Read the two excerpts from act 2, scene 1, of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Excerpt 1: [BRUTUS.] Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar I have not slept. Between the acting of a dreadful thing And the first motion, all the interim is Like a phantasma or a hideous dream. The genius and the mortal instruments Are then in council, and the state of man, Like to a little kingdom, suffers then The nature of an insurrection. Excerpt 2: BRUTUS. Kneel not, gentle Portia. . . . You are my true and honourable wife, As dear to me as are the ruddy drops That visit my sad heart. PORTIA. If this were true, then should I know this secret. . . . Tell me your counsels; I will not disclose 'em. I have made strong proof of my constancy, Giving myself a voluntary wound Here in the thigh. Can I bear that with patience, And not my husband's secrets? How do Brutus’s moral dilemmas in each excerpt compare?
