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Cinna, Brutus, and other conspirators have just assassinated Julius Caesar. Marc Antony has raised the crowd to riot via an eloquent speech. The crowd, spilling to the streets, encounter a man called Cinna, a poet.
“Your name, sir, truly.”
“Truly, my name is Cinna.”
“Tear him to pieces! He’s a conspirator.”
“I am Cinna the poet! I am Cinna the poet! … I am not Cinna the conspirator.”
“It is no matter; his name’s Cinna! … Tear him, tear him!”
- Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene 3.
This is no more rational today than it would have been more than two thousand years ago.
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