“Beware the Ides of March.”
In William Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, the “dictator for life” is getting mobbed by the ancient Roman equivalent of paparazzi when a soothsayer shouts this non-sequitur from the crowd. Caesar dismisses the fortune teller as a crazy person, saying, “He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass.” (Spoiler alert: Caesar paid a hefty price for ignoring the soothsayer’s warning.)
Many people today have no idea what the “Ides of March” means, or why Caesar was supposed to beware it. Since today happens to be the actual, honest-to-goodness Ides of March, we thought we’d bring everybody up to speed on the history behind this curious expression.
