The Report of Decius Curtius

This was a creative writing assignment I did for English, so it's not that exciting. I was supposed to write as if I were a centurion that was supposed to quell the riot in Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar", after the part where Mark Antony makes his speech.

The following is the military report of Decius Curtius, centurion of the third cohort of the Fifth Legion in the mighty Army of Rome, on the night of the murder of Julius Caesar. The crowd was seemingly riotous when noble Brutus ascended the stage, so I saw it fit to dispatch a small portion of my men into the crowd. Their presence, though enough to keep the crowd from rioting before noble Brutus could speak, were not necessary, it seems. Noble Brutus' speech won the attention and admiration of the fickle crowd, so much so that they were ready to crown him the new Caesar right then and there, but noble Brutus declined. Instead he wished them to listen to Mark Antony, who came up from among the throng bearing the marred body of the late Julius Caesar himself. It was the that my men were called into action.

Antony's speech had a drastic effect upon the plebeians. At first they would hear no ill of Brutus, and I had men stationed close by were Antony foolish enough to do so. Crafty Antony, however, with tricky words and manner, won the crowd and induced them to rioting. I, of course, dispatched my troops to quell the riot, but not before poor Cinna, the poet, was torn apart by the frenzied mob. I apologize also for the loss of two of my peace-keepers. My men could not, unfortunately, subdue the angry crowd before noble Brutus and Cassius, his brother (equally noble) were driven from the streets of Rome.