to show him that she could bear torture, if she ever were to be tortured for information. When Brutus saw it, he doubted her no longer. He told her about the plot, and even felt more confident in his decision to assassinate Caesar.
One instance where Portia’s love for Brutus really shows is on the day of Caesar’s assassination. She was filled with anxiety and worry for she feared for Brutus’ life. Even though she had sent a servant to check on him, she worked herself up by worrying so much that she fainted.
Portia's downfall came when Brutus and the conspirators’ plan backfired. They fled Rome to Athens, and decided that Portia should be left behind. Grief overwhelmed her because of this, even though she tried very hard to hide it. She would sometimes lock herself in her room and weep. It seemed as if almost everything that was around her somehow reminded her of Brutus. For example, a mural on the wall of two lovers meeting each other. She would weep and cry about how that would never be her again, for her beloved Brutus was running for his life.
Death: Portia died in the June of 43 BC. There are many speculated ways to which she died. The most common theory that is mentioned is her suicide by swallowing burning coals. However, historians find this highly implausible. Another speculation that has come up about her death is that she burned coals in a room while she was shut inside, causing her to die of carbon monoxide poisoning. Many believe the later to be more of what happened as it sounds a lot more reasonable.
Others believe that instead of committing suicide, she died from an illness that she had already been suffereing from for a while.
Her time of death is also disputed. Most contemporary historians believe that it was after Brutus’s death, Nicolaus of Damascus states that it was after the first battle of Philippi (for Portia perceived Brutus as dead), political journalist and classicist Garry Wills states that Portia actually died a year before the battle of Philippi of an illness that she already had (there are letters between Brutus and Cicero that support this theory, that is if they are genuine).
Portia has created a name and legacy for herself as the very loving and loyal wife of Brutus, and as a woman filled with beauty and youth.