Buzz
Everyone is familiar with the soothsayer's warning in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, where he cautions the Roman ruler to "beware the Ides of March." We also recall Caesar's reply: "Nah, I’ve got work to do that day." But if March 15 is the Ides of March, what significance does March 16 hold?
At the time of Caesar's assassination, Romans used the Julian calendar (which Julius Caesar himself introduced). This calendar was a revised version of the earlier Roman calendar and bears a striking resemblance to the modern Gregorian calendar. However, a key difference lay in how the Romans marked the days of the month.
Each month contained three significant dates: the Kalends (the first day of the month), the Ides (the middle of the month), and the Nones (the ninth day before the Ides, linked to the first phase of the Moon). Instead of counting forward (for example, March 10, March 11, March 12), Romans kept track by counting backwards from the Kalends, Ides, or Nones. For instance, March 10 was the sixth day before the Ides of March, March 11 the fifth, and so forth.
Since it followed the Ides, March 16 would have been described in relation to April: "The 17th day before the Kalends of April." This was often shortened to a.d. XVII Kal. Apr., where "a.d." stands for ante diem, meaning something like "the day before."
Thus, had Julius Caesar been assassinated on March 16, the soothsayer's foreboding message would have been, "Beware the 17th day before the Kalends of April." It doesn’t quite carry the same dramatic impact, does it?
This story first appeared in 2016.
