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Julius Caesar, Act 2...November 6
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Is not to-morrow, boy, the ides of March?
Lucius. I know not, sir.
Brutus. Look in the calendar, and bring me word.
Lucius. I will, sir.
Exit
Brutus. The exhalations whizzing in the air
Give so much light that I may read by them.
If I understand correctly...the "ides" means a full moon in particular months. It is not actually a static date like March 15...?
"The Romans did not number days of a month sequentially from the first through the last day. Instead, they counted back from three fixed points of the month: the Nones (5th or 7th, depending on the length of the month), the Ides (13th or 15th), and the Kalends (1st of the following month). The Ides occurred near the midpoint, on the 13th for most months, but on the 15th for March, May, July, and October. The Ides were supposed to be determined by the full moon, reflecting the lunar origin of the Roman calendar. On the earliest calendar, the Ides of March would have been the first full moon of the new year." from Wiki
And then this...
"October (from Latin octo, "eight") or mensis October was the eighth of ten months on the oldest Roman calendar. It had 31 days. October followed September (from septem, "seven") and preceded November (novem, "nine"). After the calendar reform that resulted in a 12-month year, October became the tenth month, but retained its numerical name, as did the other months from September through December.
Some of the observances in October marked the close of the season for military campaigning and farming, which commenced in March (Martius, "Mars' month"). October was under the guardianship (tutela) of Mars."
"The Romans did not number days of a month sequentially from the 1st through the last day. Instead, they counted back from the three fixed points of the month: the Nones (5th or 7th), the Ides (13th or 15th), and the Kalends (1st) of the following month. The Nones of October was the 7th, and the Ides was the 15th. The last day of October was the pridie Kalendas Novembris,[2] "day before the Kalends of November". Roman counting was inclusive; October 9 was ante diem VII Idūs Octobris, "the 7th day before the Ides of October," usually abbreviated a.d. VII Id. Oct. (or with the a.d. omitted altogether); October 23 was X Kal. Nov., "the 10th day before the Kalends of November."
On the calendar of the Roman Republic and early Principate, each day was marked with a letter to denote its religiously lawful status. In March, these were:
F for dies fasti, days when it was legal to initiate action in the courts of civil law;
C, for dies comitalis, a day on which the Roman people could hold assemblies (comitia), elections, and certain kinds of judicial proceedings;
N for dies nefasti, when these political activities and the administration of justice were prohibited;
NP, the meaning of which remains elusive, but which marked feriae, public holidays;
EN for endotercissus, an archaic form of intercissus, "cut in half," meaning days that were nefasti in the morning, when sacrifices were being prepared, and in the evening, while sacrifices were being offered, but were fasti in the middle of the day."
Mod
I found this...not sure if it is accurate...
http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/...
Candy wrote: "I was wondering if there are any pictures of what a calendar looked like? When Brutus sends Lucius to check the date...what is Lucius looking at?I found this...not sure if it is accurate...
http..."
These calendars are fascinating! In addition to the Ides for each month, you can see the Lupercalian festival on the 15th of February (but not the Ides of February, which fell on the 13th). It's also interesting that the weeks appear to have eight days.
I think these calendars are accurate in terms of what the ancient Romans actually used, but I wonder if Shakespeare would have been familiar with the Roman calendar in this format, or if he would have envisioned something more contemporary to his day. He later mentions a clock striking the hour, which I don't think would have happened in Julius Caesar's day, and in Act One Caesar is described as opening his doublet.
One thing Shakespeare would have known from reading Plutarch is that Julius Caesar reformed the Roman calendar: http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com...
Mod
Yes, would there be any kind of mechanism that might strike?
I mean...the Antikythera Mechanism was in use wasn't it? Somewhere?
I never heard of the Antikythera until now! I think the technology was lost by Caesar's time, though. The Romans did have the clepsydra, or waterclock, and at some point (I don't know the date) they were sometimes equipped with bells. Maybe that could be what is being referred to here. There were large public waterclocks as well as smaller ones that rich people kept inside their homes.The scene of Brutus meditating in the orchard is one of my favorite moments in the play. it's so quietly intimate, and the interplay with the sleepy little boy servant is charming.
I wonder how scenes like this came across when played outdoors in broad daylight. Shakespeare's language makes the progress from the meteor-spangled evening to the gradual breaking of dawn very vivid on the page, but today moments like this in the theater always seem to assume the use of carefully controlled lighting effects.
