Purpose of Thesis—The Prologue of “Cesare”—Synopsis of its Plot—Its Senecan Characteristics—The Dramatis Personae—Persons Common to both “Cesare” and “Julius Caesar”—The Relation of “Cesare” to its Predecessors—Contemporary Notice by Beni—The Material derived from Classical Sources used by both Shakespeare and Pescetti—Appian, Pescetti’s Main Source—Pescetti the Source of the Historical Matter in “Julius Caesar” not traceable to Plutarch.
Passages in Shakespeare traceable to Appian—The Parallel Passages in Pescetti—The Speech of Brutus and the Oration of Antony with the Parallels in the Fifth Act of Pescetti—The Exclamations of the Mob in both Dramas—The Behavior of the Conspirators immediately after the Murder.
The Brutus-Cassius Scenes—The Debate Concerning Antony—Details peculiar to both Pescetti and Shakespeare—Comparison with Muretus and GrÉvin—Similarity in the Sequence of Scenes following the Debate—The Lena-Caesar Episode—The Parallel Use of Suspense.
Peculiarities of Shakespeare’s Delineation—The Influence of Medieval Conception of the Character—Pescetti’s Treatment—His Appreciation of Caesar’s Nobler Qualities—Their Submergence in the Action and his Emphasis of Caesar’s Weaknesses—Caesar’s Susceptibility to Flattery, his Pride, his Boastfulness, his Vacillation—Reasons for Pescetti’s Delineation—The Parallels in Shakespeare’s Treatment—Caesar’s Relative Inferiority in the Action—His Spiritual Domination of the Tragedy.
The Moral Elevation of the Hero, and the Reason therefor—Parallel in Content in a Brutus-Cassius Scene—Brutus as a Leader—Pescetti’s Conception of the Character—Brutus’ Lack of Foresight—His Sense of the Justice of his Cause—Lack of Definite Causes of Resentment against Caesar—Parallelism to Shakespeare.
Antony—Pescetti’s Conception—Parallels in Shakespeare—The Brutus-Portia Scenes—Their Historical and Critical Importance—Pescetti’s Delineation of Portia—Her Place in the Action—Details Common only to Pescetti and Shakespeare—Calpurnia—Striking Parallel between one of her Speeches and one by Cassius in Shakespeare—The Remaining Characters.
Pescetti’s Work known in England—Probable use by Sir William Alexander in the Composition of “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar”—The Evidence—Parallels between “Cesare” and Alexander’s Work—Shakespeare’s Knowledge of the Work—The Two Part Nature of “Julius Caesar”—Jonson’s assumed Collaboration—Shakespeare and Italian.
