Ruminations on The Ides of March

Our post today recalls the calendar date of March 15, 2014, a date which has been referred to as the Ides of March for over two millennia.   

So, harken and listen up historians, educators, students, actors, speakers, writers and friends of the world's most quoted author* since time began: William Shakespeare. *Caveat: The Oscar winner for 'most quoted words' would likely go to sacred scriptures. 

The most widedly conjured up meaning of today's quoted phrase recalls the historically renowned admonition offered to Julius Caesar by a soothsayer: 'Beware the Ides of March', (Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2, 15-19).

But what was Julius Caesar's reaction to these words? He knew that he was the leader of the Roman Empire, the most powerful man in a virtually enslaved world of 44 BC. In his consummate rerliance in his own majesty, superior wisdom and judgment, perhaps in his arrogantly perceived divine infallibity, Julius, the man, simply blew off the soothsayer and his words as unworthy of his time or the least attention. So Caesar moded right along in the scheduled events of that March 15 more than two millennia ago walking right into the darkest event of his life, his own assasination, an act of one in whom Caesar had such profound confidence and trust that he would utter in his dying words, 'E tu, Brute'.  

So, what do we learn from this? Is it just possible that a common soothsayer had a more realistic sense of the times than the Emperor of Rome? Is Shakespeare's soothsayer symbolic of the common man's perception of public affairs?  Did the soothsayer have a better sense that Julius Caesar himself of the tempo and moods of the Roman Senate, the judiciary, the courtiers and tribunal guard, the merchants, traders, money-lenders and the common man?
Or was there a wiser, and in the end possibly nobler aspect to Julius Caesar whose empire perhaps had grown in size and its diversity among the citizenry beyond the ability of one great communit8y to serve all well.

We invite you to consider your own thoughts and write your own conclusions as to what really happened in this one landmark event in the ultimate decline of Rome. Would a wiser ruler have understood that effective leadership serves the best interests of all of his constituents rather than his own?

Then again, you might prefer to read much more about the historic significance of the Ides of March as you discover some fascinating references on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ides_of_March  You can also 'Google' and find infromation about George Clooney's 2011 drama entitled: 'The Ides of March'.

We invite you to comment and to also visit the Quest for Common Ground at http://www.tqfcg.blogspot.com/