In Act I, scene II of Julius Caesar, Brutus begins to tell Cassius how he is convinced that Romans are in favor for Caesar as king, where as Cassius disagrees. Cassius utilizes, both, an emotional strategy and a logical strategy in effort to prove to Brutus that Caesar is nothing more than a feeble human who is not fit to wear the crown. .
Cassius apeals to Brutus' basic needs in a number of ways. Cassius first refers to Brutus as a virtuous man, which in turn, makes Brutus feel more important and his best qualities are dispursed. Cassius does this while making himself look knowledgable by using repition of the phrase "I know" as though to prove the point that he knows what he is talking about. He continues to tell Brutus that "honor is the subject of his story" in order to not come off as being blunt about his opinions. Cassius begins with saying, "I cannot tell what you and other men think of this life; but, for my single self, I had as ief not be as live to be in awe of such a thing as I myself." He exagerates in this statement in such a way to let Brutus know that he is not here to persuade him which is ironic because truthfully, that is precisely what he is trying to do. Cassius states, "I was born free as Caesar, so where you; we both have fed as well, and we can both endure the winter's cold as well as he." Cassius' use of repition and parrelism in his statement appeals to Brutus' need for freedom. He directly adresses Brutus to make connections between them in order to empasize his points and appeal to Brutus' need for status and power. This all, in turn, works on account of what happens later on in the play.
Cassius also uses logical reasoning to defend his point. He picks specific examples, of facts as evidence, from encounters with Caesar to prove to Brutus that he is not inhuman, as he is said to be. Cassius tells Brutus of how Caesar persuaded him to jump into a raging flood and swim to the other side and being who he was, Cassius did as he was told.
