Ides of October

Over the weekend of March 6-8 2020, the Dulcimer Association of Albany held its 31st Annual Dulcimer Festival in Latham, New York. The Dulcimer Association of Albany is a group of mountain dulcimer players who meet once a month to play dulcimers together. At the festival on Saturday, in a workshop called “Ensembles with Classical Music,” one of the handouts distributed to participants was a piece written by the workshop leader on October 15th. The title of the tune was “The Ides of October,” and as the Ides of March fall today, March 15th, here’s a little background on the Roman calendar.

“Beware the Ides of March,” a soothsayer warns Julius Caesar in Act 1 of William Shakespeare’s play, The Life and Death of Julius Caesar. By Act 3, scene 1, Julius Caesar announces to the soothsayer, “The Ides of March are come.” The soothsayer responds, “Ay, Caesar; but not gone.”

The Ides of March on an ancient Roman calendar is March 15th on a modern calendar. Also the Ides of May, July, and October fall on the 15th of each of those months; in all the other Roman months the Ides fall on the 13th on a modern calendar.

The Roman calendar fascinates beginning Latin students. A Roman counted forward to the next fixed date in a month. The first of every month in a Roman calendar is called Kalendae or Calends. The next fixed date is the Nonae or Nones (pronounced Nōnz) that fall on the 5th or 7th of a month, and the third fixed date is Idus or Ides on the 13th or 15th. To identify a date, a Roman counted the number of days to the next fixed date and that Roman included both the day he was on and the next fixed day. The modern date “March 13th” is written in Latin as III a.d. Id. Mart. (three days before the Ides of March) by counting the 13th (1), 14th (2), and 15th (3). The day before the next fixed date has a special designation; yesterday, March 14th, in Latin is prid. Id. Mart. “the day before” the Ides of March. 

Why do we still count down to the Ides of March? Great historical events capture the imagination. In American history we remember December 7th 1941 when Pearl Harbor was bombed, and we remember  D-Day, June 6th 1944, the invasion of Normandy, France. We will never forget September 11th 2001 when the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City were attacked. In Roman history on the Ides of March 44 B.C., a conspiracy of Roman senators assassinated the self-declared Dictator Perpetuus (Dictator for Life) Julius Caesar and precipitated the Roman Civil War that brought the Roman Republic to an end by 27 B.C. when a new leader, Julius Caesar’s great-nephew, later known as Caesar Augustus, became the first Roman emperor. 

And the Ides of October? We both remember and celebrate this date, for in 70 B.C. the great Roman poet Vergil was born.