Brutus and Cassius are great leaders in their own way. One noble and respected, the other is careful and has the intelligence. Therefore they work very well with each other but also will need one another. Otherwise Brutus is almost blindly doing what he wants without thinking of the consequences and Cassius doesn’t have enough power to get what he needs for his plans. However, which one would do better as a leader if they did not have each other or someone similar?

I think that Cassius would be the better leader. Even though he may not be one of those highly respected people straight off, he would gain respect with his pragmatic thinking. He thought through his whole plan for murdering Caesar, and for someone else to become king or convince Rome, that everything is better off not being a monarchy. It succeeded up to the convincing part. “And for Mark Antony, think not of him; for he can do no more than Caesar’s arm when Caesar’s head is off.” Brutus said and decided that it was a good idea not to kill Mark Antony as he was apparently useless without Caesar. Furthermore, he did not get the old wise Cicero, who was the best speaker alive in Rome, in the Conspiracy. Of course the others in the Conspiracy, including Cassius who disagreed with this decision, “Yet I fear him; for in the ingrafted love he bears to Caesar–” (about Antony) had to agree with Brutus to keep him on the team. This was a big mistake leading onto why Brutus isn’t a very good leader.

On the other hand, Brutus’ speaking capabilities were pretty amazing. The Conspiracy had just murdered the soon to be king Caesar, who almost everyone loved, and managed to convince Rome that it was for the good of everyone. The only reason that happened was because of Brutus. Cassius could not have done this as not as many people respected him. The reason Brutus’ speech was so convincing was because he never said that Caesar was a bad person and that he only killed him because of ambition. Ambition was a big thing in a bad way with the Romans. It was seen as putting yourself before others and quite power-hungry. You were not doing your duty. As well as that Brutus said that he killed because he loved Rome more than Caesar. “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” He did it for the sake of the country. Afterwards he asked a rhetorical question “Who is here so vile that will not love his country?” Saying that who does not love their own country. This was a great finisher of his speech because everyone wants to protect their country from anything that could corrupt them in any way. Thus Brutus can be the better leader.

In the midst of the battle in Act 5 scene 3, the denouement, Cassius did not make the wisest of decisions. He had asked his slave, Pindarius, to kill him even though Brutus’ army was winning. ‘For Octavius is overthrown by noble Brutus’ power,’ Messala said. Cassius may have not died from the enemy, therefore it was a good death for Romans because he kept his honor, but he surrendered too early. A reason why he killed himself early, other than Antony’s army approaching, may have been because of when he was going to Sardis. He saw something that he interpreted was a bad omen. Two eagles fell, started feeding from the soldiers’ hands and in the morning they flew away. In replace of the eagles were ravens and crows, scavengers, that were flying along with them waiting for something to happen. The scavenger, corpse pecking birds symbolised the army’s awaiting death on the battlefield. The two eagles meant Brutus and Cassius falling as in death. Leaders should not give up too soon in a battle because their powers may lose a good reason to fight thus losing their morale. This would be a weakness in Cassius’ leadership.

Brutus went through some tough times in act 4 scene 3 which is the act of things going wrong in a tragedy. His wife killed her self by ‘swallowing fire’ (Eating hot coals) because of his absence, he argued with Cassius in the tent, and saw Caesar’s ghost. However Brutus deals with it. His wife’s suicide does not seem to effect his actions much, as well as he sorted out everything with Cassius. This is a good characteristic in a leader. Staying strong and resolving issues quickly. Even though things were ok with those two issues, seeing the ghost of Caesar could have meant he feels regret for killing his friend Caesar. Regret could make you not concentrate because you’re still hanging on to the decision you made. Was it right, or was it wrong?

In conclusion there is not really a definite answer. As you find more evidence for being a good leader in both Cassius and Brutus, it gets harder to decide. All have their strengths and weaknesses that might not always be so obvious.