Sat - 15 Mar/14

"Beware the Ides of March" became famous in modern times due to William Shakespeare. In his play Julius Caesar, Caesar is warned by a soothsayer to ... you guessed it.... "Beware the Ides of March" .

This is based in fact (supposedly). According to Plutarch, a seer had warned that harm would come to Caesar no later than the Ides of March. On his way to the Theater of Pompey, where he would be assassinated, Caesar passed the seer and joked, "The ides of March have come," meaning to say that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied "Aye, Caesar; but not gone."

The Ides of March wasn’t good for Julius Caesar — he was stabbed 23 times by his trusted friends on this day in 44 B.C.

The Ides of March (Latin: Idus Martii or Idus Martiae) is a day on the Roman Calendar that corresponds to the 15th of March. March (Martius) was the 3rd month of the Julian Calendar, in the oldest Roman calendar it was the first month of the year. The holidays observed by the Romans from the first through the Ides were, in a sense, comparable to new year celebrations. It was marked by several religious observances and became notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC.

The death of Caesar made the Ides of March a turning point in Roman history, as one of the events that marked the transition from the historical period known as the Roman Republic. The crisis triggered a civil war resulted in the rise of Octavian (later Augustus) who became the sole ruler, thus starting the new era of the Roman Empire.

If you think Roman Numerals are a problem - try their calendar. The Romans did not number days of a month sequentially from the first through the last day. Instead, they counted back from three fixed points of the month: the NONES (5th or 7th, depending on the length of the month), the IDES (13th or 15th), and the LALENDS (1st) of the following month.

That seems almost like asking what bus stop to get off at and receiving the response: "Watch me and get off 3 stops before I do?" (grin).

The Ides occurred near the midpoint, on the 13th for most months, but on the 15th for March, May, July, and October. The Ides were supposed to be determined by the full moon, reflecting the lunar origin of the Roman Calendar. On the earliest calendar, the Ides of March would have been the first full moon of the new year.

OK - that's enough of that (grin). I'm just trying to pass time as we anxiously await the safe arrival of Liz, Nick and Marty later today.

We watched the Paralympic Sled Hockey Finals USA 1 - Russia 0. Way to Go USA! Canada won Bronze - Good Show Canada!

Liz called at 3 p.m. They are about 5 hrs away - give or take a half hour. We made the sofa bed with the refreshed linens and folded it back away. Now we wait.

Finally they called: "We are at the gate." Arrival 8:30 p.m. I went over and punched in the code.

Yahoo! ...and hugs all around!