Literary Text: from Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene i, William Shakespeare In this passage from Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene i, by William Shakespeare, Brutus contemplates murdering the Roman leader Julius Caesar. The people are calling out to make Caesar a king, and Brutus fears this possibility. Read the passage. Then, answer the question(s).

Brutus. Get me a taper in my study, Lucius.
When it is lighted, come and call me here.

Lucius. I will, my lord.
Exit

Brutus. It must be by his death; and for my part,
I know no personal cause to spurn at him,
But for the general. He would be crowned:
How that might change his nature, there’s the question.
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder,
And that craves wary walking. Crown him?—that,
And then, I grant, we put a sting in him,
That at his will he may do danger with.
Th’abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins
Remorse from power: and, to speak truth of Caesar,
I have not known when his affections swayed
More than his reason. But ’tis a common proof,
That lowliness is young ambition’s ladder,
Whereto the climber upward turns his face;
But when he once attains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend. So Caesar may.
Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel
Will bear no color for the thing he is,
Fashion it thus: That what he is, augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities;
And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg
Which, hatched, would, as his kind, grow mischievous,
And kill him in the shell.
Which answer choice most accurately summarizes the point Brutus is making in lines 15–28?

A. Caesar should be killed because of what he may very well become if he attains more power.
B. Caesar should be killed because of what he has shown himself to be after attaining power.
C. Caesar should be killed because he is like a dangerous serpent that might strike at any moment.
D. Caesar should be killed the moment he reveals himself to be ambitiously climbing upward.