A Question To Consider:
“Beware The Ides of March?”
Today’s the day:
March 15.
Shakespeare’s play Julius
Caesar made it famous in our “modern” age – the soothsayer cautioning the
great Roman emperor against what turned out to be the day his opponents planned
and did assassinate him.
And the play’s historically accurate in that regard.
But do you know what
the “Ides” are?
Turns out there are
“Ides” each of month. The Romans organized their calendar around three days
of each month, each of which served as a reference point for counting (in Roman
numerals – think about it) the other days.
The “named” days were:
- Kalends (1st day of the month)
- Nones (the 7th day in March, May, July, and October; the 5th in the other months)
- Ides (the 15th day in March, May, July, and October; the 13th in the other months)
The remaining, unnamed days of the month were identified by
counting backwards from the Kalends, Nones, or Ides. And the backwards counting included the named day.
No wonder the Roman Empire eventually declined and fell.
One more factoid:
If you lived in ancient Rome (c. 220 – 153 BCE) you'd have been aware that
March’s Ides marked the beginning of
the consular year, since the two annually elected Roman consuls took office on
the Ides. By Julius Caesar’s time the
consuls took over on the Kalends of
January which we now call New Year’s Day.
So “Beware?”
Well, as co-creator of the Best Year Ever! Program with my
buddy Eric Taylor, I’m fond of pointing out –
A New Year can begin
any time. And it pays to Be Aware – not just “Beware” -- of the opportunities to
rethink and begin anew those behaviors you’d like to “resolve” to change or
improve.
So today’s a particularly significant and good a day to do
so.
Happy New Year! Friends … Romans …Countrymen.
If these Catalyst Collection blog posts and TGIM
tidbits awaken you to new or enlightening experience … if even one helps you
see what might otherwise go unnoticed in your day … cool.
If just one post suggests a change in your routine that stimulates
a different point of view with the potential to lead to breakthrough thinking …
excellent.
As the Shakespearean version goes, after Caesar hears the
prophecy he responds:
Caesar: The Ides of March are come.
Soothsayer: Ay, Caesar; but not gone.
I agree:
How many ages hence
Shall this our lofty
scene be acted o’er,
In states unborn, and
accents yet unknown!
Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing
8 Depot Square
Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
P.S. In Julius Caesar Act 4, scene 3, 218–224,
Shakespeare has Brutus make this Catalyst-Collection-worthy observation:
There is a tide in the
affairs of men
Which taken at the
flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the
voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows
and in miseries.
On such a full sea are
we now afloat,
And we must take the
current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
