# Octavius Caesar — Julius Caesar character guide

> Octavius Caesar in Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Octavius, young Octavius, noble Caesar

**First appearance:** 0015-act-iv-scene-i

## Snapshot

Caesar's adopted heir, barely out of boyhood, who draws a sword against the conspirators and swears it will not go up until thirty-three wounds are avenged.

## Who they are

Octavius enters the story as the young man Cassius dismisses as a peevish schoolboy, yet he speaks to Brutus and Cassius with a cold formality that already sounds like command. He refuses to accept that Caesar could die by traitors' hands unless he brought them with him, and he pledges his sword stays drawn until another Caesar has added slaughter to the sword of traitors. His arrival transforms a Roman quarrel into a dynastic war, and his composure in the face of older, louder men marks him as the future.

## In the story

### [Scene II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/julius_caesar_se/chapters/act-iii-scene-ii)

Reported to have arrived in Rome with Lepidus, setting the stage for the next phase of conflict.

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/julius_caesar_se/chapters/act-iv-scene-i)

Participates in the proscription, defends Lepidus's worth, and agrees to unite against their enemies.

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/julius_caesar_se/chapters/act-v-scene-i)

Commands his army, defies Antony's orders, and vows to avenge Caesar.

### [Scene V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/julius_caesar_se/chapters/act-v-scene-v)

Octavius orders an honorable burial for Brutus and offers to take Strato into his service.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/julius_caesar_se/characters/octavius_caesar
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/julius_caesar_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/julius_caesar_se/characters