Beware the Ides of March

I cannot even explain how ecstatic I am that one of my bestest buddies reminded me that tomorrow is the Ides of March. And you would have no idea why I would be so overjoyed to be reminded about so fateful a day if you didn't know that I am a William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar addict. It's classic, and it has so many classic lines. Seriously, there are so many quotations from Julius Caesar that people use commonly, and they don't even realize it came from that play! "It was Greek to me"? From JC. "There is a tide in the affairs of men"? From JC. "The fault [dear Brutus] is not in our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings"? From JC. Okay, maybe they're not used that commonly. But you've got to love the play's grandeur. All the Roman statesmen and rhetoric and honor, and Marc Antony! (He's my favorite literary character of all time.) "Friends, Romans, countrymen; lend me your ears." (sigh) The stuff of legend.

Though Antony is my favorite character, I have a favorite conspirator as well: Metellus Cimber. Why, out of all of them, would I like him the most? I think he has like, two lines in the whole play. I think the only significant part he has is when, just before the assassination, he asks Caesar to repeal his brother's banishment, and Caesar is like 'whatever' when he responds, "I am constant as the Northern star." But Metellus Cimber is awesome. I mean, just his name rolls off of your tongue so stately, so crisply and gallantly. In fact, the bestest buddy I referred to earlier calls me Chantellus Cimber (or just Chantellus) due to my idiosyncratic attachment. I even said I was going to make a t-shirt that said 'Chantellus Cimber' just to throw people. I haven't done it yet.

But I LOVE these lines:

Caesar (flippantly says to the soothsayer after not heeding his warnings): The Ides of March are come.

Soothsayer: Aye, Caesar, but not gone.

They just send chills up and down my spine. It's like, Caesar, dawg, wake up! You 'bout to get murked, yo! He's so oblivious, even up until the moment he's killed.

So, dear ones, heed the dire warning. The Ides of March shall come on the morrow, but do not cease to be wary 'til they are gone. Aye, forsooth.