The Dilemma is an excerpt from “Killing Caesar” (2020) by Jon Pescevich.
Cassia:
Once, upon a raw and gusty day, the troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
so said Caesar to me:
Brutus:
On a raw and gusty day, the troubled Tiber chafing with her shores…
Cassia:
“Dar’st thou, Cassia?
Leap in with me into this angry flood, and swim to yonder point!”
Brutus:
Once, upon a raw and gusty day, the troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
so said Caesar to you:
“Let’s swim to yonder point!”
Cassia:
The torrent roar’d,
and we did buffet it with lusty sinews, throwing it aside.
But then he cried,
Brutus:
Caesar cried?
You heard him cry?
Cassia:
“Cassia!”
“Help me!”
Caesar was drowning!
He would have died!
Brutus:
“Cassia!”
“Help me!”
He might have died!
Cassia:
Now, this man that I rescued rules the world.
This wretched creature, Caesar, is a god!
(…offstage, The Mob cheers for Caesar…)
Chorus:
Caesar!
Caesar!
Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
Caesar!
Caesar!