What is the Ides of March and why should we 'beware?'
N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAY
You might vaguely remember hearing in English class that you should “beware the Ides of March,” but what exactly is an “Ides” and why should you be wary of it?
Ides comes from an old Latin verb
iduare, which meant "to divide." It was the Roman term for the day that came in the middle of the month.
Every month has an Ides. March has 31 days, so the Ides of March is on March 15.
Roman dictator Julius Caesar heard — and ignored — the infamous warning about the Ides of March in the first act of Shakespeare’s play of the same name. Caesar then stubbornly ignored several more warning signs in the play, ultimately leading to his assassination.