Group+05


 * Minimum Project Requirements: **
 * 5 **//__IN__//** __DEPTH __ discussions with opposing counsel via class network. These discussions must present not only relevant and specific facts from the play, but also from your historical research.
 * Preliminary Draft of Closing Statement entered in your class network. Draft must contain **//__at least 5 detailed paragraphs__//**: 1) Introductory paragraph outlining the overall theme of your case - thesis statement; 2) //at least// 3 paragraphs which include **//__detailed__//** supporting evidence for your case - 1 piece of evidence with explanation per paragraph; and 3) a closing paragraph which ties all the evidence together and solidifies your case.
 * Peer editing of opposing counsel's statement following guidelines to be provided; plus an additional peer revision of your choice.
 * Works Cited page containing **//__at__//** **//__least three __//****//__(3) sources __//**: 2 book sources for each electronic source.
 * Final Draft of Closing Statement, typed, double-spaced at a 12-point font with 1-inch margins. Please no decorative fonts – use something easy to read.
 * Oral recitation of your Closing Statement before the court. Be sure to use your voice as a persuasive tool to effectively deliver your statement. Suggestions for oral interpretation to be provided.


 * Remember that the above represent the minimum requirements for this project, the completion of which will earn you a minimum average grade of 70%. You can improve this grade by going above and beyond these minimum expectations. **

One way to increase your points will be to complete more than five discussion posts with your opposing counsel. To post a discussion, click the DISCUSSION tab above; click NEW POST, label the subject with a specific name, and then type and post your comment. To reply to a comment, simply click on the post heading, scroll to the bottom of the page, and then type and post your reply. Ideally, discussion topics will reflect either specific research sources or ideas learned from your research. You must cite all sources within your discussions so that your opposing counsel can verify your information.

Alicia Daulton

Mr. Nienaber

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Bell: 3

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 19px;">Brutus is Guilty! **

Marcus Junius Brutus is guilty of the assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar on March 15th, 44 B.C. Honorable Julius Caesar was loved by many people, and he was murdered by Marcus Junius Brutus, the leader of the conspiracy, because of an obsession Brutus had with his ancestor and his personal motivation. In planning this conspiracy he also broke laws.

Caesar was honored by many roman people. He did everything he could to please them and they loved him enough to be alright with him becoming king of Rome. In the book //__Heroes__// by Paul Johnson (41) it states, “The roman legions were good before his time, but after it, they formed the finest professional army of antiquity, even better than the Macedonian Phalanxes. He trained his staff and senior commanders as meticulously as he trained het legionaries.” This states that Julius Caesar knew what he was doing. He made the military better than any before, so the soldiers must have honored him. Caesar was honored by the way he did things; he stuck to what he wanted to do.

Marcus Brutus says that Julius Caesar is too ambitious but in the //__Tragedy of Julius Caesar__// (Act 2, scene 2, lines 235-245) Casca states, “I Saw Mark Antony offer him a crown- yet ‘twas not a crown neither ‘twas one of these coronets–and, as I told you, he put it by once; but for all that, to my thinking, he would fain have had it. Then he offered it to him again; then put it by again; then he put it by again, but to my thinking he was very loath to take his fingers off it. And then he offered it a third time. He put it buy a third time by; and still as he refused it, rabblement hooted, and clapped their chopt hands, and threw up their sweaty caps and uttered such a deal of stinking breath because Caesar refused the Crown.” This is implying that Caesar isn’t too ambitious because, three times he denied the crown! The roman people love him for that. So they know he would make a good king.

Caesar was honored by many and he had to pay for it. In the //__Tragedy of Julius Caesar__// (Act 3, Scene 2, lines 84-94) Antony speaks at Caesar’s funeral, “Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral. He was my friend, faithful and to me; but Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man. He hath brought many captives home to Rome, whose ransoms did the general coffers fill; did this in Caesar seem ambitious? When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; ambition should be made of sterner stuff. Yet Brutus says he was ambitious. And Brutus is an honorable man.”

Marcus Junius Brutus has an obsession with his ancestor, the one that assassinated the king of Rome back then – Tarquin. Brutus thought he should follow in his ancestors footsteps by assassinating the soon to be king, Julius Caesar. In Stephen Danado-Collins book: //__The Ides: Caesars Murder and the War for Rome__// (18), it states, “Brutus was fully aware that it was aimed at encouraging him to emulate his ancestor by doing something to stop Caesar from becoming king of the romans.” Brutus knew very well that people honored him and knew about his ancestor, so he decided to act on the part of his ancestor and murder Caesar. Brutus also took action based off letters he found inside his house, that were from the conspirators, but disguised as if they were from the towns people. In the //__Tragedy of Julius Caesar__// (Act 2, Scene 1, likes 46-58) Brutus receives a letter saying, “Brutus thou sleep’st; awake Brutus and see thyself. Shall Rome &c. speak, strike, redress. Brutus, thou sleep’st; awake.” Then Brutus says, “Such instigations have often dropped where have I took them up. “Shall Rome &c.” Thus I must piece it out: Shall Rome stand under one man’s awe? What, Rome? My ancestors did from the streets of Rome the Tarquin drive, when he was called a king. “Speak, Strike, Redress.” Am I entreated to speak and strike? O Rome, I make thee promise, if thee redress will follow, thou receivest thy full petition at the hand of Brutus!” This quote is saying that Brutus got a letter saying: //Brutus wake up! Look at yourself; look at what you need to do. You need to strike at Caesar.// Brutus reaction to the letter is that he thinks the people want him to murder Caesar so he doesn’t become king of Rome. So he makes his final decision to kill him based off this letter. Brutus didn’t even think to look into who wrote it, or who put it in his house, or the fact that Cassius has been trying to get him to join the conspiracy for a long time. He just immediately thought that since his ancestor took out the king before that he should do the same. Again his obsession with his ancestor kicks in.

