It's a miserable, dark, rainy, cold day here on this middle of March.
And on this 15th of March, known as the Ides of March, one can't help but think of a man who legendarily lost his life on this day.
Julius Caesar was never an emperor but he was named the sole dictator of Rome in 46 B.C.E.
He only held the title for two years until his assassination on this day in 44 B.C.E.
He had a meeting with the Senators scheduled on that day and he went in spite of the pleas of his wife because of a prophecy by a seer, who claimed he would not live past the Ides.
In the end the prophecy came true as Caesar was stabbed 23 times by many of the Senators.
Later two of the assassins, Cassius and Brutus both committed suicide.
And to this day, thanks to William Shakespeare, we still have the expression, "Beware the Ides of March".
12 comments:
And there is this...part of Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from An American post.
"Anyway, a little backstory about the flippant tale I told two years ago: the man who taught me to use a chainsaw is real—together we cleared a field gone to alders in summer 1978. An adze is a woodcutting tool. And Hannibal Hamlin is one of the few topics my now-husband and I could find to talk about on our tongue-tied first date.
So, two years ago, I wrote:
By the time most of you will read this it will be March 15, which is too important a day to ignore. As the man who taught me to use a chainsaw said, it is immortalized by Shakespeare’s famous warning: “Cedar! Beware the adze of March!”
LOL! Great story. Thanks for sharing.
thecontemplativecat@blogspot.com That was great. I don't think I have ever seen a post on Caesar before. should have listened to his wife.
I hope google will accept the post I just wrote.
Caesar's famous last words "Et tu, Brute. I should have listened to my wife".
It is a shame that US Senators didn't copy the Roman example when Emperor Donald was on the throne.
If only Caesar understood the wife was 'SWMBO'.
I had no idea, always thought the Ides of March was weather related.
He should have listened to his wife. The End.
"I just came to have a good time, and I'm feeling so attacked right now." - Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar was never an emperor? If I ever knew that, I've forgotten it.
While Shakespeare may have popularized the phrase in our era, he was not the one who coined the term "Ides of March." It was actually Brutus who had a coin created in 43/42 BCE featuring the inscription "EID MAR" along with two daggers.
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