Note 285 — LIFE OF CICERO. (continued 2)
George Long translation
Plutarch’s narrative leads us to suppose that Cicero saw that his time was come and offered his neck to the murderers. Appian’s narrative (Civil Wars, iv. 20) is that Lænas drew Cicero’s head out of the litter and struck three blows before he severed it. He was so awkward at the work that the operation was like sawing the neck off.
Cicero was murdered on the 7th of December, B.C. 73, being nearly sixty-four years of age.