The Ides of March

The Ides of March (see link for info on "ides") is a day we all know as March 15. But in the year 44 BC, it became the day that changed history. A group of conspirators (supposedly about 62 in all), led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, stabbed Julius Caesar to death (23 times in fact). Brutus and Cassius had incited the members of the conspiracy by playing upon their fears that Julius had plans to be not just Caesar but King of Rome! 

According to Plutarch (a Greek historian), a soothsayer 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. According to Plutarch's writings, Caesar met the soothsayer and joked, "The Ides of March are come". By that phrase he was saying that the prophecy had not been fulfilled.  At that point, the soothsayer replied,  "Aye, Caesar; but not gone", meaning there was still time left in the day. It is believed that Caesar thought the prophecy was supposed to occur by the time March 15th arrived. Not realizing that  the 15th was to be included.

From that day forward, citizens no longer needed to write specifically about the assassination, all they had to say was "the ides of March" and people knew what was being talked about.The phrase "Beware the ides of March" comes from the Shakespeare play "Julius Caesar" when the soothsayer tries to warn Caesar of impending doom. Although it has taken on much the same superstition as Friday the 13th, the Ides of March isn't something to be feared, it's just another day on the calendar.