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William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar included a line from a local seer that instructed the emperor to watch out because the date held a danger for him. In fact he was assassinated by Brutus on that day. Centuries later the phrase still brings a sense of apprehension to all who hear it.
The term Ides comes from the earliest Roman calendar, which is said to have been devised by Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome. Whether it was Romulus or not, the inventor of this calendar had a penchant for complexity. The Roman calendar organized its months around three days, each of which served as a reference point for counting the other days:
The remaining, unnamed days of the month were identified by counting backwards from the Kalends, Nones, or the Ides. For example, March 3 would be V Nones-5 days before the Nones (the Roman method of counting days was inclusive; in other words, the Nones would be counted as one of the 5 days). Days in March March 1: Kalends; March 2: VI Nones; March 3: V Nones; March 4: IV Nones; March 5: III Nones; March 6: Pridie Nones (Latin for "on the day before"); March 7: Nones; March 15: Ides Used in the first Roman calendar as well as in the Julian calendar (established by Julius Caesar in 45 B.C.E.) the confusing system of Kalends, Nones, and Ides continued to be used to varying degrees throughout the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance. So, the Ides of March is just one of a dozen Ides that occur every month of the year. Kalends, the word from which calendar is derived, is another exotic-sounding term with a mundane meaning. Kalendrium means account book in Latin: Kalend, the first of the month, was in Roman times as it is now, the date on which bills are due." From the sounds of things, the date of the month was more important than anything, especially for accounting. As a birthday person in March, I was always interested in the meaning of this old phrase. Since both my husband and I were March babies, we celebrate together. Neither of us falls on the dangerous date of the 15th. I worried when my daughter chose that as her wedding date, but in keeping with my promise not to stick my nose into her business, I said nothing. Furthermore I am troubled by all these new things to learn about the Roman calendar. It was enough to have to learn Roman Numerals in grade school. I made it through the first three: I for one, V for five, and X for ten. Mixing these three around results in the intended numeric values. But they don't stop there. The Romans also have L, M, and C. I don't remember what these stand for. To me they are all just alphabet soup! Then there's the metric system that vies for uses in our measuring system. Instead of a "gallon", I have to deal with a "liter". Handing wrenches to my husband as he installs a new kitchen faucet means a battle over which type: American or metric. Either way we always have the wrong size---too big or too small. I probably can't blame the Romans for that! As the current month "Marches" on, there is the usual mix of weather in conflict. Arkansas was buried under several feet of snow. Ohio likewise felt the wrath of the Great Lakes weather. Florida had tornadoes. I just saw a flash of lightning and the following thunder scared Skittles into barking. I expect Patches to be looking for a way to hide under my wheelchair; this was followed with incredibly heavy rain. Then came the wind with gusts up to 40 mph. This makes the walk difficult for my two little dogs that nearly blew away. The wind not only blew down branches; I saw whole trees on the lawn. When I can get out to do yard work, there will be much to be removed. The temperature today is down in the thirties and there is probably a wind chill factor well below that. Blurbs in today's paper showed little children wearing fancy outfits. Unless there is a major change by then, Easter outfits may be snow suits! Just Mom |
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