The author uses this literary device called Figurative Language to express the feelings experienced; in this passage, the narrator talks about how the its mind and head were with the awful feeling of sadness. The author also talks about the sensation of space in which her mind was enclosed.
All this sentences and comparisons are part of a Figurative language that is used to make the speech more effective, persuasive, and impactful for the reader to feel more deeply the words of the narrator and could live through them. This figure goes beyond the literal meaning of the words and gives the reader more insights.
People is the plural of person that's most commonly used to refer to multiple humans. But people can also be used as a singular noun to refer to a population or particular community.
The answer is Caesar won’t read Artemidorus’ letter, which means Artemidorus cannot stop Caesar’s fate: his assassination.