What evidence is there to show that Caesar and Brutus can be influenced by flattery?William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, in Act I, Cassius tells
Brutus that when Caesar returned to Rome after defeating Pompey, he is given a crown to
wear, but he refuses it.  Nonetheless, Marc Antony replaces it upon his head for Caesar
to refuse it again to the laudatory shouts of the crowd.  Again, Antony attempts to
place the laurel on Caesar's head, and again Caesar dramatically refuses it.  His
actions here indicate that he makes a show of his refusal and loves the adulation that
accompanies his demonstration of humility.  Later, in Act II when Calpurnia tells her
husband of her dream and begs him to not "go forth today" to the Senate, he concedes,
saying,

Marc
Antony shall say I am not
well,

readability="9">

And, for thy humor, I will stay at home.
(II,ii,58-59)

However, after
one of the conspirators, Decius arrives, he tells Caesar that the Senate has decided to
give him a crown; however, if he decides to not go today, they may change their minds,
Decius cautions Caesar.  Also, Decius suggests, they they think Caesar is weak and
listens to his wife's directions and is afraid.  Then, he
adds,

Pardon
me, Caesar, for my dear dear love

To your proceeding bids
me tell you this,

And reason to my love is liable.
(II,ii,106-109)

Thus, Decius
flatters and cajoles Caesar into attending the Senate.

That
Brutus is also swayed by flattery is evidenced in the famous "seduction scene" of Act I
in which Cassius convinces Brutus to join with the conspirators in the assassination
plot of Caesar.  For instance, when Brutus tell Cassius that he loves "the name of honor
more than [he] fear[s] death (95), Cassius flatters
Brutus:

I
know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,

As well as I do know
your outward favor.

Well, honor is the subject of my
story...(I,ii,96-98)

And,
when the crowd shouts for Caesar, Cassius tells Brutus that his name is as important as
Caesar's, his name is just as good, and that there was a Brutus once who would have
fought the devil to keep his status in Rome as easily as he would find a
king:

O, you
and I have heard our father say

There was a Brutus once
that would have brook'd

The eternal devil to keep his state
in Rome

As easily as a king
(I,ii,164-167)

With this
statement coming after the remark of Cassius that the fault of their destinies is not in
the stars, but in themselves, the suggestion that Brutus is as worthy of leading Rome as
is Caesar is apparent. When Brutus replies that he will tell Cassius later what he
thinks about the assassination plan, Cassius continues his
flattery:

I am
glad that my weak words

Have struck but thus much show of
fire from Brutus.
(II,i,182-183)

In still
another instance, Marc Antony flatters Brutus in Act III when he asks Brutus, who
he acknowledges as a "master spirit of this age," to kill him beside
Caesar:

No
place will please me so, no mean of death,

As here by
Caesar, and by you cut off,

The choice and master spirits
of this age. (III, i,
175-178)

In fact, after
Brutus tells him that he will provide the reason why Caesar has been assassinated, Marc
Antony flatters Brutus--"I doubt not of your wisdom"--as well as all the conspirators as
he asks to shake their bloody hands.  He even tells the
conspirators,

readability="7">

...you must conceit
me,

Either a coward or a flatterer.
(III,ii,208)

It is because of
this flattery from Marc Antony that Brutus makes the fateful error of allowing Antony to
give his funeral
oration.