A cultural blog with Kyrie O'Connor

Beware the ides of March


Today is the ides of March, at least technically, in that it is March 15. Under the lunar calendar, this would also be the full moon and the vernal equinox, but it’s not, because our calendar became disconnected from the natural world many cold days ago.

But it is, at least in date, the anniversary of the day Julius Caesar was stabbed to death, inadvertently paving the way for the Roman Empire to supplant the Roman Republic.

Here’s an article about the ides, which manages to misspell “Caesar” three times, in two different ways. Awesome!

Back in the day, every month had an ides, sometimes on the 13th, sometimes on the 15th.

I bet you think you know Caesar’s last words! But no. He didn’t say “Et tu, Brute.” In fact, he wouldn’t even have spoken Latin in this context.

From Wikipedia:

The dictator’s last words are not known with certainty, and are a contested subject among scholars and historians alike. Suetonius reports that others have said Caesar’s last words were the Greek phrase “καὶ σύ, τέκνον;”[79] (transliterated as “Kai su, teknon?”: “You too, child?” in English).

And it’s possible he said nothing at all.

There. You learned something.

Categories: language
Kyrie O'Connor

14 Responses

  1. LanceBoyle says:

    I was thinking Wm. Shakespeare originated the line.

  2. BMar says:

    Caesar = Another man who should have listened to his wife and stayed home instead of heading out to be with his “friends”.

  3. JohnD says:

    The fascinating thing about Caesar’s last words were the way that he used them to discredit his assasins. By naming Brutus as his son, Caesar did three things:

    1) He named Brutus’ mother as an adulterer, which was punishable by death in the Roman Republic. This split Brutus’ power-base in his family as the mother’s side tried to keep her alive and the father’s side tried to have her put to death.

    2) He named Brutus as an illegitimate child. This reduced Brutus’ power among the senatorial class, as they placed a social stigma on children form the wrong side of the toga.

    3) He named brutus as a parricide, which was punishable by death in Rome. That further reduced Brutus’ power-base, as few were willing to associate with someone who would commit such a horrific crime. Many Romans considered it the most evil crime possible, and the penalty was to be scourged with fasces then sewn into a bag with a dog, a rooster, a monkey, and a poisonous snake – all of which was then thrown into the Tiber.

    Under Roman law, those who helped a parricide were as guilty as the perpetrator. Thus, by saying “You too, my son?” Caesar destroyed those who destroyed him.

  4. Ed says:

    He said, “Look what you did to my new toga!”.

  5. Bill in Houston says:

    He could have said, “O dolor” (Oh, the pain) or even “heus!” (Ouch!)

    Back in the 9th grade, some friends and I dressed in bedsheets and re-inacted that scene with our Ancient & Medieval History teacher as victim. It was appropriate as we were finishing our studies of the Roman Empire. When the time came we made to stab him with plastic spoons. After the ceremony we celebrated with store-bought cupcakes topped with those non-extinguishing candles. Hey, this was great entertainment for 1975! Oh, and you should have seen the groovy bedsheet I had on (a block pattern of harvest gold, bright blue, and teal).

  6. kyriememo says:

    Bill — He would have spoken Greek, not Latin.

    In ninth grade, we re-enacted this scene from Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”. I had a minor part — Decius, I think — but since it was a girls’ school, i think it rivals your re-enactment for weirdness.

  7. Ranger Jim says:

    These days, a better saying would perhaps be Cave Idus Aprilis!, eh? ;-)

  8. Mart says:

    Let’s see.. yesterday was Pi day, today is the Ides of March. So in combination we have pi-ides:

    or as I like to call it pie-eyed’s day

  9. jim says:

    He really did say “Et tu, Brute?” Brutus replied

    “Naw man, I ain’t Et nothing!”

  10. glennaa says:

    “Bill — He would have spoken Greek, not Latin.”

    Why do you say that? Though most of the Roman upper class could speak Greek, and some may have preferred Greek, I don’t see anything that says that his last words would definitely be in Greek. After all, his first language would have been Latin.

  11. Laurie says:

    I have a friend who was a high school English teacher. While grading quizzes, it became apparent that her students did not understand the Ides of March concept. Their answers included “Beware the ideas of March” and “Beware the eyes of March.”

    These children are our future. God help us. :)

  12. Hugo says:


    Caesar naming calling Brutus “his child” did nothing to split his power base.

    Brutus had Cassius and the anti-Caesarian camp, where as Antony and Lepidus and eventually Octavian were in the pro-Caesarian camp. Brutus and Cassius strangely had more men with them from the Senatorial class so I don’t see how Brutus’ power somehow was lessened by Caesar’s supposed last words.

  13. JohnD says:


    that’s because you assume (as did Brutus and his caste-minded co-conspirators) that the only folks who mattered were in the nobility. However, Caesar got his power not from being a noble but from his popularity. By taking away most of Brutus’ popular support, Caesar seriously weakened the cabal.

    You also miss the importance of Brutus’ parricide. Killing one’s parents was considered by the Romans to be one of the worst crimes possible. In today’s terms, it would be like being accused of being a pedophile; just the accusation is enough to reduce your power base.