s, hit the mark closer. "You have my
good wishes; but what you do, do quickly," he said to Brutus and
Cassius.

The alarm caused by his words was doubled when he stepped up to Caesar,
on his entrance to the chamber, and began to whisper in his ear. Cassius
was so terrified that he grasped his dagger with the thought of killing
himself. He was stopped by Brutus, who quietly said that Popillius
seemed rather to be asking a favor than telling a secret. Whatever his
purpose, Caesar was not checked, but moved quietly on and took his seat.

Immediately Cimber, one of the conspirators, approached with a petition,
in which he begged for the recall of his brother from banishment. The
others pressed round, praying Caesar to grant his request. Displeased by
their importunity, Caesar attempted to rise, but was pulled down into his
seat by Cimber, while Casca stabbed him in the side, but inflicted only
a slight wound. Then they all assailed him with drawn daggers.

Caesar kept them off for a brief time by winding his gown as a shield
round his left arm, and using his sharp writing style for a weapon. But
when he saw Brutus approach prepared to strike he exclaimed in deep
sorrow and reproach, "_Et tu, Brute!_" (Thou too, Brutus!) and covering
his face with his gown, he ceased to resist. Their daggers pierced his
body till he had received twenty-three wounds, when he fell dead at the
base of the statue of Pompey, which looked silently down on the
slaughter of his great and successful rival.

What followed this base and fruitless deed may be briefly told. The
senators not in the plot rose in alarm and fled from the house. When
Brutus turned to seek to justify his deed only empty benches remained.
Then the assassins hurried to the Forum, to tell the people that they
had freed Rome from a despot. But the people were hostile, and the words
of Brutus fell on unfriendly ears.

Marc Antony followed, and delivered a telling oration, which Shakespeare
has magnificently paraphrased. He showed the mob a waxen image of
Caesar's body, pierced with wounds, and the garment rent by murderous
blades. His words wrought his hearers to fury. They tore up benches,
tables, and everything on which they could lay their hands, for a
funeral pile, placed on it the corpse, and set it on fire. Then, seizing
blazing embers from the pile, they rushed in quest of vengeance to the
houses of the conspirators. They were too late; all had fled. The will
of the dic