Beware the Ides of March: The Assassination of Julius Caesar

Summary: Beware the Ides of March references a prophecy for March 15, 44 BCE, the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar.

The Ides of March, 1883 oil on canvas by Sir Edward John Poynter (March 20, 1836-July 26, 1919), depicts Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Act II scene 2, in which Caesar's wife Calpurnia begs him to stay home March 15, 44, because of her nightmare of his murder. Manchester Art Gallery collection, Lancashire, north west England: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Beware the Ides of March references a prophetic warning for March 15, 44 BCE, the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar.

The assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar (July 12, 100 BCE-March 15, 44 BCE) took place on the Ides of March. Ides (Latin: Īdūs, "division," from verb īduāre, "to divide") constituted one of three monthly markers in the ancient Roman calendar, according to Martin Stezano's March 13, 2017, History Stories post for HISTORY. The Ides designated each month's first full moon. The Ides occurred on the 15th day in four months (March, May, July, October) and on the 13th day in an annual cycle's other eight months (January, February, April, June, August, September, November, December), explain the Editors of EarthSky in the team's March 15, 2021, post.

The Assassination of Julius Caesar

A number of omens appeared prior to Caesar's assassination. The most imminent omen confronting Caesar was the nightmare of his murder that awakened his wife Calpurnia Piso (ca. 70/76 BCE -?) on March 15. Caesar temporarily acquiesced to Calpurnia's subsequent plea for him to stay at home. He sent his friend Marcus Antonius (Jan. 14, 83 BCE-Aug. 1, 30 BCE), in his stead, to adjourn the Senate.

Nevertheless, Caesar's enemies were resolute against delay or failure in their murderous scheme. Marcus Junius Brutus (85 BCE-Oct. 23, 42 BCE), Gaius Cassius Longinus (Oct. 3, ca. 86 BCE-Oct. 3, 42 BCE) and Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus (April 27, 81 BCE-Sep. 43 BCE) led the plot to assassinate Caesar. Journeying to Caesar's house, instigator Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus (April 27, 81 BCE-Sep. 43 BCE) convinced Caesar to ignore his wife's nightmare and other omens and to convene the Senate.

On the way to the Senate, Caesar passed a soothsayer. The forecaster was not named in Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, commonly known as Parallel Lives, by Greek biographer Plutarch (46 BCE-ca. 122 CE). Spurinna was specified as the prognosticator in De Vita Caesarum (About the Lives of the Caesars), commonly known as The Twelve Caesars, by Roman historian Suetonius (Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus; ca. 69 CE-after 122 CE).

Plutarch reported that Caesar merrily greeted the soothsayer: "The Ides of March be come."

Spurinna replied softly but ominously: "So be they, but yet are they not passed" (Sir Thomas North translation [1579], page 64).

The Senate assembled in the Curia of Pompey (Latin: Curia Pompeia), a meeting hall at the entrance to the Theatre of Pompey (Latin: Theatrum Pompeii). Suetonius related that the conspirators ". . . gathered about him as if to pay their respects . . ." (Joseph Cavorse translation [1931], page 46). Standing behind Caesar, Publius Servilius Casca Longus (84 BCE-ca. 42 BCE) made the first slash, but ". . . the wounde was not great, nor mortall . . ." (Plutarch, page 67). Caesar was ". . . beset on every side by drawn daggers . . ." (Suetonius, page 46), as all the conspirators had agreed that ". . . every man should geve him a wound, bicause all their partes should be in this murther . . ." (Plutarch, page 68).

Plutarch stated that Caesar defended himself until Marcus Brutus, whom Caesar had considered as his friend, appeared before him. Upon seeing Brutus ". . . with his sworde drawen in his hande, then he pulled his gowne over his heade, and made no more resistaunce . . ." (page 68).

