Read the excerpt below from act 1.2 of the tragedy of julius caesar and complete the instruction that follows. casca: why, there was a crown offered him; and being offered him, he put it by with the back of his hand, thus; and then the people fell a-shouting. brutus: what was the second noise for? casca: why, for that too. cassius: they shouted thrice. what was the last cry for? casca: why, for that too. brutus: was the crown offered him thrice? casca: ay, marry, was’t; and he put it by thrice, every time gentler than other; and at every putting by, mine honest neighbors shouted. put it by – v. turned it down; refused it. thrice – adv. three times. marry – adv. indeed. summarize the events of the excerpt above.

The correct answer is, 

Casca, Brutus, and Cassius discuss Caesar’s three refusals of a crown offered to him and the crowd’s cheers for him to accept it.

Cassius and Brutus question Casca about the shouting they heard coming from some place else. They are told Julius Caesar was offered the crown to be a monarch for the Roman Empire. The crown was offered three times and refused by Caesar every time.

Explanation:

Let's add just a little bit more context to this dialog:

Cassius is trying to poison Brutus against Caesar. It's Cassius' desire to have Caesar killed. He tells Brutus that Caesar is a weakling, inapt for ruling an Empire, and no better than any of them. He also tries to convince Brutus that he - Brutus - is too humble to admit his own greatness, thus implying that, by removing such an obstacle - Caesar -, Brutus could be the one rule.

While talking in this manner, they hear the people shouting and think of the possibility of Caesar being crowned already. That's why they question Casca about it.

source text: from the sketch here given it will be seen, that our good grandmothers differed considerably in their ideas of a fine figure, from their scantily dressed descendants of the present day. a fine lady, in those times, waddled under more clothes even on a fair summer's day, than would have clad the whole bevy of a modern ball room. nor were they the less admired by the gentlemen in consequence thereof. on the contrary, the greatness of a lover's passion seemed to increase in proportion to the magnitude of its object—and a voluminous damsel, arrayed in a dozen of petticoats, was declared by a low-dutch sonnetteer of the province, to be radiant as a sunflower, and luxuriant as a full blown cabbage. certain it is, that in those days, the heart of a lover could not contain more than one lady at a time; whereas the heart of a modern gallant has often room enough to accommodate half a dozen - - the reason of which i conclude to be, either that the hearts of the gentlemen have grown larger, or the persons of the ladies smaller — this however is a question for physiologists to determine. add punctuation to the following excerpt. writing under the name of diedrich knickerbocker washington irving aimed his potent satire at as diverse topics as political rivals such as thomas jefferson to the very ideal of looking back on the past affectionately: a fine lady, in those times, waddled under more clothes even on a fair summer's day, than would have clad the whole bevy of a modern ball room. a voluminous damsel, arrayed in a dozen of petticoats, was declared by a low-dutch sonnetteer of the province, to be radiant as a sunflower, and luxuriant as a full blown cabbage. in those days, the heart of a lover could not contain more than one lady at a time; whereas the heart of a modern gallant has often room enough to accommodate half a dozen

adding more details about the struggle rainsford experiences as he swims to the shore