Erin Simonds

Period 4 English

May 10, 1999

Persona 3

Portia (reading letter aloud):

Dearest Brutus,

It is with great sorrow that I imagine the pain you bear in your breast

As you lay thine saddened eyes upon the image of my body, lifeless fallen.

The trials of your life are not my own; I am but a woman,

And though vainly I try to bear the weight of thine enterprises,

I have no longer the strength to carry such a burden.

With all of my life I am devoted to thee, but I fear

That by the fervor with which you offended your foes,

You have sentenced upon myself and yourself the final fate.

I have heard tell that due to thine efforts to rise above others,

Marc Antony and Octavious have reversed the aggression,

And now we are both in grave danger.

I have striven all of my life to be one with you,

To share the stresses and hardships so as to lighten your back;

Yet, I find myself cornered by the failure of your plans.

Without paying heed to my presence, you sealed my fate,

To be taken by the enemy for a deed of which I had no knowledge,

Until finally the secrets were revealed far too late.

Like my father before me, I have little choice

But to submit to the only honorable fate;

A fate which you have borne unto me.

With my love undying, I pray that you will live to prevail over your foes;

Yet for me to live another day in your absence,

Debating the chances of whether you will ever return,

Is another day which I can not bear to see.

The very silence with which you forced me to this point

Will now cease my time below the heavens.

With love immortal,

Portia

Persona 4

Antony: At my feet lies the noblest Roman of our day.

Fair Brutus carried with him a presence of honor like none other.

The conscience of this man, his ideals and values,

Are a force that would have done good unto the world,

Had not they gotten between Rome and it's Caesar.

A man of morality was Brutus, and a great man at that;

His conscience I do admire, but one must realize it was his only fault.

Brutus lost this day because he sought the just path,

For himself and his forces.

For these virtues, I admire him.

The realization that so much life was lost,

By will of this man's good intentions,

Is one that plagues my heart with sorrow.

Never have I been witness to an instance

In which Brutus put himself before the good of others.

For Rome, he led the strike against my dear lover;

For my placation, he allowed me an oration over Caesar;

For the sanctity of his men, he chose to stand his ground this very day.

Never did Brutus seek to bolster himself,

Before considering the welfare of his countrymen.

As Cassius has remarked to others of Brutus,

He truly loved the name of honor more than he feared death.

It saddens me that his values reach such an extreme

As to sever his own gentle life short this day.

In his memory, I shall strive to follow such ideals

As I complete the destiny of my dear Caesar.