied you not", and blames the messenger. 2. Messala is an officer who brings letters with news of the senators put to death by the proscription (Cicero among them), the march of Antony and Octavius to Philippi, and the death of Portia. 3. "To tell thee thou shalt see me at Philippi."