There is a tide in the affairs of men...

"There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
and we must take the current when it serves
or lose our ventures." -- Julius Caesar, Act 4, Scene 3


There come many tides in our lives, but taking advantage of a high tide will shepherd our path to fortunes and enable us to experience anything glorious than mundane events. In this scene, Brutus urges Cassius to initiate battle against Octavius and Antony by combining their forces with the people of Philippi, thus robbing the enemy of additional troops. The ratio of forces, in Brutus' view, is likely to put his brigade in an advantageous position,  subtly alluding to the fact that power is a force that flows and ebbs in time and that they must defeat their enemy by making most of their situation. Cradling the opportunity and not letting it pass, alters our path. If we chance upon such a situation but resolve to proceed past, we may spend the rest of our lives thinking what could have been. We must be vigilant in protecting these opportunities because we rarely chance upon them. It is these occasions that help us distinguish ourselves from the herd. These junctures present us not just with success driven opportunities, but also define the lives we choose to lead henceforth. However, our choices must not be confined to success or overlook the opportunities to live, laugh or see the enchantment in the world.
There is a tide in all things, but recognizing when they reach their peak and seizing  the opportunity it presents also brings forth a complex interplay between fate and free will. Life is influenced by both fate and free will, it  is up to us to comprehend the many omens that we encounter. It is not always easy to identify these nudges of fate, awakening us to the truth of lack of total control over our lives. So we must rise up to the occasion and evaluate the various options before us. The characters' repeated failures to identify the signs correctly and adapt to events as they unfold, form the basis for most of the tragedy that occurs in the play.
Fend off being your own nemesis.