To be, to Brutus

ESSE

Think of Shakespeare’s Latin motto—what verb means "to exist" in Caesar’s tongue?

This clue plays on Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, where Brutus famously says, “Et tu, Brute?”—Latin for “And you, Brutus?” The answer “ESSE” is the Latin infinitive “to be,” so the clue cleverly swaps English grammar (“to be”) with Latin while nodding to Brutus’s role in the play. It’s a double layer: the phrase mimics the structure of “to [verb], to [person]” (like “to eat, to live”) while tying the answer to Brutus through language.