Soothsayer warning Caesar of the Ides of March by Sir John Gilbert (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

‘Beware the Ides of March’ it was said. Those were the ominous words of the soothsayer made famous by Shakespeare in his play, Julius Caesar. The Ides of March (Idus Martiae) being the 15th of March in our modern calendar. On that fateful day in 44 BC, the soothsayer’s warning went unheeded and Caesar was assassinated by a group of conspirators in the senate hall. 

 

Shakespeare’s Version

In Act 1 of the play, the soothsayer approaches Caesar and warns him he is in grave danger on the Ides of March. But Caesar brushes it off as the ravings of a dreamer and moves on. Later in Act 3, on the Ides of March, they meet again when Caesar is on his way to the senate meeting and Caesar boasts—

 

Caesar: “The Ides of March are come” 

The soothsayer sharply retorts, 

Soothsayer: “Ay, Caesar, but not gone” 

Moments later Caesar is stabbed to death in the senate house.

 

The Historical Versions

 

These words of the soothsayer are not mere fiction, but are well attested by ancient writers Plutarch and Suetonius. Both writers record the warnings of the soothsayer before and on the Ides of March in 44BC.

 

“there was a certain soothsayer that had given Caesar warning long time afore to take heed of the day of the Ides of March (which is on the fifteenth of the month), for on that day he should be in great danger.” (Life of Caesar, Plutarch)

And on the Ides of March:

“That day being come, Caesar, going unto the Senate-house and speaking merrily unto the soothsayer, told him: ‘The Ides of March be come.’ ‘So be they’, softly answered the soothsayer, ‘but yet they are not past.'”(Life of Caesar, Plutarch)

 

Suetonius also mentions that there were dark portents before the assassination and records the soothsayer Spurinna warning Caesar he was in grave danger on the Ides of March. 

 

“Again, when he was offering sacrifice, the soothsayer Spurinna warned him to beware of danger, which would come not later than the Ides of March” (Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars) 

 

And later when Caesar entered the Senate House, with words so similar to Shakespeare’s own, he relates: 

“he [Caesar] entered the House in defiance of portents, laughing at Spurinna and calling him a false prophet, because the Ides of March were come without bringing him harm; though Spurinna replied that they had of a truth come, but they had not gone.” (Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars)

The words of the soothsayer, “Beware the Ides of March” imply that if they could be heeded, disaster might be averted. But for Caesar, in these accounts at least, there is a sense in which he could not avoid his fate. It was his very hubris and belief he could outwit (or ignore) fate that seems to have brought him down in the end. 

 

The Ides of March in 44 BC have long since passed, but the words ‘Beware the Ides of March‘ echo down the centuries as a forewarning of dangerous events to come. 

 

Take heed and don’t say you weren’t warned!