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Asimov’s Guide To Shakespear. Volume 1It is a soothsayer, a man who foresees the future. This time his message is a simple one: Beware the ides of March. —Act I, scene ii, line 18 To understand the matter of "the ides" we must consider the Roman calendar, which must set some sort of record for inconvenience. Each of the Roman months has three key dates and the other days are defined as "so many days before the such-and-such key date." Nor are the key dates regularly spaced or quite the same from month to month. The first day of each month is the "calends" of that month. Not long after the calends come the "nones." The nones fall on the fifth day of January, February, April, June, August, September, November, and December, and on the seventh day of March, May, July, and October. The word "nones" means "nine" because it falls nine days before the third key date, the "ides," where the nine days count the day of the ides itself. The ides, therefore, fall on the fifteenth day of March, May, July, and October, and on the thirteenth day of the other months ...» |
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