Study Questions
1. How is Caesar’s power indicated in the scene?

2. What was the soothsayer’s warning?

3. What reason does Brutus give Cassius for his coolness towards him?

4. What two stories does Brutus tell about Caesar?

5. What does Cassius compare Caesar to in lines 142–45?

6. What reasons does Caesar give Antony that Cassius is dangerous?

7. Why does Casca say Caesar fell?

8. What does Brutus mean when he says Caesar has the “falling sickness”?

9. What does Cassius mean when he says, “But you, and I / And honest Casca, we have the falling sickness”? (266–67)

10. How does Cassius plan to trick Brutus into joining the plot against Caesar?

Answers
1. When he tells Antony to touch Calphurnia in the race, Antony says, “When Caesar says ‘Do this,’ it is performed.”

2. The Soothsayer warns, “Beware of the ides of March.”

3. Brutus says that he has some private matters on his mind that are troubling him.

4. Caesar challenged Cassius to a swimming race, and Cassius had to save his life. He also saw Caesar with the fever in Spain, crying like “a sick girl.”

5. He compares Caesar to a giant statue, under whose legs Romans must walk.

6. He is too thin. He is lean and hungry for power. He doesn’t sleep. He reads. He is an observer. He doesn’t smile or go to plays or listen to music. He thinks too much.

7. Casca says that the bad breath of the crowd knocked Caesar down.

8. Caesar suffers from epilepsy.

9. Cassius means that Romans are falling down before Caesar’s power.

10. Cassius plans to forge letters and leave them where Brutus will find them. The letters will convince Brutus that public sentiment is against Caesar.