Say What? Beware the Ides of March & All roads lead to Rome
Friends, Romans, Grammarians, lend me your ears-or at least your eyes for the duration of today’s Say What?. Why kick it off with Mark Antony’s famous line from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar? Today’s edition is steeped in all things Rome, that’s why! We’ll be taking a look at beware the Ides of March and all roads lead to Rome, with a little help from our friends in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Beware the Ides of March
Shakespeare famously cribbed the plots for his plays from many sources; for his history Julius Caesar, he used Plutarch’s Life of Caesar, including the warning to Caesar from a soothsayer that he must beware the Ides of March (though Plutarch’s wording wasn’t nearly so dramatic). So, what are the Ides of March anyway, and why should Caesar beware?
The Ides of March are just another day on the calendar, really. Ancient Romans reckoned their days of the month differently than we do in modern times. There were three particular times of month that they used to mark days to or from: the Kalends (the first day of the month), the Nones (depending on the month, the 5th day or the 7th day), and the Ides (the 13th or 15th day). The Ides were usually the days of the full moon and considered auspicious. In March, the Ides fell on the 15th.
While the Ides were usually favorable, Caesar certainly had reason to beware them in that particular March of 44 B.C.; he was stabbed on the floor of the Roman Senate by a group of conspirators that included names such as Cassius and Brutus. These conspirators feared that Caesar would overthrow the Senate and make himself a king. It’s terribly ironic that this assassination eventually signaled the end of the Roman Republic and helped usher in the Roman Empire.
Unless your characters are well-versed in Roman history, they are unlikely to know anything about this phrase other than it was a portent penned by Shakespeare:
“Okay, Will, say something scary,” Dawn ordered, holding her cell phone camera up to record a video.
Willow blinked. “Um-beware the Ides of March!”
Dawn lowered the camera in disbelief. “Really, Will? Julius Caesar? If you were going to do Shakespeare, you could at least have done the witches from MacBeth.”
All roads lead to Rome
The origins of this saying are more historical and literal than literary. The Romans were great road-builders-they built roads everywhere, partly for commerce, but also because it made it easier for the Roman army to get to faraway places and conquer them. Indeed, a marker once stood in the Roman Forum detailing the distance from that point to various other major cities. Of course one can travel both ways on a road, and Rome was once the heart of a vast empire.
Despite the very literal meaning outlined above, the saying has come to mean that one solution may be reached by many different methods. Even though the Roman road system began to deteriorate after the Western Empire fell, the saying was in use in different sources in the 1100s.
While the saying’s modern usage is uncommon, your characters may very well use it while trying to puzzle out the solution to a problem:
“So,” Buffy said, glancing around. “Will is mediating, Dawnie is researching...”
“And you’ll go out and, er, well. Beat things up.” Giles looked dismayed for a moment at his own wording. “With all these different resources, it’s much more likely one of you will find the answers we need. All roads lead to Rome, after all.”
“When did Rome come into this? These guys aren’t in Rome, too, are they? Geez, Giles, you have to tell me these things!”
Giles pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.
Any time you want your story to have a bit of historical flair, a frisson of doom, or just the idea that a solution to a problem may be reached by a number of different methods, you can add in these sayings. Both of them have been around for a long time, but just because they’re old doesn’t mean they’re not good. And while we’re discussing Rome, here’s another one for you: Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Sources:
Beware the Ides of March
Shakespeare famously cribbed the plots for his plays from many sources; for his history Julius Caesar, he used Plutarch’s Life of Caesar, including the warning to Caesar from a soothsayer that he must beware the Ides of March (though Plutarch’s wording wasn’t nearly so dramatic). So, what are the Ides of March anyway, and why should Caesar beware?
The Ides of March are just another day on the calendar, really. Ancient Romans reckoned their days of the month differently than we do in modern times. There were three particular times of month that they used to mark days to or from: the Kalends (the first day of the month), the Nones (depending on the month, the 5th day or the 7th day), and the Ides (the 13th or 15th day). The Ides were usually the days of the full moon and considered auspicious. In March, the Ides fell on the 15th.
While the Ides were usually favorable, Caesar certainly had reason to beware them in that particular March of 44 B.C.; he was stabbed on the floor of the Roman Senate by a group of conspirators that included names such as Cassius and Brutus. These conspirators feared that Caesar would overthrow the Senate and make himself a king. It’s terribly ironic that this assassination eventually signaled the end of the Roman Republic and helped usher in the Roman Empire.
Unless your characters are well-versed in Roman history, they are unlikely to know anything about this phrase other than it was a portent penned by Shakespeare:
“Okay, Will, say something scary,” Dawn ordered, holding her cell phone camera up to record a video.
Willow blinked. “Um-beware the Ides of March!”
Dawn lowered the camera in disbelief. “Really, Will? Julius Caesar? If you were going to do Shakespeare, you could at least have done the witches from MacBeth.”
All roads lead to Rome
The origins of this saying are more historical and literal than literary. The Romans were great road-builders-they built roads everywhere, partly for commerce, but also because it made it easier for the Roman army to get to faraway places and conquer them. Indeed, a marker once stood in the Roman Forum detailing the distance from that point to various other major cities. Of course one can travel both ways on a road, and Rome was once the heart of a vast empire.
Despite the very literal meaning outlined above, the saying has come to mean that one solution may be reached by many different methods. Even though the Roman road system began to deteriorate after the Western Empire fell, the saying was in use in different sources in the 1100s.
While the saying’s modern usage is uncommon, your characters may very well use it while trying to puzzle out the solution to a problem:
“So,” Buffy said, glancing around. “Will is mediating, Dawnie is researching...”
“And you’ll go out and, er, well. Beat things up.” Giles looked dismayed for a moment at his own wording. “With all these different resources, it’s much more likely one of you will find the answers we need. All roads lead to Rome, after all.”
“When did Rome come into this? These guys aren’t in Rome, too, are they? Geez, Giles, you have to tell me these things!”
Giles pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.
Any time you want your story to have a bit of historical flair, a frisson of doom, or just the idea that a solution to a problem may be reached by a number of different methods, you can add in these sayings. Both of them have been around for a long time, but just because they’re old doesn’t mean they’re not good. And while we’re discussing Rome, here’s another one for you: Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Sources:
- Beware the Ides of March
- Wisegeek here and here
- Ides of March at Time.com (do watch the video!)
- Shakespeare quotes at enotes
- Dictionary.com
- English proverbs.org