Who says the Ides of March are come?

Answer 1

Ceasar.

He was warned by a seer to beware the ides of march (March 15th).

When the day finally came Ceasar again met the same seer and

mockingly said; Well, The Ides of March are come.

The seer then softly said to him;

Aye, they are come, but they are not gone.

William Shakespeare - Julius Ceasar / Act I / Scene II. A Public Place

Following the soothsayer's warning "Beware the ides of March"

Casca retells Brutus and Cassius of the public commotion with Ceasar.

(Anthony offers Ceasar a crown three times, and three times he refuses it. The crowd goes wild with foul-breathed cheering, causing Ceasar to faint and foam at the mouth.

BRUTUS

Ay, Casca; tell us what hath chanced to-day,

That Caesar looks so sad.

CASCA

Why, you were with him, were you not?

BRUTUS

I should not then ask Casca what had chanced.

CASCA

Why, there was a crown offered him: and being

offered him, he put it by with the back of his hand,

thus; and then the people fell a-shouting.

BRUTUS

What was the second noise for?

CASCA

Why, for that too.

CASSIUS

They shouted thrice: what was the last cry for?

CASCA

Why, for that too.

BRUTUS

Was the crown offered him thrice?

CASCA

Ay, marry, was't, and he put it by thrice, every

time gentler than other, and at every putting-by

mine honest neighbours shouted.

CASSIUS

Who offered him the crown?

CASCA

Why, Antony.

BRUTUS

Tell us the manner of it, gentle Casca.

CASCA

I can as well be hanged as tell the manner of it:

it was mere foolery; I did not mark it. I saw Mark

Antony offer him a crown;--yet 'twas not a crown

neither, 'twas one of these coronets;--and, as I told

you, he put it by once: but, for all that, to my

thinking, he would fain have had it. Then he

offered it to him again; then he put it by again:

but, to my thinking, he was very loath to lay his

fingers off it. And then he offered it the third

time; he put it the third time by: and still as he

refused it, the rabblement hooted and clapped their

chapped hands and threw up their sweaty night-caps

and uttered such a deal of stinking breath because

Caesar refused the crown that it had almost choked

Caesar; for he swounded and fell down at it: and

for mine own part, I durst not laugh, for fear of

opening my lips and receiving the bad air.

CASSIUS

But, soft, I pray you: what, did Caesar swound?

CASCA

He fell down in the market-place, and foamed at

mouth, and was speechless.

BRUTUS

'Tis very like: he hath the failing sickness.

CASSIUS

No, Caesar hath it not; but you and I,

And honest Casca, we have the falling sickness.

CASCA

I know not what you mean by that; but, I am sure,

Caesar fell down. If the tag-rag people did not

clap him and hiss him, according as he pleased and

displeased them, as they use to do the players in

the theatre, I am no true man.

BRUTUS

What said he when he came unto himself?

CASCA

Marry, before he fell down, when he perceived the

common herd was glad he refused the crown, he

plucked me ope his doublet and offered them his

throat to cut. An I had been a man of any

occupation, if I would not have taken him at a word,

I would I might go to hell among the rogues. And so

he fell. When he came to himself again, he said,

If he had done or said any thing amiss, he desired

their worships to think it was his infirmity. Three

or four wenches, where I stood, cried 'Alas, good

soul!' and forgave him with all their hearts: but

there's no heed to be taken of them; if Caesar had

stabbed their mothers, they would have done no less.

BRUTUS

And after that, he came, thus sad, away?

CASCA

Ay.

CASSIUS

Did Cicero say any thing?

CASCA

Ay, he spoke Greek.

CASSIUS

To what effect?

CASCA Nay, an I tell you that, Ill ne'er look you i' the

face again: but those that understood him smiled at

one another and shook their heads; but, for mine own

part, it was Greek to me. I could tell you more

news too: Marullus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs

off Caesar's images, are put to silence. Fare you

well. There was more foolery yet, if I could

remember it.

The Ides of March

The Ides of March has long been considered an ill-fated day. Julius Caesar was assassinated on March 15, 44 B.C. Historians note that it is likely that a soothsayer named Spurinna had warned Caesar that danger would occur by the ides of March. William Shakespeare included the phrase "Beware the ides of March" in his play Julius Caesar.

The ides were the 15th days of some months (including Martius, or March) in the ancient Roman lunar calendar; they were the 13th in other months. The word ides comes from the Latin word idus, which is possibly derived from an Etruscan word meaning "to divide." The ides were originally meant to mark the full Moon (the "halfway point" of a lunar month), but because the Roman calendar months and actual lunar months were of different lengths, they quickly got out of step. The ancient Romans considered the day after the calends (first of the month), nones (ninth day before the ides, inclusive), or ides of any month as unfavorable. These were called dies atri.

ref: http://almanac.com

Dies Atri

dies atri - or "black days" were not marked on the calendar because they always occured on the day after the Kalends, Nones and Ides of each month. Nothing new could be done on dies atri, and even state cult festivals were not held on these days. Romans also thought that the Kalends, Nones and Ides of each month as well as the fourth day of each month were unlucky days (the way we would think of Friday the Thirteenth). There were no legal or religious prohibitions against activities on simply unlucky days, and a nundina could fall on Nones quite easily. Furthermore, Romans thought the month of May and the first half of June were terribly unlucky months to get married in.

ref: http://abacus.bates.edu