Plutarch recorded Cicero's death. Assassins, led by Herennius, a centurion and Popilius, a tribune and a man Cicero had once defended against a charge of patricide, broke open the locked doors of Cicero's villa. They learned from a freedman, an emancipated slave of his brother Quintus, whom Cicero had educated, that Cicero was being carried by litter towards the sea. They ran ahead to an area where they could intercept the entourage. When Cicero say Herennius, he ordered the litterbearers to set him down. Cicero stroked his chin with his left hand, as was his custom. He appeared unkept, dusty and his beard and hair in need of a trim, and his face showed his trouble. Others turned away or covered their faces when Herennius cut off the head of the 64-year-old man. He cut off his hands as well as ordered by Antony. The 'Philippics' which those famous hands and head had written were speeches against Antony and thus the symbolism of the barbaric murder.
The head and hands were brought to Rome. Antony, on seeing these, proclaimed that the proscriptions could now be brought to an end. He ordered the hands and head mounted over the rostra.