This is all new information for me about the Ides & Roman calendar, thanks!I also want to mention how much I like the brief but important roles both Portia and Calpurnia play in this act. S shows us that wives can be as involved in politics, and the activities of their husbands, as are free modern women today -- maybe even more so. I like it that S sees fit to inject these interchanges with the wives, this play could easily have been an all-male cast.
I haven't studied Rome politics or daily life, so I don't have a lot of information about it, tho' I did learn somewhere once that Roman wives were the money managers of the household because they managed everything to do with the household. The husbands brought their earnings home, handed it over to the wife, and were then given an allowance from their earnings.
Sounds good to me.
Mod
Thats the kind of thing I was wondering about...time-keeping devices how marvelous!
I totally got lost into India, Babylonian notes on water clocks and some reconstructions online just now. Absolutely incredible stuff!
I am actually surprised how much I am enjoying reading JULIUS CAESAR right now and I'm so glad to see you both here today!
I will post something more thoughtful later tonight...
Mod
About astronomy and his work....whoa!!!
http://brewminate.com/shakespeares-as...
I remember we talked about calendars of Shakespeare's time when we were discussing Midsummer Night's Dream. Calenders were used in the play. Who controls the calendar controls the users of time - that idea just popped into my head - the romans were so much in social control.
Shakespeare is not into superstition about dates, numbers, celestial movements and this comes out in the play Julius Ceasar Not sure if I'm getting ahead of myself here as I've just slipped into the conversation. Will get back with a quote when I've ascertained that it's not a spoiler.
Warning! I attended an impressive in modern dress and multi mixed gender production of Julius Ceasar earlier this year at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield and this experience is informing my reading of the play. Now I'll get back to reading and return in due course i.e. soon!
Janice(JG) wrote: "I also want to mention how much I like the brief but important roles both Portia and Calpurnia play in this act."That Portia is hardcore! She gives herself a gash in the thigh just to prove how strong-willed she is:
"Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose 'em:
I have made strong proof of my constancy,
Giving myself a voluntary wound
Here, in the thigh: can I bear that with patience.
And not my husband's secrets?"
I wasn't sure whether this was a fresh wound she is showing Brutus or a past event she is reminiscing about, but it comes straight out of Plutarch and appears to be something she did right at this moment:
"bicause she woulde not aske her husbande what he ayled before she had made some proofe by her selfe, she tooke a litle rasor suche as barbers occupie to pare mens nayles, and causinge all her maydes and women to goe out of her chamber, gave her selfe a greate gashe withall in her thigh, that she was straight all of a gore bloode, and incontinentlie after, a vehement fever tooke her, by reason of the payne of her wounde."
http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com...
And this line caught my attention for its modern tone:
"Dwell I but in the suburbs/Of your good pleasure?"
Apparently the first person to use the word "suburban" was Cicero, right around this time period:
"Large walled towns tended to be the focal point around which smaller villages grew up in a symbiotic relationship with the market town as early as in the Ancient Rome . There, the statesman Cicero in reference to the large villas and estates that were built by wealthy patricians of Rome on the city’s outskirts first used the word suburbani. As history goes, many big cities today as much as can be the home of the wealthiest, they can be also the home of the poorest."
http://www.thiscityknows.com/the-word...
Mod
Portia cutting her self also seemed so contemporary like people today who self injure.
Mayo clinic says "Nonsuicidal self-injury, often simply called self-injury, is the act of deliberately harming the surface of your own body, such as cutting or burning yourself. It's typically not meant as a suicide attempt. Rather, this type of self-injury is an unhealthy way to cope with emotional pain, intense anger and frustration.
While self-injury may bring a momentary sense of calm and a release of tension, it's usually followed by guilt and shame and the return of painful emotions. Although life-threatening injuries are usually not intended, with self-injury comes the possibility of more serious and even fatal self-aggressive actions."
Not only is Portia an intense female in this play so is Calpurnia. Wow, I love how she talks to Caesar and her dream is frightening!
As JamesD believes... Shakespeare may not be superstitious but some of his characters are very sensitive and empathic...and intuitive...if not superstitious.
Mod
Here is something about Artemidorus..."According to Artemidorus, the material for his work was gathered during lengthy travels through Greece, Italy and Asia, from diviners of high and low station. Another major source were the writings of Artemidorus' predecessors, sixteen of whom he cites by name. It is clear he built on a rich written tradition, now otherwise lost. Artemidorus' method is, at root, analogical. He writes that dream interpretation is "nothing other than the juxtaposition of similarities" (2.25). But like other types of Greek divination, including astrology, celestial divination and pallomancy, Greek dream divination (Oneiromancy) became exceedingly complex, a given dream subject to a number of interpretations depending on secondary considerations, such as the age, sex, and status of the dreamer."
