Cicero's last words are said to have been, "There is nothing proper about what you are doing, soldier, but do try to kill me properly." On Marcus Antonius' instructions his hands, which had penned the Philippics against him, were cut off as well as his head. Marcus Antonius' wife Fulvia took Cicero's head, pulled out his tongue, and jabbed it repeatedly with her hairpin in final revenge against his power of speech.