Read the extract from 'Julius Caesar' Act 5, Scene 3, given below and answer the questions that follow: Brutus: O Julius Caesar, thou art mighty yet! Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords In our own proper entrails. [Alarums] Cato: Brave Titinius! Look whe'r he have not crown'd dead Cassius! Brutus: Are yet two Romans living such as these? The last of all the Romans, fare thee well! It is impossible that ever Rome Should breed thy fellow. Friends, I owe more tears To this dead man than you shall see me pay -- I shall find time, Cassius, I shall find time.
What were Cassius' last thoughts before he died? How did Titinius honour the dead Cassius?
Topic: Act 5 Scene 3 — Cassius's last thoughts
Answer
Believing Titinius captured through his own orders, Cassius thought himself a coward for having lived so long to see his best friend taken before his face. His last thought was of Caesar: he declared that Caesar was avenged even with the sword that killed him, and died saying, "Caesar, thou art revenged, / Even with the sword that kill’d thee."
Titinius, returning to find him dead, placed on Cassius’s brow the victory wreath that Brutus had sent him — crowning the dead Cassius — and then, calling on the sun to darken, killed himself with Cassius’s own sword to follow his friend.
Both halves carry marks, so give the dying words and the wreath. The cruel irony is worth stating: Cassius dies believing the battle lost, when in fact Brutus had beaten Octavius and the wreath was a token of victory. Cato’s line in the extract, "Look whe’r he have not crown’d dead Cassius", is the direct textual evidence for the second part.