See, my dear Brutus, if I tremble in this last hour, see my extreme impatience to be with you. You see, noble Cato, that they have taken from me daggers, poisons and all that could serve me to execute my resolution. My room has become my prison, there is neither precipice nor rope for me, and I have guards who observe me. But in taking away all these things, they do not remove from me the will to die nor the memory of your tenacity. I remember, Cato, that glorious day when you conquered Caesar by killing yourself. So you made it clear to those who were keeping you that your life was not in their possession since to end it, you only needed to stop breathing or to smash your head against the wall. Thus, following a noble lesson, I am leaving to find my dear Brutus. See, noble spouse, the last action of your wife. Judge my life by my death and the affection I have had for you by these burning coals that I hold and that will suffocate me.

                                                  Effects of this speech

         At the pronouncement of these last words, she did what she said. With a firmness and courage that inspire both admiration and horror, she demonstrated that things are neither easy nor impossible depending on how we view them. When we love someone and their ideals more than our own lives, it is not difficult to embrace death.

                                                  Notes

         Portia is a woman from ancient Rome, daughter of Cato of Utica and wife of Brutus, died in 42 BC. Her death is an example of fidelity to her conviction and her husband, but not the only one at this troubled period of the end of the Republic.
         Volumnius is an officer of Brutus and a friend. He refused to help Brutus to kill himself.
         Brutus is a senator, a jurist and a Roman philosopher. He is the son of Julius Caesar and husband of Portia. He participated in the assassination of Caesar, believing he was saving the Republic.
         Cassius, or Caius Cassius Longinus, born around 87-86 BC and died in early October 42 BC at the first battle of Philippi, is a politician and a general of the late Roman Republic. He is the brother-in-law of Brutus. They assassinated Julius Caesar together.
         Cato of Utica, or Cato the Younger, born in 95 BC in Rome and died on April 12, 46 BC in Utica, present-day Tunisia. He is Portia's father and a Roman politician. He remained in history as a figure of stoicism, famous for his firmness of soul. He is known for having committed suicide by opening his chest with his sword to avoid the servitude of Caesar. Caesar, his enemy at the time, declared that he regretted this death because he would have forgiven Cato's choices.

                                                  57