Are the Conspirators Purgers or Murderers? Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Roman Ius Sacrum

Although rhetorical artifices, tricks,and figures of speech are undeniable devices used in Elizabethan poetry, recent interpretations of Brutus's words (Let us be sacrificers,butnotbutchers, Caius […] And, gentle friends,let’s kill him boldly, but notwrathfully; let’s carve him as a dish fitforthe gods, not hew himas a carcass fit for hounds[…] This shall make our purpose necessary, and not envious;which so appearing to the common eyes,we shall be called purgers, notmurderers) completely disregard the historical, religious, and legal grounds of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and appear to be excessively simplistic. Differently from such one-dimensional approaches, Roman law may contribute to develop the studies of English literature and, specifically, to deepen our understanding of Shakespeare’s dramas.