The UUCW Nugget

March 16, 2016

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Beware The Ides of March

Rev. Aaron Payson, Director of Religious Education

Soothsayer: Caesar!

Caesar: Ha! who calls?

Casca: Bid every noise be still: peace yet again!

Caesar: Who is it in the press that calls on me? I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music, Cry 'Caesar!' Speak; Caesar is turn'd to hear.

Soothsayer: Beware the ides of March.

Caesar: What man is that?

Brutus: A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.

Caesar: Set him before me; let me see his face.

Cassius: Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar.

Caesar: What say'st thou to me now? speak once again.

Soothsayer: Beware the ides of March.

Caesar: He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass.

(from Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene 2

by William Shakespeare)

Yesterday marked the "Ides of March" and again the Anniversary of the murder of Julius Caesar at the hands of members of the Roman Senate. "Beware the ides of March" is a phrase immortalized by William Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar, when a soothsayer warns him of the danger of that day. And historians suggest that it is an exchange based in part on fact. The Greek historian Plutarch records that a seer really did warn Caesar that he would be at least injured by the Ides of March but Caesar did not heed the warning. On that day, Caesar saw the oracle again and joked that he had made it to the Ides of March, to which the seer responded the day had not yet ended.

The historical importance of this day, however, is that it stands as a turning point in Roman history, which is described by some historians as the point at which the Roman Republic turned to become the Roman Empire. For Caesar was very popular among those at the bottom of the class hierarchy, those who saw his murder at the hands of Roman aristocracy as a blatant slight against the people. This in turn begins the trajectory toward civil war.

The religious significance of the Ides of March include sacrifices to the Roman God Jupiter, who held a supreme place in the Roman Pantheon, as well as the feast of Anna Perenna which likely marked the end of the old year and beginning of the new. This feast also aligns with Mamuralia an observance that includes aspects of a scapegoating ritual that involved beating an old man dressed in animal skins and then driving him from the city. Such a ritual may have been linked to driving out the old year to make way for the new.

As I watch the political rancor that is our current election process, I come to this moment this year with a different awareness and sensitivity that what is being played out, that began with sacred rites and sensibilities, now poses a real threat to the notion that we are "a nation. . . indivisible". The lesson from history about the conflict among different strata of society is playing out again, as it has in most generations. And yet the intensity of the rancor seems different. Might we learn something from history about the effect of our choices, the anger of the populous, and the manipulation that can occur midst it all. The fall of Rome is an historical reality. The future of our country is still at play. How shall we meet this challenge, midst the specter of our own Ides of March?

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Phone:	508-853-1942	Email:	office@uucworcester.org
Fax:	508-853-2065	Website:	www.uucworcester.org
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