Beware This Day ... the Ides of March

It was on this date in ancient times that a soothsayer warned Julius Caesar: "Cave Idus Martiae", which means, "Beware the Ides of March!"

She was right. Caesar was killed in Rome on that fateful day in 44 B.C.

The so-called Ides were a feature of the Roman calendar. It fell on the 15th of the month in March, May, July and October and came on the 13th of the other months.

Caesar's murder sent repercussions throughout Roman society and beyond, according to Josiah Osgood, a Georgetown University professor. As he put it, "The Ides changed everything."

Does that mean the Ides of March 2007 portend something ominous? Soothsayers notwithstanding, we won't know unless it happens.