3.15.2005

Et Tu, Brute!

Ah, the Ides of March, the day we celebrate... well, the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.E., I suppose. Not that we really celebrate; most holiday activities have at least something in common with their origins — fireworks on Independence Day, bonfires on Guy Fawkes Day, and the like. I think any attempts to come up with an appropriate tradition in this instance — no matter how symbolic, metaphorical, or otherwise completely innocuous — would likely run afoul of the Thought Police.

Let’s just leave it with a considered reading of Shakespeare, shall we?

“For what is he they follow? Truly, gentlemen,
A bloody tyrant and a homicide;
One raised in blood and one in blood established;
One that made means to come by what he hath,
And slaughtered those that were the means to help him;
A base foul stone, made precious by the foil
Of England’s chair, where he is falsely set;
One that hath ever been God’s enemy.”

— Richard III, V, iii

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Links to this post:

Create a Link

<< Home