Read the excerpt from act 5, scene 5, of the tragedy of julius caesar. [brutus.] night hangs upon mine eyes; my bones would rest, that have but laboured to attain this hour. . i prithee, strato, stay thou by thy lord. thou art a fellow of a good respect. thy life hath had some smatch of honour in it. hold then my sword, and turn away thy face while i do run upon it. wilt thou, strato? strato. give me your hand first. fare you well, my lord. brutus. farewell, good strato. . caesar, now be still: i killed not thee with half so good a will. which piece of evidence best supports the theme that dignity has a high cost? "night hangs upon mine eyes." "i prithee, strato, stay thou by thy lord." "thy life hath had some smatch of honour in it." "i killed not thee with half so good a will."

I believe that it is “I killed not thee with half so good a will,” which shows Brutus’s desperate desire to die. The second piece of evidence (“I prithee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord”) doesn’t show the negative influence that dignity can have on oneself; “thy life hath had some smatch of honor in it” does not show the true extent of dignity’s influence; and “night hangs upon mine eyes” is NOT a piece of evidence- it is merely a poetic phrase that Brutus uses to describe his current state.

today we'd use social media to quickly spread a controversial idea, but in the eighteenth century, the printed pamphlet was highly effective. and thomas paine took full advantage of it. on january 9, 1776, when paine published his pamphlet, "common sense," he wanted to push the american people toward independence from britain. it ultimately ignite the american revolution. thomas paine argued that the monarchy was evil and should be rejected as a form of government. to underscore his point, he cited the bible to argue his case -- in judges 8: 22-23: "the israelites said to gideon, 'rule over us, you and your son and your ' gideon told them, 'i will not rule over you. the lord will rule over you'" (nrsv).