“Beware the Ides of March”
What in the heck does Ides mean?
It means the 15th day of March,
May, July or October in the ancient Roman calendar, but usually refers to the Ides
of March (March 15).
It’s not a holiday, but ‘Beware the Ides of
March’ rings a bell with many: it was the warning given to Julius Caesar by a
soothsayer in William Shakespeare’s play Julius
Caesar.
If there were actual warnings, they weren’t
recorded, but Shakespeare made the date a mind-sticker.
In case you’re wondering, moments later
Caesar succumbed to twenty-three stab wounds, assassinated by his fellow
senators, jealous of his power, right there in the Roman Senate. I guess they
hadn’t thought of impeachment yet.
But that’s ancient world history. Old news.
Does the Ides of March mean anything in
American history? You bet it does!
Here’s an excerpt from Naked in the Winter Wind about that date. Our time traveling
heroine, Evie, has amnesia but does remember her history. She explains it to
Sarah, a fellow time traveler.
“The Ides of March
wasn’t just a bad day for Caesar,” I said. “It was the day of the big battle at
Guilford Courthouse. We didn’t, or won’t, win this one.”
“Oh, crap,” Sarah said.
“I remembered it when
you told me today’s date. Mac named one of the boys after Nathanael Greene. He
was, or rather is, a great general. He’s going to turn the tide of the war with
this battle. We won’t win it—but neither do the British, really. From this
battle on, we’re in charge and, well, you know we’ll be victorious in the end.
I wish I could do something to help us win this one, but I don’t know what
I—we—could possibly do. I do think we’d better tell Jody about it, though.”
“That, my dear, is the
only thing I’m sure we should do.”
Read more about Evie and her interaction with Revolutionary War battles and encounters with Red Coats in Naked in the Winter Wind, first book in The Fairies Saga series.
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| Naked in the Winter Wind |
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