Plutarch, Caesar  66-67  (A.D. 100): 66.  It may be said that all these things could have happened as it were by chance.  But the place where the senate was meeting that day and which was to be the scene of the final struggle and of the assassination made it perfectly clear that some heavenly power was at work, guiding the action and directing that it should take place just here.  For here stood a statue of Pompeius, and the building had been erected and dedicated by Pompeius as one of the extra amenities attached to his theater.  Indeed it is said that, just before the attack was made on him, Cassius turned his eyes toward the statue of Pompeius and silently prayed for its goodwill.  This was in spite of the fact that Cassius was a follower of the doctrines of Epicurus; yet the moment of crisis, so it would seem, and the very imminence of the dreadful deed made him forget his former rationalistic views and filled him with an emotion that was intuitive or divinely inspired. Now Antonius, who was a true friend of Caesar's and also a strong man physically, was detained outside the senate-house by Brutus Albinus, who deliberately engaged him in a long conversation.  Caesar himself went in and the senate rose in his honour.  Some of Brutus's party took their places behind his chair and others went to meet him as though they wished to support the petition being made by Tillius Cimber on behalf of his brother who was in exile.  So, all joining in with him in his entreaties, they accompanied Caesar to his chair.  Caesar took his seat and continued to reject their request; as they pressed him more and more urgently, he began to grow angry with them.  Tillius then took hold of his toga with both hands and pulled it down from his neck.  This was the final signal for the attack.  The first blow was struck by Casca, who wounded Caesar in the neck with his dagger.  The wound was not mortal and not even a deep one, coming as it did from a man who was no doubt much disturbed in mind at the beginning of such a daring venture.  Caesar, therefore, was able to turn round and grasp the knife and hold on to it.  At almost the same moment the striker of the blow and he who was struck cried out together—Caesar, in Latin, "Casca, you villain, what are you doing?" while Casca called to his brother in Greek: "Help, brother." So it began, and those who were not in the conspiracy were so horror-struck and amazed at what was being done that they were afraid to run away and afraid to come to Caesar's help; they were too afraid even to utter a word.  But those who had come prepared for the murder all bared their daggers and hemmed Caesar in on every side.  Whichever way he turned he met the blows of daggers and saw the cold steel aimed at his face and at his eyes.  So he was driven this way and that, and like a wild beast in the toils, had to suffer from the hands of each one of them; for it had been agreed that they must all take part in the sacrifice and all flesh themselves with his blood.  Because of this compact Brutus also gave him one wound in the groin.  Some say that Caesar fought back against all the rest, darting this way and that to avoid the blows and crying out for help, but when he saw Brutus had drawn his dagger, he covered his head with his toga and sank down to the ground.  Either by chance or because he pushed there by his murderers, against the pedestal on which the statue of Pompeius stood.  And the pedestal was drenched with his blood, so that one might have thought that Pompeius himself was presiding over this vengeance upon his enemy, who now lay prostrate at his feet, quivering from a multitude of wounds.  He is said to have received twenty-three wounds.  And many of his assailants were wounded by each other, as they tried to plant all those blows in one body. 67.  So Caesar was done to death, and, when it was over, Brutus stepped forward with the intention of making a speech to explain what had been done.  The senators, however, would not wait to hear him.  They rushed out through the doors of the building and fled to their homes, thus producing a state of confusion, terror, and bewilderment, amongst the people.  Some bolted their doors; others left their counters and shops and could be observed either running to see the place where Caesar had been killed or, once they had seen it, running back again.  Antonius and Lepidus, who were Caesar's chief friends, stole away and hid in houses belonging to other people.  Brutus and his party, on the other hand, just as they were, still hot and eager from the murder, marched all together in one body from the senate-house to the Capitol, holding their naked daggers in front of them and, far from giving the impression that they wanted to escape, looking glad and confident.  (R. Warner, trans.)