Always have a toothpick handy!

Are you all aware that today, March 15th,  marked the worst day of Julius Caeser’s life?  Sure was!  Seems that he got himself carved up by a bunch of his enemies in the Roman Senate in 44 B.C.   William Shakespeare thought it was important enough an event to write a play about and teach us all about the term “The Ides of March.” 

It went down this way.  Caeser was an arrogant old fart and he apparently summoned the Senate to meet in the Theater of Pompey on the Ides of March.  A certain seer (soothsayer)warned Caesar that he had better have his head on a swivel that day and to be on his guard because a great peril on the 15th of March had his name written all over it.  Caesar apparently blew the fortune teller off and didn’t pay him much mind.   So when the big day had come and Caesar was strolling on his way to the senate, he saw the seer again and greeted him with a jest and said: “The Ides of March has come,” basically telling him, “Shows how much you know!”  The seer then answered him softly and said: “Yes, the Ides of March has come, but it has not passed.” 

Caesar soon learned that you don’t dis the seer because as the Senate convened, Caesar was attacked and stabbed to death by a group of senators who called themselves the liberatores  (”Liberators”).  They justified their action on the grounds that they committed tryrannicide and were preserving the Republic from Caesar’s alleged monarchical ambitions.  Call it anything you like….they killed him!  The term “Ides of March”  has since come to be used as a metaphor for impending doom.   Big deal, huh?  Well, if you like trivia…the ides of March was a also a red letter day for George McFly in the movie ”Back to the Future II.”  He was killed on the 15th of March, 1973!

So whether you are superstitious or not, at least today you learned a new expression or term you might not have known before.  If you want to be really enlightened you should also know that in the Roman calendar, 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 8 months.  Don’t ask me why.  It was a long time ago and my day-timer only goes back a few years.

I think we should all pull together today and spit in the face of all the doom-sayers and let’s make this March 15, 2008 our best day so far this year!

Regards, Rick

PS.  I need your help!!  What can I do to make my blog better and what more can I do to advertise it?  I will cherish  your comments and/or advice.  Let me know.  Thanks for stopping by and sharing some of your valuable time with me!  Rick