The night before the Ides of March, the conspirators met at Brutus’ garden. After introducing each other, Cassius offered them to swear an oath. Brutus disagrees, “No, not an oath. If not the face of men, / The sufferance of our souls, the time’s abuse– / If these be motives weak, break off betimes, / And every man hence to his idle bed” (II.i.115-118). This shows how Brutus leans on honesty and honor. He believes that swearing to an oath ruins the justness of their reasons. With enough moral integrity, the conspirators should need no oath. Their cause should be enough reason to go through their plans, they should not need any commitment to spur them on. Taking an oath would recede their nobility and they should be able to trust each other’s loyalty, if not, then they should not be doing the conspiracy. Later that night as the conspirators were finalizing their plan, they came to the topic of whether to kill Antony as well. Cassius encouraged the idea to avoid possible attempts of vengeance, but Brutus disagreed with him. Brutus told Cassius, “Let us be sacrificers but not butchers, Caius” (II.i.168). Brutus argued that it was not necessary to kill Antony. Albeit Antony was Caesar’s loyal friend, Brutus believed that his power will cease once Caesar is killed. Killing Antony would be different than killing Caesar. The conspiracy against Caesar was for Rome’s betterment. The conspirators believed that Caesar may become too ambitious when crowned king, thus overseeing the fact that he was murdered. Killing Antony, on the other hand, would be considered murder to the Roman’s eyes, as he had done nothing wrong. Brutus wants to limit as much violence as
The night before the Ides of March, the conspirators met at Brutus’ garden. After introducing each other, Cassius offered them to swear an oath. Brutus disagrees, “No, not an oath. If not the face of men, / The sufferance of our souls, the time’s abuse– / If these be motives weak, break off betimes, / And every man hence to his idle bed” (II.i.115-118). This shows how Brutus leans on honesty and honor. He believes that swearing to an oath ruins the justness of their reasons. With enough moral integrity, the conspirators should need no oath. Their cause should be enough reason to go through their plans, they should not need any commitment to spur them on. Taking an oath would recede their nobility and they should be able to trust each other’s loyalty, if not, then they should not be doing the conspiracy. Later that night as the conspirators were finalizing their plan, they came to the topic of whether to kill Antony as well. Cassius encouraged the idea to avoid possible attempts of vengeance, but Brutus disagreed with him. Brutus told Cassius, “Let us be sacrificers but not butchers, Caius” (II.i.168). Brutus argued that it was not necessary to kill Antony. Albeit Antony was Caesar’s loyal friend, Brutus believed that his power will cease once Caesar is killed. Killing Antony would be different than killing Caesar. The conspiracy against Caesar was for Rome’s betterment. The conspirators believed that Caesar may become too ambitious when crowned king, thus overseeing the fact that he was murdered. Killing Antony, on the other hand, would be considered murder to the Roman’s eyes, as he had done nothing wrong. Brutus wants to limit as much violence as