Did Caesar dramatically sputter, "Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar," as depicted by Elizabethan playwright William Shakespeare (bapt. April 26, 1564-April 23, 1616) in The Tragedie of Julius Caesar (Act III, scene 1)? According to Plutarch, the only words uttered by Caesar during the assassination were directed at first striker Casca. After receiving Casca's glancing cut on his neck, Caesar turned around and firmly grasped Casca's sword while saying: "O vile traitor Casca, what doest thou?" (page 67).

Suetonius reported that Caesar received his 23 stab wounds ". . . uttering not a word, but merely a groan at the first stroke . . ." (page 46). Yet, he added that ". . . some have written that when Marcus Brutus rushed at him, he said in Greek, 'You too, my child?'" (pages 46-47).

Suetonius also noted that Antistius the physician expressed the opinion that ". . . of so many wounds none would have proved mortal except the second one in the breast" (page 47). General and forensic psychiatrist Harold J. Bursztajn referenced Antistius's postmortem examination as ". . . perhaps history's first recorded application of medical knowledge to a homicide investigation" (page 21) in his article, "Dead Men Talking," in the Spring 2005 issue of the Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin.

Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene 1, the Assassination, ca. 1888 oil on canvas by British historical, portrait and war painter William Holmes Sullivan (1836-1908); second of three in series based on William Shakespeare's play. Royal Shakespeare Theatre collection, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, west central England: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

The Ides of March, 1883 oil on canvas by Sir Edward John Poynter (March 20, 1836­July 26, 1919), depicts Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Act II scene 2, in which Caesar's wife Calpurnia begs him to stay home March 15, 44, because of her nightmare of his murder. Manchester Art Gallery collection, Lancashire, north west England: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Ides_of_March_Edward_John_Poynter_(1836%E2%80%931919).jpg

Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene 1, the Assassination, ca. 1888 oil on canvas by British historical, portrait and war painter William Holmes Sullivan (1836-1908); second of three in series based on William Shakespeare's play. Royal Shakespeare Theatre collection, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, west central England: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Death_of_Julius_Caesar_2.png

For further information:

Amundsen, Darrel W.; and Gary B. Ferngren. "The Forensic Role of Physicians in Roman Law." Bulletin of the History of Medicine, vol. 53, no. 1 (Spring 1979): 39-56.
Available via JSTOR @ https://www.jstor.org/stable/44451297

Bursztajn, Harold J. "Dead Men Talking." Harvard Alumni Medical Bulletin (Spring 2005): 16-23.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/harvardmedica78harv/page/16/mode/1up

Editors of EarthSky. "Ides of March: Why Beware Them?" EarthSky > Human World. March 15, 2021.
Available @ https://earthsky.org/human-world/beware-the-ides-of-march/

Plutarch. Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans. Englished by Sir Thomas North Anno 1579, vol. V: 1-71. London UK: David Nutt, 1896.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/livesofnoblegrec05plut/page/1/mode/1up

Shore, Andrew. "Beware the Ides of March: Julius Caesar's Assassination in Art." Art UK > Discover > Stories. March 15, 2019.
Available @ https://www.artuk.org/discover/stories/beware-the-ides-of-march-julius-caesars-assassination-in-art

Stezano, Martin. "Beware the Ides of March. But Why?" History > History Stories. March 13, 2017. Updated March 13, 2020.
Available @ https://www.history.com/news/beware-the-ides-of-march-but-why

Strauss, Barry. The Death of Caesar: The Story of History's Most Famous Assassination. New York NY: Simon & Schuster, March 3, 2015.

Suetonius [Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus]. The Lives Of The Twelve Caesars. Joseph Gavorse, trans. and ed. The Modern Library. New York NY: Random House, 1931.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/livesofthetwelve035040mbp/

Suetonius [Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus]. The Lives Of The Caesars. With an English Translation by J.C. Rolfe. London [UK]: William Heinemann; New York [NY]: The Macmillan Co., MCMXIV (1914).
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/L031SuetoniusTheLivesOfTheCaesarsI
Available via University of Chicago @ https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Julius*.html#49