One excerpt I found said that Artemidorus took a practical and scientific approach to analyzing dreams.
I totally missed that Artemidorus is a diviner. His description in Plutarch makes it sound as if his letter is based more on personal contact with the conspirators than on interpretation of signs:"Furthermore, Artemidorus, a Cnidian by birth, a teacher of Greek philosophy, and on this account brought into intimacy with some of the followers of Brutus, so that he also knew most of what they were doing, came bringing to Caesar in a small roll the disclosures which he was going to make; but seeing that Caesar took all such rolls and handed them to his attendants, he came quite near, and said: 'Read this, Caesar, by thyself, and speedily; for it contains matters of importance and of concern to thee.'"
I find it interesting that the people who believe in portents, such as Calpurnia, the soothsayer, and Artemidorus, are all ignored, like Cassandra; the ones making the decisions, such as Caesar and the conspirators, ignore the warning signs from the gods and press on with their misguided plans. There is very little action in this act, but the buildup of the premonitions makes it incredibly full of tension.
I love it when Calpurnia tells Caesar to call in sick—apparently that's not a modern thing! And Caesar is so vain he wants it made very clear that he is not coming to work because he chooses so, and not because he is afraid of anything. Decius Brutus knows exactly how to manipulate him through his own vanity:
"I can o'ersway him; for he loves to hear
That unicorns may be betray'd with trees,
And bears with glasses, elephants with holes,
Lions with toils and men with flatterers;
But when I tell him he hates flatterers,
He says he does, being then most flattered."
All he has to do is imply that the senate is going to offer Caesar a crown, and instantly his plans change and he is on his way.
Caesar shows this same vanity in the first act, when Antony tells him not to be afraid of Cassius:
. . . "I fear him not:
Yet if my name were liable to fear,
I do not know the man I should avoid
So soon as that spare Cassius.
. . .
I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd
Than what I fear; for always I am Caesar."
Mod
Um, the tension from the premonitions you so apt note...they seem to make this situation so haunting.
I had to go look up info about Artemidorus....I was not familiar with them....but I found the dialogue and sense of insight interesting....I had to google a lot of these characters actually! Just to try to get a handle on who they were...and put in "extra study" because I am not very good at traditional history LOL
He later mentions a clock striking the hour, which I don't think would have happened in Julius Caesar's day, ...Clock is usually considered an anachronism in Julius Caesar; however, it can be a well-designed riddle to figure one's fortune of life, for the clock is counted three times in the play needlessly.
1. Conspirators are planning the assassination. Clock Strikes.
BRUTUS. Peace, count the Clock.
CASSIUS. The Clock hath stricken three.
At that time, three were "put to silence" by Caesar (Pompey, Murellus and Flavius).
2. In the morning of the assassination, conspirators come to fetch Caesar.
CAESAR. What is't a Clock?
BRUTUS. Caesar, 'tis strucken eight.
3. Later in another scene.
PORTIA. What is't a clock?
SOOTHSAYER. About the ninth hour, Lady.
In Roman days, the ninth hour was called _None_. Soothsayer is foretelling Portia's fortune of life, "About none, Lady."
The Eight
In Plutarch's Lives, Artemidorus mentioned "some of the followers of Brutus." In Shakespeare, the eight conspirators are named:
ARTEMIDORUS.
Caesar, beware of Brutus, [1]
take heed of Cassius; [2]
come not near Caska, [3]
have an eye to Cinna, [4]
trust not Trebonius, [5]
mark well Metellus Cymber, [6]
Decius Brutus [7] loves thee not:
Thou hast wronged Caius Ligarius. [8]
This list eases the counting. Eights sounds like Ides. Ides of March omens the March of Eights to strike Caesar.
Enter Caesar, Brutus, Cassius, Caska, Decius, Metellus, Trebonius, Cinna, Antony, Lepidus, Artemidorus, Publius, and the Soothsayer. [——They come.]
CAESAR. The Ides of March are come.
SOOTHSAYER. I Caesar, but not gone.
Eight too brute?
CASKA. Speak hands for me.
CAESAR. Et Tu Brutè?——Then fall Caesar.
:)
No spoilers please!