Beware the Ides of March!

Today is March 15th, also called "The Ides of March." For many, this is akin to a few "Friday the Thirteenths" rolled together. The reason for the infamy of the day goes back to 44 BC, to the day when Julius Caesar was murdered.

In the old Roman Calendar, the Ides marked the middle of the calendar month—in March, May, July, and October, the Ides fell on the 15th. The day was sacred to Jupiter, but there was no ominous connotation to the Ides of March before 44 BC. According to Plutarch's Lives, a seer had told Caesar to "Beware the Ides of March," having foreseen the attack on Caesar. According to Plutarch, the story told by many was that Caesar saw the same seer on his way to meet the Senate at Pompey's Theater. Caesar mocked him by saying, "Well, the Ides of March are come," to which the seer replied "Aye, they are come, but they are not gone." And the rest, as they say, is history.

The details of Caesar's murder, of course, are well-known and passionately studied still today. But it is thanks to Shakespeare that we all know the line "Beware the Ides of March" and suppress a shudder on March 15th.

CAESAR Who is it in the press that calls on me? I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music, Cry 'Caesar!' Speak; Caesar is turn'd to hear. Soothsayer Beware the ides of March. CAESAR What man is that? BRUTUS A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March. CAESAR Set him before me; let me see his face. CASSIUS Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar. CAESAR What say'st thou to me now? speak once again. Soothsayer Beware the ides of March. CAESAR He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass. (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene ii.)