Julius Caesar
The events in the order the book tells them.
Act I
- Scene I1
The Tribunes and the Triumph
Flavius and Marullus drive the craftsmen celebrating Caesar's triumph from the streets and accuse the crowd of forgetting Pompey. Then they go to strip the decorations from Caesar's statues.
- Scene II2
Cassius Works on Brutus
Cassius tells Brutus that Rome bows to a weak man and that the fault lies in us, not in the stars. Brutus admits he fears the people will make Caesar king, and Cassius decides to forge letters.
- Scene II3
The Refused Crown
At the Lupercal, the festival in which Caesar passes in procession, Antony offers Caesar a crown three times. He refuses it each time, then falls with a fit. Brutus pulls Casca by the cloak to learn what happened, and Casca tells the scene with contempt for the common people.
- Scene III4
The Night of the Storm
On a night of thunder and portents, Casca, frightened, meets Cicero. Cassius, with his breast bared under the lightning, wins Casca over to the conspiracy and sends Cinna to leave the letters for Brutus to find.
Act II
- Scene I5
The Serpent's Egg
Sleepless in the orchard, on the early morning of the Ides of March, the day on which Caesar goes to the Senate, Brutus concludes that Caesar must die for what he might become, as one kills a serpent's egg in the shell. The young servant Lucius hands him an anonymous letter.
- Scene I6
The Conspirators in the Orchard
Cassius arrives with the conspirators, hooded. Brutus refuses the oath, excludes Cicero, and prevents Antony from being killed along with Caesar. They agree that Decius will lead Caesar to the Capitol.
- Scene I7
Portia Demands the Secret
Portia asks Brutus to tell her what he hides and shows the wound she made in her own thigh to prove that she can keep a secret. Brutus promises to tell all.
- Scene II8
Calpurnia's Dream
Calpurnia cries out in a dream that they are killing Caesar, and the augurs find no heart in the sacrificed animal. Caesar gives in and stays, until Decius reinterprets the dream and convinces him to go to the Senate.
- Scene III9
Artemidorus's Letter
Artemidorus writes a letter denouncing the conspirators by name and decides to wait for Caesar in the street to hand it to him as an ordinary petition, in the hope of saving him.
Act III
- Scene I10
The Murder in the Capitol
Under the pretext of a plea from Metellus Cimber, the conspirators surround Caesar. Casca gives the first blow and Brutus the last, and Caesar falls, saying the words that became famous.
- Scene I11
Hands in Caesar's Blood
Brutus has the conspirators bathe their hands in Caesar's blood and go out through the streets shouting liberty. Antony arrives, pretends alliance, and obtains Brutus's leave to speak at the funeral.
- Scene II12
Brutus Speaks to the People
In the Forum, Brutus explains the crime in prose: he loved Caesar, but loved Rome more. The crowd acclaims him and nearly carries him home in triumph.
- Scene II13
Antony's Oration
Antony repeats that Brutus is honorable until the phrase becomes an accusation, shows the torn cloak, and reads the will. The crowd leaves to burn the conspirators' houses.
- Scene III14
The Attack on the Poet Cinna
The poet Cinna leaves home even after a bad dream and is stopped by exalted citizens. Mistaken for the conspirator of the same name, he is dragged off by the mob and attacked even as he shouts that he is the poet.
Act IV
- Scene I15
The List of the Condemned
Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus mark who must die. Antony treats Lepidus like an ass that carries gold and sends him to fetch Caesar's will.
- Scene II16
The Coldness at Sardis
Near Sardis, Brutus notices Cassius's coldness, and the two generals enter the tent so as not to quarrel in sight of the soldiers.
- Scene III17
The Quarrel and Portia's Death
In the tent, Brutus accuses Cassius of selling offices for gold, and the quarrel reaches threats until the two are reconciled. Only then does Brutus tell that Portia has died, after swallowing fire.
- Scene III18
Caesar's Ghost
At night, with the servants asleep, Brutus sees Caesar's ghost, who says he is his evil spirit and promises to meet him at Philippi. When the servants awaken, they say they saw nothing.
Act V
- Scene I19
The Parley at Philippi
At Philippi, the generals of both sides exchange insults before the armies. Cassius confesses that he has come to give credence to omens, and he and Brutus take leave, not knowing whether they will meet again.
- Scene III20
Cassius's Death
Cassius sends his friend Titinius to see whether the distant troops are friendly and, believing him captured, asks the servant Pindarus to kill him with the sword that killed Caesar. Titinius returns and kills himself on seeing the body.
- Scene IV21
The False Brutus
In the confusion of battle, the young Cato, Portia's brother, shouts his own name and dies fighting. The officer Lucilius passes himself off as Brutus so as to be taken in his place.
- Scene V22
Brutus's Death
Surrounded, Brutus asks three companions to kill him, but they refuse. He says that Caesar's ghost has appeared to him twice and throws himself on the sword that Strato holds. Antony calls him the noblest of the Romans.