Cæsar, as had been arranged, took his seat in the consular chair; the place next his was vacant, his colleague not being present. There was no time to be lost, for Marcus Antonius might appear at any moment. Tullius Cimber, showing much vehemence, drew near to the Consul, making a plea for the return of his brother from exile. As Cæsar hesitated, the prearranged signal for the murder was immediately acted upon. Cimber with both hands tore apart Cæsar’s toga; at the same time Casca aimed at his neck a blow which glanced and struck the breast. Cæsar appears to have thought that it was only an act of personal vengeance from which he could protect himself. He sprang to his feet, snatched his toga from the hands of Cimber, and threw himself on the arm of Cassius, at the same time defending himself with the stylus of his tablet. He was strong and active, and might have got the better of his two antagonists, but as he turned on Casca he received a wound in the side, then several others from the conspirators as they closed in upon him. No one of the Senators, whom he had created, came to his help. All was over in a moment, for he made no further resistance when he saw the arm of Marcus Brutus, specially bound to him by personal favors, raised to strike. He fell at the feet of the statue of Pompeius, his body pierced by twenty-three wounds. The corpse was brought back to his dwelling by three slaves in the litter in which he had been carried to the Senate. All the rest of his retinue of clients and friends had fled.