WHO KILLED JULIUS CAESAR? BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH (AND EAVESDROPPING...)
Et Tu, Brute?
Today (15th March) is a date known as ‘The Ides of March’ and even if you’re not a massive fan of Shakespeare you are likely to have heard the ominous warning to ‘Beware the Ides of March’. You also might know that there is a link to the death of Julius Caesar and if you know that, you’re probably pretty sure you know who killed him from his deathbed accusation against his former best mate Marcus Junius Brutus. “Et tu, Brute?”
These were the emperor’s dying words, meaning ‘You too Brutus?” as the realisation came over him that his former friend was involved with a group of senators who leapt onto a podium in the senate and stabbed him to death in front of everyone.
This quote was, not surprisingly, totally made up by Shakespeare and apparently, according to this article (which explains it much more eloquently than me!) the main assassin and traitor was a guy called Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus with poor Brutus just getting vaguely involved in the background. For reasons best known to himself Shakespeare reduced Decimus to a minor character in his play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar and created the Brutus we now think of as eponymous with treachery and betrayal.
I like to think of myself as a storyteller, so I love discovering these little titbits of knowledge and am happy to unashamedly use them in my mystery plots. I haven’t as yet written one based in Ancient Rome (on a very practical level I’m not sure about the costume togas…) but I’m pretty sure that I’m going to steal take inspiration from some elements of this story at some point. It’s got everything: 23 stab wounds in front of a room full of witnesses, distant cousins, conspiracies, double-crossing, the downfall of a man perceived to be a danger and, of course, Queen Cleopatra…
Overheard in…
I had the misfortune to sit near a couple recently who were making no secret of the fact that they were in some sort of illicit relationship. I really wasn’t eavesdropping; they were sitting at a table about 2 metres away from me and after 10 minutes I had worked out from their loud phone and ‘intimate’ conversations the following:
That they loved each other very much, that she was married with kids and concerned that ‘he’ (her husband, presumably) would be ‘very angry’ when he found out but was comforted by her lover that ‘he’ would go through some sort of ‘grieving process’ and then just get over it. In case you were wondering, they are planning a trip to Paris and will be arriving at 10.30pm but are slightly concerned that the bar may be full by the time they arrive as they can’t pre-book but have been assured by the hotel that they will be able to accommodate them, but they can’t get a room with a view of the Eiffel Tower. Also, baths are only available on the Tower side of the hotel, so they’ll have to settle for a shower. And she was less than happy that this would spoil her perfect romantic moment.
I did worry whether I should write all this down in case it was inappropriate or insensitive, but I have absolutely no time for cheaters and if they’d wanted it kept private, they should have gone somewhere more secluded than a café or just kept their voices down. There, I’ve said it. And elements of their story will no doubt appear at some point in the future when I’m looking for inspiration. Disclaimer: I’m not judging, as I know nothing about their lives or what is going on in them, but if you had been there…
The Ides of March
Finally, what exactly are the Ides of March and why are we ‘bewaring’ them? Well, today I learned that in the ancient Roman calendar, time was tracked into Kalends (the beginning of the month), the Nones (around 7 days after the Kalends) and the Ides (the middle of the month, normally falling around the 15th of the month. Days after this were described as ‘before the Kalends’ or the beginning of the next month.
So, every month has an Ides, but it just so happened that Julius Caesar got himself assassinated in March, hence Shakespeare coining the phrase and settling a superstitious doom over the date, much like Friday 13th. So, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to beware, unless you are discussing cheating on your husband/wife in my vicinity otherwise you may find yourself as a character in a murder mystery…
And it goes without saying, do get in touch if you’d like you and your team to experience one of these stories…