"The Ides of March Have Come" (no, not Sid Caesar)

Comedian Sid Caesar (image: google.com)

Today, March 15th, is known as "the Ides of March" and here's why:

The word Ides comes from the Latin word "Idus" and means "half division" especially in relation to a month. It is a word that was used widely in the Roman calendar indicating the approximate day that was the middle of the month. The term ides was used for the 15th day of the months of March, May, July, and October, and the 13th day of the other months. (OH MY GOSH - what if the 13th was on a Friday? That would be very unlucky, if you believe in that sort of superstitious stuff - and the Friday 13th bad luck connection supposedly comes from the time when the Knights Templar were routed out and executed by their enemies - now, that's just crazy!) The Ides of March was a festive day dedicated to the god Mars and a military parade was usually held. (OH MY GOSH - I think I saw the planet Mars in the eastern night sky last night - isn't that odd?)

In modern times, the term Ides of March is best known as the date on which Julius Caesar was killed in 44 B.C. Caesar was stabbed (23 times) to death in the Roman Senate by a group of conspirators led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. (OH MY GOSH - I just watched the movie "23" the other night! 23? It's everywhere, like right here in Wikipedia, about how many times Julius Caesar got stabbed! That's spooky, isn't it?) The group included 60 other co-conspirators according to Plutarch.

According to Plutarch, a seer had foreseen that Caesar would be harmed not later than the Ides of March and on his way to the Theatre of Pompey (where he would be assassinated), Caesar met that seer and joked, "The Ides of March have come", meaning to say that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied "Aye, Caesar; but not gone." This meeting is famously dramatized in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, when Caesar is warned by the soothsayer to "beware the Ides of March." Julius Caesar was stabbed 33 times (three and thirty wounds) according to Shakespeare's play.

(Oh - whew! Okay, then, so according to Shakespeare's play, Caesar got stabbed 33 times, NOT 23 - so, no bizarre coincidence or conspiracy there! Now I can relax...) 

On a lighter note, here's what's going on in my back yard as March 20 - the first day of spring - approaches:

A lone crocus (but more nearby ready to open)

Volunteer lettuce springing up from where I had planted a pot of it.

The ever-returning family of kale, looking a little tired but still going.