(III. i. 77.)
Nor is less stress laid on Brutus’ feeling. He avows it in the Forum, as before he had assured Antony that “he did love Caesar when he struck him” (iii. i. 182). Cassius tells him:
When thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him better
Than ever thou lovedst Cassius.
(IV. iii. 106.)
But here again the most pathetic evidence is to be found in the assassination scene itself. When Brutus stoops in the guise of petitioner, we cannot suppose it is merely with treacherous adroitness:
I kiss thy hand, but not in flattery, Caesar.
(III. i. 52.)
Knowing the man, do we not feel that this is the last tender farewell?
But though all this is true it cannot be maintained, in view of the soliloquy before the conspirators’ meeting, that Shakespeare makes Brutus the mouthpiece of republicanism, as he makes Caesar the mouthpiece of imperialism. The opposition of principles is present, but it is of principles on a different plane.