Did not offend, nor were not worthy blame,
If this foul deed were by to equal it.
(H. VI. C. V. v. 53.)
It is the same if we turn to Shakespeare’s indisputably spontaneous utterances. He sees Caesar’s double merit with pen and sword. Says the little Prince Edward:
That Julius Caesar was a famous man:
With what his valour did enrich his wit,
His wit set down to make his valour live.
Death makes no conquest of this conquerer:
For now he lives in fame, though not in life.
(R. III. III. i. 84.)