The soothsayer in William Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar” utters one of the most famous lines in history, “Beware the Ides of March.” Today is March 15th otherwise known as, the Ides of March. On this day in 44 B.C., a group of conspirators, that included his trusted friend Marcus Junius Brutus, assassinated Julius Caesar. He was 56 years old.

William Shakespeare’s soothsayer made the grim prediction on Lupercalia (February 15) a festival of purification. The play is a dramatization; however, it is based on historical facts. William Shakespeare learned about the soothsayer’s premonition by reading documents written by the Greek historian Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus.

Traditionally, the Ides of March is a holiday in honor of the Roman god of war, Mars. Ancient Romans celebrated the day with elaborate military parades.

Julius Caesar ruled Rome and all of its possessions as a dictator for five years. In the end, he was betrayed by political rivals in the Roman Senate. They surrounded him at the Theatre of Pompey and brutally stabbed him to death. His death brought about a Roman civil war and the fall of the Roman Republic. As he fell, Caesar’s final words were, “Et tu, Brute? (You too, Brutus?).”