Watch Your Back

Rome

Have you been betrayed yet today? Has any treachery occurred?

No?  That’s what Julius Caesar said, but his day wasn’t over, and neither is yours.

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“Beware the Ides of March”

This famous phrase is from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, where a soothsayer warns Caesar of his impending death. Caesar doesn’t take the mystic seriously. 

When Caesar encounters the man on his way to the Senate on the morning of March 15, 44 BCE, they have this exchange:

Julius Caesar: “Well, the Ides of March are come.”

Soothsayer: “Aye, they are come, but they are not gone.”

Julius Caesar famously ignored the soothsayer’s warning. Later in the day, Caesar is stabbed to death by Roman senators, including Brutus and Cassius.

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The phrase endures as a reminder of political instability, treachery, and, in modern times, an ominous date to watch out for.

Until this day is over, I recommend that you …

… Watch Your Back.

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Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears…

… here are some Ides of March trivia.

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Unswept Room

On the Roman calendar, March was the first month of the year and the Ides marked the first full moon.  As the first fixed point of the year, the Ides had religious and cultural significance. Holidays were observed, festivals were held, debts and rents were due on the Ides.

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Misnomer

September (“seventh month”) and December (“tenth month”) are remnants of the Roman calendar, where March was the first month of the year. January and February weren’t added until some time in the 2^nd century BCE.

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Sacrifice

On the Ides of each month, the high priest of Jupiter led the Ides sheep in a procession along Rome’s Via Sacra (sacred street) to the Arx (high point) where it was sacrificed.

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Calendar

The Romans didn’t number the days of the month.  They started with the day of the full moon (the “Ides”) and worked backwards. The “Nones” occurred 5 or 7 days before the Ides, depending on the lunar cycle, and the Calends (from which we get ‘calendar’) marked the beginning of the month.

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The calends was a feature of the Roman calendar, but it was not included in the Greek calendar. Consequently, to postpone something “ad Kalendas Graecas” (“until the Greek calends“) was a slang expression for postponing something forever.

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Fencepost Error

Romans used a system of Inclusive Counting on their calendars.  Dates were counted up to and including the next named day. In ancient Rome a week, Sunday to the next Sunday, was eight days.

Inclusive counting can be explained using the concept of “Fencepost Error”:

If you build a straight fence 30 feet long with posts spaced 3 feet apart, how many posts do you need?

The common answer of 10 posts is wrong. The fence has 10 posts, one for each section, plus 1 post at the end, 11 posts inclusively.

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More Fencepost Errors

In English the word “fortnight” derives from “a fourteen-night”.  In French “fortnight” is quinzaine (15 days).  The French count days like fenceposts.

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Ides, the sequel. 

Four years after the death of Caesar, his adopted heir Octavian avenged Caesar’s death by executing 300 opposition senators.  As a tribute to Caesar, Octavian carried out the executions as a religious sacrifice at the altar to the deified Julius, on the Ides of March, 40 BCE.

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I hope that Ides of March 2026 is a memorable day for you, but please stay vigilant until it is over, …

… Watch Your Back.

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Ides of March Coin minted after the assassination of Caesar.

A pileus cap (symbol of liberty) and daggers used to kill Caesar are struck on one side. On the obverse is the bust of Brutus, Caesar’s backstabbing “friend”.

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