+Sources+.--Shakespeare borrowed his material from a writer named George Whetstone, who in 1578 printed a play, _Promos and Cassandra_, containing most of the story of _Measure for Measure_. In 1582 the same author published a prose version of the story in his _Heptameron of Civil Discourses_. Whetstone in turn borrowed his material, which came originally from the _Hecatommithi_ of Giraldi Cinthio. Shakespeare ennobled the underlying thought as far as he could, and added the character of Mariana. +Julius Caesar+.--The interest in _Julius Caesar_ does not focus on any one person as completely as in the other great tragedies. Like the chronicle plays which had preceded it, it gives rather a grand panorama of history than the fate of any particular hero. This {178} explains its title. It is not the story of Julius Caesar the man, but of that great political upheaval of which Caesar was cause and center. That upheaval begins with his attempt at despotism and the crown; it reaches its climax in his death, which disturbs the political equilibrium of the whole nation; and at last subsides with the decline and downfall of Caesar's enemies. Shakespeare has departed from history in drawing the character of the great conqueror, making it more weak, vain, and pompous than that of the real man. Yet even in the play "the mightiest Julius" is an impressive figure. Alive, he "doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus"; and his influence, like an unseen force, shapes the fates of the living after he himself is dead. In so far as the tragedy has any individual hero, that hero is Brutus rather than Caesar himself. Brutus is a man of noble character, but deficient in practical judgment and knowledge of men. With the best of motives he allows Cassius to hoodwink him and draw him into the conspiracy against Caesar. Through the same short-sighted generosity he allows his enemy Antony to address the crowd after Caesar's death, with the result that Antony rouses the people against him and drives him and his fellow conspirators out of Rome. Then when he and Cassius gather an army in Asia to fight with Antony, we find him too impractically scrupulous to raise money by the usual means; and for that reason short of cash and drawn into a quarrel with his brother general. His subsequent {179} death at Philippi is the logical outcome of his own nature, too good for so evil an age, too short-sighted for so critical a position.