#et tu

[todayontumblr]

Wednesday March 15.

Batten down the hatches: It's The Ides of March.

It's March 15, 44 BC. As many as 60 conspirators, led by Brutus and Cassius, await the arrival of the great Julius Caesar in the Theatre of Pompey for a meeting of the Senate. A mystical seer is among those gathered, and Caesar passes this mysterious figure on his way to the Theatre. Before the point of their meeting, the seer warned Caesar that harm would come to him on the Ides of March. On his way to Pompey, where he would be assassinated, Caesar passed the seer and joked: "Well, the Ides of March are come", with which he implied that the prophecy had not been fulfilled. "Aye, they are come, but they are not gone," the seer replied, and Caesar continued into the chamber. And the rest, as they say, is history. Well, would you look at that. Today's date is March 15, and you know what that means, Tumblrinas: it must be the #ides of march! Yay!

Naturally, as today is the big day, the #ides of march fandom has gone totally wild for March 15. And can you blame them? It's been a long year, after all. And it is right here you will find a mass of shitposts, memes, polls, and fanart all in tribute to the community's all-time favorite assassination.  

And remember, folks, trust no one. Not even Marcus Brutus x

[wallacepolsom]

Wallace Polsom, Life During Wartime: Et Tu? (24 Apr 2024), paper collage, 21.2 x 29.1 cm.

[rory-bor-e-alis]

one of the main takeaways from the Ides of March assassination is that maybe you should not go into the office every day

[seijorhi]

in Et Tu, if the reader hadn't made it known that she wanted to leave, would the Seijoh 4 have held back from fucking her for much longer?

fuck no lmao

[vulgarmaw]

Silverfish

I think I know what Julius Ceasar felt like now

[emojiburst]

And now for my new followers this week!!

For @starryseon , you like really cute things, it looks like! I hope you like stickers!

For @t0mbles, Kez from Infinity Train! (Because of your banner!)

For @jinxytsl, Spinel's heart for the ships!

For @pikablob, you had a lot of Bluey! Hope you like comfort characters!

For @real-toast, I hope you don't mind blood! I can replace it if you do!

For @whencloudsmiles, it seems a little obvious what you should get.

For @powerlinetrain Lots of kitties, and one with a clover!

For @th3-sup3rst4r-d4yc4r3, Stickers and toys and cute little things!

For @ihaveagiftforu, you have a lot of cats on your blog!

And for @hyp3rk3l, I hope you like Cinnamoroll as much as you like Hello Kitty stuff!

Thank you so much to everyone who followed this last week, I really appreciate it and I hope you feel that with these special emojis! <3

[thepastisalreadywritten]

The Ides of March — a day of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC — that forever changed history.

Julius Caesar's bloody assassination on 15 March 44 BC, forever marked March 15, or the Ides of March, as a day of infamy.

It has fascinated scholars and writers ever since. For ancient Romans living before that event, however, an ides was merely one of several common calendar terms used to mark monthly lunar events.

The ides simply marked the appearance of the full moon.

But Romans would soon learn to beware the Ides of March.

That iconic phrase came to represent a day of abrupt change, setting off a ripple of repercussions throughout Roman society and beyond.

By the time of Caesar, Rome had a long-established republican government headed by two consuls with joint powers.

Praetors were one step below consuls in the power chain and handled judicial matters.

A body of citizens formed the Senate proposed legislation, which general people's assemblies then approved by vote.

A special temporary office, that of dictator, was established for use only during times of extreme civil unrest.

Romans had no love for kings. According to legend, they expelled their last one in 509 BC.

While Caesar had made pointed and public displays of turning down offers of kingship, he showed no reluctance to accept the office of “dictator for life” in February of 44 BC.

This action may have sealed his fate in the minds of his enemies. 

Caesar had pushed the envelope for some time before his death.

“Caesar was the first living Roman ever to appear on the coinage.”

Normally, honor was reserved for deities. He notes that some historians suspect that Caesar might have been attempting to establish a cult in his honor in a move toward deification.

Plot's conspirators, who termed themselves as “liberators,” had to move quickly as Caesar had plans to leave Rome for a campaign against Parthians.

Two days before his departure, he was summoned to Senate for what would be a fateful meeting.

Conspirators gathered around Caesar and stabbed him to death as the rest of the Roman Senate watched in horror.

Whether or not Caesar was a true tyrant is debated still to this day.

It is safe to say, however, that in the mind of Marcus Brutus, who helped mastermind the attack, the threat Caesar posed to republican system was clear.

Brutus was famously portrayed in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar as a tragic hero, while Caesar was written as an unequivocal tyrant.

In the play, Caesar sees Brutus among the crowd of assassins and says of the betrayal with his dying breath, "Et tu, Brute?" 

Brutus's involvement in the murder is made tragic given his close affiliations with Caesar.

His mother, Servilia, was one of Caesar's lovers. And although Brutus had fought against Caesar during Rome's recent civil war, he was spared from death and later promoted by Caesar to office of praetor.

Brutus, however, was torn in his allegiance to Caesar. Brutus's family had a tradition of rejecting authoritarian powers.

Ancestor Junius Brutus was credited with throwing out the last king of Rome, Tarquin Superbus, in 509 BC.

Ahala, an ancestor of Marcus Brutus's mother, had killed another tyrant, Spurius Maelius.

This lineage, coupled with a strong interest in Greek idea of tyranicide, disposed Brutus to have little patience with perceived power grabbers.

The final blow came when his uncle Cato, a father figure to Brutus, killed himself after losing in a battle against Caesar in 46 BC.

Brutus may have felt shame over accepting Caesar's clemency and obligation to do Cato honor by continuing his quest to “save” the republic from Caesar, Osgood speculated.

It is this moral dilemma that has caused debate over whether or not Brutus should be branded a villain.

Plutarch's Life of Brutus is quite sympathetic in comparison to surviving documents naming other enemies of Caesar and his successors. 

📷 : The Ides of March XLIV BC; Oil on Panel by Stephen Gjertson (Old Parkland Art Collection, Dallas)

[kisari-vibes]

Beware the Ides of March

[thepersianslipper]

*Stumbling from under the debris of GO S2E6*

"Ufff, what a ride! At least I've got a year or more to heal and get ready for more heart wrenching gay drama".

*Sees OFMD S2 standing in the shadows, a glint in its eyes.*

"You're... you're going to play nice, aren't you? You're a comedy, right...? Right?!"

*An unholly shriek pierces the night, followed by the crush of bones*

Epilogue

*from 7 feet under the ground, BBC Sherlock opens its eyes*

[jeunebug]

Come on you saucy boys, let’s stab Caesar! Speak, hands for me!

[shivering-isles-cryptid]

This year of the Idea of March, I shall be killing another emperor using 23 dagger stabs:

Get ready Tamriel for the Ides of First Seed, where I’ll use 23 steel daggers to stab the hell out of Emperor Titus Mede

[arctic-hands]

I HATE APPS THAT ARE JUST LITTLE BROWSERS FOR YOUR SHITTY MOBILE SITE

[hawkeye221b]

I wanted to meme before the big day.

Not yet, Brutus.. not yet..

[the-bastard-of-the-universe]

[theaceofarrows]

Julius Caesar: [thinking he's about to bring back the monarchy and make himself king]

Meanwhile, the senate:

[fireflylies]

et tu brute?