Grade 8 Humanities: Week of 5/14/2018 Rome May Not Have Been Built In A Day, But It Lasted 1500+ Years

Dear Families,

Well, the Ides of March has come and gone (not to mention we only have about nine weeks until graduation!) but who’s counting days or weeks when you’re reading Shakespeare?! Although Julius Caesar’s actual rule was somewhat unremarkable, his victory in the civil war replaced a republic, ruled by the consuls and the Senate, with an empire, reigned over by emperors and their hereditary successors. It was the start of a new age for Rome. And, of course, has been immortalized forever by William Shakespeare.

As we enjoy this masterpiece (is it completely obvious yet that this is my favorite Shakespeare play?) we will be preparing to write about the plebeians’ role in the lives of powerful men. This is our fascinating thematic connection to World War 2 and Hitler’s rise to power!

In the meantime, as the play unfolds, we are also examining the conspirators and their levels and types of commitment to the cause. We know from the beginning that Cassius is all-in, but is Brutus? Casca seems to be a follower, but followers can be fickle and maybe dangerous.

Yours,

Ms. Sacilotto

“And since the quarrel
Will bear no color for the thing he is,
Fashion it thus: that what he is, augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities;
And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg,
Which, hatch’d, would as his kind grow mischievous,
And kill him in the shell.”

–Brutus from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar