Lupus was weeping and seemed not to hear him. Cassius asked the soldier who was to act as executioner whether he had had any previous practice in that trade. ‘No,’ replied the soldier, ‘but I was a butcher in civil life.’ Cassius laughed and said: ‘That is very well. And now will you do me the favour of using my own sword on me? It is the one with which I killed Caligula.’ He was dispatched at a single stroke. Lupus was not so fortunate: when he was ordered to stretch out his neck he did so timorously and then flinched at the blow, which caught him on the forehead. The executioner had to
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