Julius Caesar tells how a group of Romans, led by Cassius and Brutus, murders Caesar for fear that he will make himself king, and how the crime leads to a civil war in which Cassius and Brutus die.
In Act I, the people celebrate Caesar's triumph, and the tribunes Flavius and Marullus remove the ornaments from his statues. At the Lupercal, a soothsayer warns him against the Ides of March, and Antony offers him a crown three times, which he refuses, according to Casca's account. Cassius works on Brutus, who loves Caesar but fears the people will make him king. In Act II, Brutus decides on Caesar's death in the orchard, for what he may become, and receives the conspirators. Calpurnia tries to keep her husband at home, and Decius persuades him to go out.
In Act III, on the Ides of March, the conspirators surround Caesar in the Senate: Casca strikes the first blow and Brutus the last. In the Forum, Brutus justifies the crime and is acclaimed, but Antony, with the torn cloak and Caesar's will, turns the crowd, which goes off to burn the conspirators' houses.
In Act IV, Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus mark who must die, while Brutus and Cassius quarrel in the tent near Sardis, and Brutus sees the ghost of Caesar. In Act V, at Philippi, Cassius dies through a mistake, Brutus kills himself on the sword that Strato holds, and Antony praises him as the noblest of the Romans.