The action begins with the celebration of the Roman fertility festival of Lupercal, during which Mark Antony offers a crown to Julius Caesar. Although Caesar rejects the crown, fear that too much power has already been concentrated in one man leads several prominent members of Republican Rome to plot Caesar's assassination. Cassius persuades the respected Brutus to join the conspiracy. Disregarding the prophetic dream of his wife Calpurnia, Caesar goes to the Capitol on the Ides of March (March 15) and is killed by the conspirators.
In their speeches to the people of Rome, Brutus and Antony present contrasting views of the conspirators' motives. The people turn against the conspirators, who are forced to flee Rome.
Antony joins forces with Caesar's nephew Octavius and leads an army against the forces of Brutus and Cassius. The battle goes against the conspirators. Cassius commits suicide. Brutus, sensing defeat and haunted by Caesar's ghost, also kills himself.
