LINES 89-102

Cassius tells Casca he would rather kill himself than live to see Caesar crowned. The human spirit can never be willingly enslaved, he says, because people are always free to take our own lives. Cassius shows a certain spirit of his own here, which makes it difficult for us to dismiss him as a mere villain. Clearly, he believes in the rightness of his cause, and is willing to die for it. He may be foolish to ignore the gods, but who is to say such foolishness is not the most noble act of all?

LINES 103-164

Cassius believes the common people are as much to blame as Caesar for turning him into a god:

Poor man, I know he would not be a wolf But that he sees the Romans are but sheep;

Act I, Scene iii, lines 104-105

Cassius may simply wish to deny Caesar the credit for his rise to power. But he is also pointing out what we noted before, that the common people may be the real villains for ignoring their responsibilities to the Republic, and allowing it to fall.

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