Which character says It's not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more?

• A. Caesar
• B. Brutus
• C. Antony
• D. Calphurnia

Answer: (B)

Understanding character motivation and how rhetoric is used to justify drastic action is key here. The speaker is Brutus, one of Caesar’s confidants who joins the conspiracy. He tells the crowd that he did not kill Caesar because he loved Caesar less, but because he loved Rome more. This frames the assassination as a sacrifice made for the republic’s sake, not a personal grudge. Brutus wants to present himself as a rational, principled defender of the state, appealing to civic virtue and the idea of the good of Rome above individual loyalty. That motivation—placing the public good over personal ties—is why this line fits him so well and stands in contrast to what Caesar or Calphurnia would express, and it foreshadows Antony’s later, more manipulative use of rhetoric to sway the crowd.