Brutus. words before blows: is it so, countrymen? octavius. not that we love words better, as you do. brutus. good words are better than bad strokes, octavius. antony. in your bad strokes, brutus, you give good words. witness the hole you made in caesar’s heart, crying ‘long live, hail caesar!’ —the tragedy of julius caesar, william shakespeare what does shakespeare mean by the phrase "bad strokes" as spoken by antony in this passage? weak hits to: swimming strokes poor shots to: promises to portia evil deeds harmful words to: praise of the plebians