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Cassius bases his arguments on anecdotes in the first monologue, much like an architect bases his house on a simple concrete foundation. In giving only two anecdotes in the first argument, Cassius does not overwhelm Brutus with needless extra rhetoric when trying to convince him to kill Caesar. However, simple foundations only work well on solid ground, and Cassius must give Brutus more than a simple foundation to convince him to commit murder. His first anecdote tells of a time in his youth when Caesar challenged Cassius to swim across the mighty Tiber. Cassius accepts, but then must pull a drowning Caesar out of the water because he cannot make it to the other side (I,ii,108-12). Cassius argues in this anecdote that a man who can’t even swim across a river could not effectively rule an empire. He also points out that Caesar foolishly challenged him to a race which Caesar himself cannot complete. In the second anecdote, Cassius tells Brutus of the time he watched Caesar transform into a sick girl when he was struck with the shakes. He tells Brutus the color from Caesar’s lips fled and he groaned miserably (I,ii,127-139). Cassius, by telling this anecdote, hopes to convince Brutus of Caesar’s physical and mental weakness. He also implies that a man of Caesar’s weak state can’t rule an empire given his condition. Both these anecdotes play on Brutus’s fear that Caesar will rule his empire with weakness and foolishness. Cassius tries to argue his point of view through the use of anecdotes in this monologue. However, he builds his argument on a simple foundation of anecdotes which do not actually tell Brutus the disastrous consequences of letting Caesar live, they only hint at what may happen. Overall Cassius’ first argument does little to make Brutus want to kill Caesar because he does not use enough of a variety of effective rhetorical devices.