Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859) was an English author and intellectual, best known for his book Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1822). Many scholars suggest that in publishing this work De Quincey inaugurated the tradition of addiction literature in the West. In 1821, he went to London to dispose of some translations from German authors, but was persuaded first to write and publish an account of his opium experiences, which that year appeared in the London Magazine. This new sensation eclipsed Lamb's Essays of Elia, which were then appearing in the same periodical. He maintained himself by contributing to various magazines. His other works include: On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth (1823), Walladmor (1825), Biographical Essays (1851), Autobiographical Sketches (1853), Romances and Extravaganzas (1877), and Collected Writings (1889).

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar (First Folio title: The Tragedie of Ivlivs Cæsar) is a history play and tragedy by William Shakespeare first performed in 1599. Although the play is named Julius Caesar, Brutus speaks more than four times as many lines as the title character, and the central psychological drama of the play focuses on Brutus. Brutus joins a conspiracy led by Cassius to murder Julius Caesar, to prevent Caesar becoming a tyrant. Antony stirs up hostility against the conspirators. Rome becomes embroiled in civil war.

Caesar and Cleopatra is a play written in 1898 by George Bernard Shaw that depicts a fictionalized account of the relationship between Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. It was first published with Captain Brassbound's Conversion and The Devil's Disciple in Shaw's 1901 collection Three Plays for Puritans. It was first performed in a single staged reading at Newcastle upon Tyne on 15 March 1899, to secure the copyright. The play was produced in New York in 1906 and in London at the Savoy Theatre in 1907.

William Stearns Davis (April 30, 1877 - February 15, 1930) was an American educator, historian, and author. He has been cited as one who "contributed to history as a scholarly discipline, . . . [but] was intrigued by the human side of history, which, at the time, was neglected by the discipline." After first experimenting with short stories, he turned while still a college undergraduate to longer forms to relate, from an involved (fictional) character's view, a number of critical turns of history. This faculty for humanizing, even dramatizing, history characterized Davis' later academic and professional writings as well, making them particularly suitable for secondary and higher education during the first half of the twentieth century.