was better cut out for a conspirator. His heart prompted his head.
His habitual jealousy made him fear the worst that might happen, and
his irritability of temper added to his inveteracy of purpose, and
sharpened his patriotism. The mixed nature of his motives made him
fitter to contend with bad men. The vices are never so well employed
as in combating one another. Tyranny and servility are to be dealt
with after their own fashion: otherwise, they will triumph over
those who spare them, and finally pronounce their funeral panegyric,
as Antony did that of Brutus. All the conspirators, save only he,

Did that they did in envy of great Caesar:
He only in a general honest thought
And common good to all, made one of them.

The quarrel between Brutus and Cassius is managed in a masterly way.
The dramatic fluctuation of passion, the calmness of Brutus, the
heat of Cassius, are admirably described; and the exclamation of
Cassius on hearing of the death of Portia, which he does not learn
till after the reconciliation, 'How 'scap'd I killing when I crost
you so?' gives double force to all that has gone before. The scene
between Brutus and Portia, where she endeavours to extort the secret
of the conspiracy from him, is conceived in the most heroical
spirit, and the burst of tenderness in Brutus:

You are my true and honourable wife;
As dear to me as are the ruddy drops
That visit my sad heart--

is justified by her whole behaviour. Portia's breathless impatience
to learn the event of the conspiracy, in the dialogue with Lucius,