Compare this with the scene in the play:
Artemidorus. Hail, Caesar! read this schedule.
Decius. Trebonius doth desire you to o’er-read,
At your best leisure, this his humble suit.
Artemidorus. O Caesar, read mine first, for mine’s a suit
That touches Caesar nearer: read it, great Caesar.
Caesar. What touches us ourself shall be last served.
(III. i. 3.)
Can one say that Shakespeare has defrauded Caesar of his magnanimity?
Or again observe, in the imaginary conclusion to the unrecorded remonstrances of Calpurnia, how loftily he refuses to avail himself of the little white untruths that after all pass current as quite excusable in society. They are beneath his dignity. He turns to Decius: