“Since Cassius first did me whet Caesar, I have not slept. Between the acting of a dreadful thing and the first motion, all the interim is like a phantasma, or a hideous dream…” (p66, lines 61-65). This quote really sets the scene for what drives Brutus since here he is showing his loyalty to Cassius and to Rome. He believed in Cassius enough to turn against his best friend, and he is keeping his devotion to Rome. Brutus was driven by his patriotism and loyalty to assassinate Caesar for the good of Rome.
Brutus was an honorable member of the Senate during ancient Rome; he was very dedicated to his city and would probably do anything for it. Ever since the beginning of the story Brutus has wanted for Rome to be the best and only the best. Here, when he saw that Caesar was about to turn into a tyrant… he took charge and wanted to stop Caesar from ‘destroying’ Rome. He thought that doing this was the best for Rome, since Cassius convinced him... So he did it, he assassinated Caesar, for his Rome. Because of his motivation, Brutus became crazed, even after he eliminated Caesar, he could not find a good enough reason for killing him, and because of that, Rome broke out into civil war. When Brutus was giving his speech at Caesar’s funeral, he tried to convince the people that he was right… that it was a good thing that he killed Caesar, “If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.”(p128, lines 19-21). In this excerpt from the play Julius Caesar, Brutus is telling the people that, he didn’t have Caesar, Caesar was his best friend, but he saw that he wasn’t a good leader for Rome, and he values Rome more than any friendship. This really shows how motivated Brutus really was, since he is personally TELLING the people of Rome, that if something was threatening his city, he would do ANYTHING to protect it, even if that means killing his best friend. Similarly to this show of patriotism, Brutus has other moments when he stands up for his Rome. For example, in the beginning of the play, Cassius is trying to convince Brutus to join the conspiracy against Julius Caesar, and at first Brutus thought that this was a horrible idea. He believed that it would be harmful to Rome to lose a leader, and he didn’t want to harm his friend. “Brutus had rather be a villager than to repute himself a son of Rome under these hard conditions as this time is like to lay upon us,”(p38, lines 170-173). Brutus is explaining that he would rather be a peasant, then do anything to put Rome under any suffering at all. Furthermore, you can see how dedicated Brutus is to Rome, that he would never want anything bad to happen to it, and that he would do anything for it to thrive. Consequently, Brutus was a very patriotic man, and this drove him to the assassin of Julius Caesar.
In addition to being patriotic, Brutus was also a very loyal man; he was loyal to his friends, family and to his country. He did many things to show that he was loyal to Cassius, and to Rome itself. Brutus wanted to show that he was loyal to the people of Rome as well as to Cassius. This ties in with his patriotism since it shows that he was more devoted to the people, then he was to his best friend. In result to being so loyal, Brutus murdered his best friend, and, to show that he had completely gone wrong by doing that, he committed suicide.
When the conspirators were at a meeting, Cassius suggested that they should all make an oath never to tell what they were about to do. “No, not an oath…what other bond than secret Romans, that have spoke the word, and will not palter?” (p72, lines 114, 125-126). To explain what is going on in this quote, Brutus is entrusting his ‘friends’ with a secret that could ruin their lives without an oath. He has high expectations in his friends keeping their word, he is being loyal to them. In another part of the play, Cassius is trying to convince Brutus to go against Caesar. Brutus, at the time, was very dedicated to his dear friend, and would not give in to Cassius. But he was respectful of Cassius also and gave him a chance to explain himself. “What you have said I will consider; what you have to say I will with patience hear, and find a time both meet to hear and answer such high things.”(p37-38, lines 165-168). Brutus is saying that he does not agree with Cassius at the time but he will think about what he has just been proposed at a later time, where Cassius can further explain. Obviously, Brutus is motivated by his loyalty in this passage, when he wants to keep his word to all his peers, but he must pick one, and he picked his loyalty to his Rome in the end. Clearly, Brutus is driven by his loyalty to kill Caesar for the good of Rome and to keep his promises to his friends.
For almost the whole play, Brutus really wanted to prove his patriotism and loyalty. But by attempting to do this, he resulted to assassinating Julius Caesar and in the end, killing himself. His goal was to protect Rome from harm, and he did not succeed at getting that, for when he tried, Rome turned to civil war. The end was not justified by the means, since when trying to help Rome, he ended up putting it into war and misery. Motivated by his patriotism and loyalty, Brutus assassinated Caesar for the good of Rome, and although he did not succeed, he left a mark in the history of Rome forever.
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