(c) Mors Cicerōnis – The Death of Cicero

Quīntus, quī Athēnīs manēbat, trīstis erat maximēque sollicitus. mox

nū ntius Athēnā s relā tus est quī eum magnopere commō uit. nēmō
Antō nium uehementius oppugnā uerat quam Cicerō ; nēminem Antō nius
magis ō derit. ipse manum mīlitum mīsit quī iussī sunt Cicerō nem occīdere.
ille in uīllā manēbat prope mare; ubi dē aduentū mīlitum cognō uit,
temptā uit nā ue effugere. uentīs tamen aduersīs repellēbā tur. tandem ad
uīllam redīre cō nsituit; ‘mortem obībō ’ inquit ‘in patriā quam saepe
seruā uī.’

Quintus, who was waiting in Athens, was depressed and extremely vexed. News
soon got brought to Athens which moved him greatly. Nobody had opposed Antony
more vehemently than Cicero; Antony hated no one more. He himself sent a band of
soldiers who were ordered to kill Cicero. The guy was waiting in his country estate near
the sea; when he found out about the arrival of the soldiers, he tried to flee by ship. He
was rebuffed, however, by contrary winds. Finally he decided to return to his estate; “I
shall meet death,” he said, “in the fatherland which I often saved.”

in lectīcā ad uīllam ferēbatur cum mīlitēs aduēnērunt. nō n resistit sed

ceruīcem ē lectīcā extendit. illī caput eius gladiō praecīdunt. deinde manū s
quoque praecīdērunt, quae tot ō rā tiō nēs in Antō nium scrīpserant. caput
eius ad Antō nium relā tum inter duā s manū s in rō strīs affixum est in quibus
Antō nium tantā ēloquentiā totiēns oppugnā uerat.

He was being carried to his estate in a litter when the soldiers arrived. He did not
resist but extended his neck from the sedan. Those guys lopped off his head with a
sword. Next they also cut off his hands which had written so many orations against
Antony. His head, having gotten carried back to Antony got affixed between his two
hands on the Rostra on which he had attacked Antony so many times with such
eloquence.