After a hard-won battle, the plebeians, the working class of Rome, had elected these men as their representatives and protectors (as represented by Flavius and Marullus in Act I). In addition, a new group, the Tribunes, had entered the political field.
The city was governed by senators but their politics were plagued by in-fighting, and the real glory and strength belonged to generals like Caesar and Antony. In 44 BC, Rome was at the center of a large and expanding empire. It is no surprise, then, that the subject matter of this play was relevant to their concerns, even as the content of this play drew on and adapted ancient history. They were also aware of the realities of the violence of civil strife. The people of England worried about succession, fully aware of the power struggles that could take place when men vied for the throne of England. In 1599, when William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar was performed at the new Globe Theatre, Elizabeth I was an aged monarch with no legitimate heir - neither a child of her own nor a named heir.
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