The Ides of March

“Beware the Ides of March.” This is one of the very few lines I remember from Dr. Miller’s Shakespeare class I took as a junior in college. I vividly remember signing up for this class. Shakespeare was offered for spring quarter. The goal of many college students was to get the ABC class schedule: 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00, so we would finish at 12:30 and be out tanning by 1:00. Shakespeare was not a class I wanted to take, but as an English major it filled a graduation requirement and as one who wanted to work on her tan, a sun schedule requirement.

“Beware the Ides of March.” A date that lives in infamy for Julius Caesar. A soothsayer gave Caesar and early warning of his impending death with these words. Later on in the play, there was a big storm (definitely a foreshadowing element). To find out what it meant, Caesar had priests sacrifice animals and then read the omens in their entrails. The message: DON”T GO OUT. And in typical horror movie fashion 415 years ago, Caesar ignores the warnings, goes out (idiot), and gets stabbed to death on the steps of the capitol.

“Beware the Ides of March.” From the Shakespeare’s play, these five words have a doom-filled reputation, but every month has its Ides. Ides is derived from an old Latin verb, iduare, which meant to divide. It was the Roman term for the day that came in the middle of each month. 

The Ides of March...an American rock band that played the hit 70s song, “Vehicle.” Every trumpet player in the 70s could play along with this song, every teenager would blast this song, and to this day many boomers still crank it up. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxJFjO4Skgo

And the lyrics...what kid in the 70s didn’t sing them at the top of his or her lungs...

I'm your vehicle baby

I'll take you anywhere you want to go

I'm your vehicle woman

By now I'm sure you know

That I love you (love you)

Need you (need you)

I want to got to have you child 

Great god in heaven you know I love you.

So as a teenager in the 70s, “Vehicle” or “Julius Caesar,” I know which Ides of March was my favorite. Apologies to Dr. Miller ~