tiny-librarian:All the conspirators now drew their swords and surrounded Caesar,so that whichever wa
tiny-librarian:All the conspirators now drew their swords and surrounded Caesar,so that whichever way he turned he saw nothing but gleaming bladesthrusting at him, and met with nothing but wounds. Thus he foundevery hand raised against him, and was driven about like some wildbeast attacked by the hunters, for the conspirators had agreed thateach should have a share in the slaying and that each weapon shouldtaste the blood of the victim. Therefore Brutus himself dealt him oneblow in the groin. Some say that Caesar defended himself against theothers, calling out and struggling, but that, when he saw the swordof Brutus drawn, he pulled his toga over his face and offered nofurther resistance. Either by chance or by the design of the conspirators, Caesar hadbeen driven to the foot of Pompey’s statue. There he fell, drenchingthe base of the statue with his blood. It seemed as if Pompey himselfwere directing the vengeance against his enemy who lay prostrate athis feet, writhing in the agony of death. It is said that Caesar received three-and-twenty wounds, and thatmany of his murderers were wounded by their fellows as they crowdedaround their victim and aimed their blows at him. Thus died Caesar at the age of fifty-six, having survived hisrival Pompey not much more than four years. The spirit which hadattended Caesar throughout his life followed him even after death,and as his avenger pursued and hunted his assassins across sea andland till there was not one left of all those who had either shed theblood of Caesar or consented to his death. Signs from heaven marked his death. A great comet blazed in theskies for seven nights after his murder, and then disappeared. Thesun’s lustre faded and its orb looked pale all that year; it rosewithout its usual radiance and did not give forth its usual heat. Theair was dark and heavy by reason of the feebleness of the sun, andthe fruits withered and fell half-ripened from the trees. Plutarch’s lives for boys and girls : being selected lives freely retold -- source link