Through his hubris, the pleasurable shaming of the victim in one's overconfidence, Brutus meets the criteria for a tragic hero when he claims himself above Caesar in terms of leadership ability. During a conversation with his close friend Cassius, one of the initial conspirators who convinces him to join their cause, Brutus reveals he “had rather be a villager then to repute himself as a son of Rome under these hard conditions as this time is like to lay upon us”, showing his questioning of a man of higher status and skill than his own (add citation). After the conspiracy he allowed himself to fall into fails, his display of arrogance leads to his tragic downfall, directing the loss of not only the empire he hoped to claim and his friends,