Well Brutus, I protest against my will
From this black cloud, whatever tempest fall,
That mercy but most cruelly doth kill,
Which saves one, who once may plague us all.
Works of Stirling. Edition 1870, Glasgow, p. 280.
While it is still to be proved that Alexander borrowed anything from Shakespeare, it is certain, as will be shown later,[[62]] that he not only followed Grévin, but also derived many hints from Pescetti. Although Plutarch was a common source for all three authors, it is certainly remarkable to find them all, in the same scene, using exactly the same term to characterize the threatened activity of Antony. Pescetti, Shakespeare, and Alexander agree in making Cassius urge the conspirators to kill him, for fear, that if spared, he might annoy them all.
Cassius says further:
... We shall find of him
A shrewd contriver;
And in a later scene when Brutus says of Antony,