Today is the Ides of March. Many of us know this phrase from Act 1 Scene 2 of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Here the playwright retells a tale from Plutarch’s Parallel Lives. Plutarch wrote about Julius Caesar visiting soothsayer who the emperor that great peril would come to him no later than the Ides of March.
But, what is the Ides of March? Is March the only month that has it? I use it because Ides is singular.
Ides rhymes with hides and in the ancient Roman calendar was the day of the full moon. It fell on the 15th of the month in March, May, July, and October. In all other months, the Ides falls on the 13th.
Ancient Romans did not believe that the Ides of March was a particularly inopportune day. In fact, they normally honored celebrated the deity of the month with military parades. March’s deity would have been Mars. However, Shakespeare gave us the well known phrase “Beware the Ides of March”.
Today provides a great excuse to read or reread Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. If you do, be on the lookout for my favorite passage from the play. Spoken by Mark Anthony in Act 3, scene 2, it begins “Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears.”.
Here’s hoping you have a terrific Ides of March.
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
ReplyDeleteGreat speech. I'm a big fan of the Henry V one:
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother;
The St Crispin's Day speech from Henry V is my all-time favorite thing written by Shakespeare.
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