Marcus Brutus could have some personal motivation to want to murder Julius Caesar. On this website [|http://britannica.com] it has a statement that says “Servilia (who later became Caesar’s lover).” This affair happened when Caesar was Seventeen years old. Brutus could have been angry that Caesar slept with his mother and/or toyed with her feelings and hurt her when he left. That gives him personal motivation to murder Caesar.

Marcus Brutus assumes that Caesar will do something bad to Rome before he actually does anything. Brutus thinks that the roman people will get hurt in some way after Caesar becomes king, but at the time Caesar wasn’t physically hurting anybody, especially not Brutus. In the //__Tragedy of Julius Caesar__// (Act 2, scene 1, lines 12-13) Brutus says, “But for the general. He would be crowned. How that might change his nature, there’s a question.” In this quote, Brutus is saying that Caesar will change his ways when he becomes king. But how does Brutus know that? He doesn’t, no one can really know what he was going to do when he became king, and he never got the chance to! Also Brutus states “And therefore think him as a serpents egg which hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous, and kill him in the shell.” (Act 2, Scene 1, lines 32-34). Brutus is suggesting that he should kill Caesar before he becomes king so Caesar couldn’t do any harm, or good for that matter. Brutus claims he assassinated Brutus in honor for Rome, well how is killing a friend honorable? Caesar trusted Brutus and Brutus knew that, so how is that an honorable man. Brutus was supposed to be Caesar’s friend, not enemy, and he didn’t give Caesar a chance to even show what he could have done with Rome.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The honorable Brutus killed the ambitions Caesar to help Rome. Brutus is not guilty of killing Caesar. Brutus wanted the best for Rome and didn’t think Caesar was it. Caesar had too much ambition and wasn’t fit to be king. Some of the people of Rome didn’t even want Caesar to be king. Brutus also wanted to follow in the steps of his ancestors. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Brutus was a very honorable man and would never have hurt Caesar if he didn’t have a good reason to. Brutus wasn’t a tyrant trying to go around and hurt people, he was Caesars friend. As it says in this quote “It must be by his death; and for my part, I know no personal cause to spurn at him, but for the general.” (II. i. 10-12) This quote is saying that Brutus killed Caesar, not for personal reasons, but for the people of Rome. Later in the play Brutus also talks about killing Caesar in an honorable way; by not just killing him brutally but carving him as a dish fit for a king. This quote also shows how Brutus wants the best for the people of Rome, not just for himself. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Brutus thought Caesar was too ambitious and that wasn’t a good trait for a king to have. Caesars ambition could have caused things to happen that weren’t the best for Rome. Caesar thought of himself pretty highly of himself and he wasn’t even king yet. For example in this quote Caesar says “But I am constant as the Northern Star, of whose true-fixed and resting quality there is no fellow in the firmament.” (III. i. 60-62) Caesar is saying that he is the best and no one can compare to his greatness. Brutus probably saw this as a reason to kill Caesar because he didn’t want Caesar messing up anything in Rome. Brutus also could have taken this into consideration and thought about what Caesars ambition could lead to and how it would affect Rome and its people. Along the lines of the people of Rome not wanting Caesar as king here is a quote to go along with that. “…Caesar failed to win over his enemies. Worse still, many Romans feared that Caesar was going to make himself king.” (http://www.roman-empire.net/republic/Caesar-index.html) The people didn’t want Caesar as king because he had already rejected the crown three times, then there was the thought of him just taking the crown without anyone knowing, and he might not even end up being a good king because he couldn’t even wins over his enemies in a battle. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Brutus was trying to protect Rome. He was trying to protect Rome because he saw Caesar as a bad idea for Rome. Caesar had killed Pompey, rejected the crown three times, and couldn’t defeat large enemies. No one really know what Caesar had in mind for being king. As this quote says, “The agony of the Republic didn’t appear to be coming to an end; it seemed that Rome had fallen into the conquerors hands. What was Caesar going to do as king? How was he going to do it? How and what was he going to rebuild?” (Holland, Tom. Rubicon- The Last Years of the Roman Republic. New York: Doubleday, 2003. Print.) This is probably another reason that Brutus saw for killing Caesar. Caesar never really told anyone his plans. Did he even have any? I think this is another spot where Caesars ambition kind of comes into play. Maybe Caesar didn’t even have any plans for Rome. If he did, what were they? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Brutus is not guilty for the death of Julius Caesar because he wanted the best for Rome and the way he thought fit for getting the best for Rome was by killing Caesar. Caesar was too ambitious and as stated in the paragraphs above there were many reasons for Brutus to kill Caesar. Caesar may have been a good man, but would he have made a good king? I think Brutus should have been king instead of Caesar. That could have been what Brutus wanted all along but even if it was or wasn’t Brutus still isn’t guilty of killing Caesar.
 * Post Defense Closing Statement Here:**