In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, who should have ruled Rome between Brutus, Cassius, and Antony?

This would have to be a matter of opinion based on Shakespeare's characterizations of the three men, which were based on his reading of Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, written over a hundred years after the events depicted in Julius Caesar. Brutus seems to be the man who would have been the best ruler because of his high moral character. He was highly esteemed by everyone, including by Julius Caesar himself. Mark Antony actually did become one of the rulers of Rome, along with Octavius. No doubt Antony had many of the qualifications of a good ruler, including his extensive military experience and sound judgment. However, as Shakespeare shows in his Antony and Cleopatra, Antony was notoriously hedonistic and extravagant. He was quite different from Cassius, who was sober, serious, and conservative. But Cassius was also selfish and dishonest. He would have been a corrupt ruler. When he and Brutus are having their violent quarrel in Act 4, Scene 3 of Julius Caesar, Brutus says:

Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself
Are much condemn'd to have an itching palm,
To sell and mart your offices for gold
To undeservers.

This suggests the kind of ruler Cassius would be. He would be likely to make himself king and possibly emperor; whereas Brutus would try his best to have a totally honest and open government. Brutus seems the best choice for ruler, Antony the second-best, and Cassius the worst. If Brutus and Cassius had managed to beat Antony and Octavius at the battle of Philippi and the victors had become joint rulers of Rome, they would have been continually at odds. Cassius might have become sole ruler, because he would have been likely to have Brutus assassinated. On the other hand, Brutus might have used his popularity and high moral authority to expel Cassius from their partnership. Brutus is a nice guy, but he has a temper. When he and Cassius are quarreling in Act 4, Scene 3, Brutus actually threatens Cassius with chastisement.

CASSIUS
I an itching palm?
You know that you are Brutus that speaks this,
Or, by the gods, this speech were else your last.

BRUTUS
The name of Cassius honors this corruption,
And chastisement doth therefore hide his head.

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...

nouns - what do you call the person who passes the trophies to the prize giver/presenter?

The person who gives out the trophies to the winners are called award presenters. So what do u call the person who passes the trophies to the presenter? Thanks!

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.

Notes

Search This Blog