The Ides of March

Vincenzo Camuccini - The death of Julius Caesar

Back in 1967, I was studying at the Minor Seminary and one of the books we had to dissect and digest was the play ‘Julius Caesar’ by William Shakespeare. In it we were introduced to the phrase ‘Beware the Ides of March’, referring to March 15, the eventual date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC by a a bunch of his friends senators, including Brutus, whereby the phrase ‘E tu Brute...?’ The Ides of March is the 74th day in the Roman calendar, corresponding to March 15. That date was marked by several religious observances and was notable for the Romans as a deadline for settling debts.  The day was also enthusiastically celebrated among the common people with picnics, drinking, and revelry. One source from late antiquity also places the Mamuralia on the Ides of March. This was a Greek observance, which involved beating an old man dressed in animal skins and perhaps driving him from the city. The ritual may have been a new year festival representing the expulsion of the old year.