THE IDES OF MARCH

The Ides of March marks the Feast of Anna Perenna at which, the Romans toasted: "May you have as many more years as you can drink cups of wine." Julius Caesar was assassinated on March 15. Apparently he didn't drink wine that day!

Vincenzo Camuccini's depiction of the death of Julius Caesar.

Julius Caesar was assassinated at the Theatre of Pompey, by a group of conspirators led by Brutus and Cassius. In February, a soothsayer named Spurinna told Caesar to beware for the next 30 days; warning Caesar that harm would come to him before he left Rome on March 18. In Shakespear's play, Caesar passes the seer and jokes, "The ides of March have come," To which the seer replied "Aye, Caesar; but not gone."

The Ides of March marked the first full moon in the year in the old lunar Roman calendar. On March 15 the Romans celebrated the Feast of Anna Perenna, a festival in which there was much revelry and licentiousness. According to Ovid, tents were pitched or bowers built from branches, where man and woman lay together and asked that Anna to give them as many more years as they could drink cups of wine at the festival.

Today's toast: "May you have as many more years as you can drink cups of wine"

My reply is "I hope they have small cups."