Today is another "Super Tuesday" in the endless American presidential election.
By coincidence it's also the day in 44 BC when Julius Caesar was murdered.
According to Shakespeare, it was a haruspex soothsayer by the name of Spurinna who first warned Caesar about the plot to kill him.
On his way to the senate that day on March 15, he passed her in the street and somewhat mockingly said, "The Ides have come."
To which she quietly replied, "But not over."
On that very day a group of dysfunctional senators, in a conspiracy led by Gaius Cassius Longinus and his brother-in-law Marcus Junius Brutus, slowly and deliberately stabbed Julius Caesar to death.
This reckless event brought an end to the troubled and fragile Roman Republic, eventually ushering in the rapacious and cruel Roman Empire.
Beware the Ides, indeed.
Politics can be ever so tricky.
Andrew
Since I take it that we're kindred spirits in the history buff department, I figured you would like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_uuh3rUwBo
ReplyDeleteI've always thought that the soothsayer got wind of the plot and gave him that warning.
Apparently soothsayers have several avenues of collecting information before saying their sooth. Thanks for sharing.
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