[116] Literally, ‘he seemed to do something rather bold for one holding his hands inside.’ Didot renders as though Caesar were referred to as keeping his hands beneath his toga: ‘arrivé près de César, qui tenait ses mains sous sa toge.’ It is scarcely possible to derive such an interpretation from the Greek as it stands. The translation ‘for a suppliant’ was suggested by Plautus, Amph., 257, ‘velatis manibus orant, ignoscamus peccatum suom.’ There ‘veiled hands’ (bearing fillets) are a mark of supplication; ‘εἴσω τὰς χεῖρας ἔχοντος’ as applied to Cimber may have a similar meaning, particularly since he is described as feigning to intercede with Caesar for his brother; and Nicolaus may not have understood the Latin expression (compare App. 2, 117; Suet., Caes., 82; Plut., Caes. 66; Brut. 17). [117] Appian 2, 117; Suet., Caes., 82; Livy, Epit., 116; Florus 2, 13, 95; Zonaras 10, 11 D; Eutropius 6, 25; Valerius Maximus 4, 5, 6; Plutarch, Caes., 66, mention 23 wounds; Dio 44, 19, speaks of ‘many’ wounds; Nicolaus alone gives the number as 35. O. E. Schmidt, Jahrb. für class. Philol., sup. 13, p. 674, suggests that there may have been two traditions at the time of Nicolaus, one involving 23 wounds, the other 35. This belief is scarcely justifiable, since there is but one example of the latter tradition, and Suetonius, whose account usually coincides with that of Nicolaus, is here at variance. Piccolos, Nicolas de Damas, Vie de César, p. 89 shows how the capitals Κ and Γ (23) may have become corrupted to Ε and Λ (35). The error is possibly due to the excerptor. 25. [118] A slight lacuna exists here. [119] Brutus, as spokesman for the assassins, is here described as attempting to deliver a formal address to the multitude immediately after the murder and before the conspirators fled to the Capitoline. A similar implication is found in Dio 44, 20-21, though Brutus is not there mentioned by name. Appian 2, 119, suggests rather that the slayers simply ran, shouting random remarks in defense of their deed.