The Ides of March

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I'm participating in the Wednesday Quotes link-up hosted by Marsha at Always Write. And although the Ides of March is almost over by now, that's what I'll be writing about.

Beware the Ides of March. ~William Shakespeare

What is the Ides of March, and why should anyone be wary of it? We all quote the line, and I think a lot of us know it's from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, but I suspect that might be all we know about it. I sure don't know much more than that, so I thought I'd find out.

Although some of the months in our calendar come from Roman names, the Romans didn't use quite the same calendar, and they didn't number the days like we do. They had three set points in each month, and it was based more on the moon. The Ides was the first full moon of each month. The Nones is the 5th or 7th or 8th days before the Ides, and the Kalends is the first day of the following month. The Ides falls on the 13th of most months, but on the 15th in four months, including . . . you guessed it! . . . in March. The Ides of March would be first full moon of a new year, and was the beginning of spring, which naturally meant feasting and celebrating. 

On the Ides is held the jovial feast of Anna Perenna . . . The common folk come, and scattered here and there over the green grass they drink, every lad reclining beside his lass, Some camp under the open sky; a few pitch tents; some make a leafy hut of boughs, Others set up reeds in place of rigid pillars, and stretching out their robes place them upon the reeds,But they grow warm with sun and wine, and they pray for as many years as they take cups, and they count the cups they drink. ~Ovid

by night only crazy things

like the full moon and the whippoorwill

and us, are busy. ~Charles Olson

Does the full moon affect people's behavior, you ask? Yup. It makes people think the full moon affects people's behavior. ~Neil deGrasse Tyson

He made the moon to mark the seasons,

and the sun knows when to go down.

~Psalm 104:19~

The Ides of March was also the day that consuls (state officials) took office. At least until 153BC when, for some reason, the consuls started their terms on the first day of January. And then, along came Julius Caesar and in 46BC he changed the Roman calendar to establish January 1st as the start of the New Year. 

Julius Caesar didn't get to celebrate very many New Years before he was assassinated. He was stabbed to death in the Senate house by a group of conspirators led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus on the Ides of March in the year 44BC, and of course that's how the date came to be such a well-known one. And it was obviously a huge event that changed the course of Roman history. Following his death there were a series of Roman civil wars that finally ended with the rise to power of Octavian, Caesar's adopted heir. In 27BC Octavian became the emperor Augustus, and that was the end of the Roman Republic. 

But back to Caesar and the Ides of March . . . Ovid wrote about Caesar's murder as an act of sacrilege. On the fourth anniversary of his death, Octavian executed 300 senators and others as a way to avenge Caesar. Beware the Ides of March, indeed!

I hope your Ides of March has been a good one, with nothing to beware of, and no bad moon rising other than the enjoyment of this classic song!

The LORD watches over you―

the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all harm―

he will watch over your life;

the LORD will watch over your coming and going

both now and forevermore.

~Psalm 121:5-8~

This post appears first on A Fresh Cup of Coffee.

Wednesday Quotes 2024 is hosted by Marsha at Always Write. The original version of this post is linked at #WQ #164: Actions/Ides of March/Settling Debts

Sources for this article include: History.com and Imperium Romanum

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