Me, myself and and Ides

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor

It’s March 15, also known, due to the death of Julius Caesar as The Ides of March. OK, so… what’s that? You may have heard the phrase “beware the Ides of March,” but what are these “Ides” and what’s there to fear?

The Ides is actually a day that comes about every month, not just in March—according to the ancient Roman calendar, at least. The Romans tracked time much differently than we do now, with months divided into groupings of days counted before certain named days: the Kalends at the beginning of the month, the Ides at the middle, and the Nones between them. In a 31-day month such as March, the Kalends was day 1, with days 2–6 being counted as simply “before the Nones.” The Nones fell on day 7, with days 8–14 “before the Ides” and the 15th as the Ides. Afterward the days were counted as “before

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the Kalends” of the next month. In shorter months these days were shifted accordingly.

You have probably only heard of the Ides of March, however, because it is indeed the day Roman Emperor Julius Caesar was assassinated. The immortal words “Beware the Ides of March” however came along much later, written by William Shakespeare in his play, aptly titled “Julius Caesar.” The famous line is spoken to the ill-fated leader by a fortune-teller.

I mean, sure, that’s a bad thing, and as a warning it’s pretty catchy, but it’s not even necessarily the worst thing that ever happened on March 15th. That’s also the day that Czar Nicholas of Russia abdicated the throne. The communists took over and created the Soviet Union. That was a pretty big deal too.

Also, not every thing that happened on March 15th was bad. I’ll be some of you even have birthdays today, like Dee Snider of the rock group Twisted Sister. You know, “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” and “I Wanna Rock.” — don’t tell you me you’d want to live in a world without those iconic classics!

Anyway, I quess what I’m saying is that now you know what Ides are, but there’s probably no reason to beware March’s Ides more than the Ides of any other month. OK, maybe Tax Day…

Beware the Ides of April!