Ides of March

JULIUS CAESER
ACT ONE

SCENE II.

a great crowd following, among them a .....................Soothsayer

CAESAR: Calpurnia!
CASCA Peace, ho! Caesar speaks.
CAESAR Calpurnia!
CALPURNIA Here, my lord.
CAESAR Stand you directly in Antonius' way,When he doth run his course. Antonius!
ANTONY Caesar, my lord?
CAESAR Forget not, in your speed, Antonius,To touch Calpurnia; for our elders say,The barren, touched in this holy chase,Shake off their sterile curse.
ANTHONY I shall remember:When Caesar says 'do this,' it is perform'd.
CAESAR Set on; and leave no ceremony out
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.


And everyone that had Miss Barzen for sophomore English walked about the halls soothsaying, “Beware the Ides of March”. Ms. Barzen was a wonderful teacher and all of us farm kids that never thought we would ever be able to read Julius Caesar thrived under her leadership. She seemed to make William Shakespeare’s immortal works reality.
Miss Barzen family was an old family for a young talents such as thief River Falls. Her family had built a flour mill in the city and other towns as well, owned land, owned a saloon, and were involved in banking. We know Hansen-Barzen of Thief River Falls had a grain elevator built on the south side of the tracks in Rosewood, west side of the road. Also in Rosewood on the east side of the road Barzens had a good sized lumber yard and a house built for the manager. On the west side of the road, southwest of the elevator

We know from reading old census that Anna and Mathias Sr. were her Katherine’s parents. We know in 1930, the family, with Anna as head of the house, were living on Riverside Avenue. In the late forties, Katherine and her mother were living on Oakland Park Road, as they lived next to us.


We know she taught high school English from at least 1955-1961 but what happened to her? Where did she go? Do I remember she married and was going to travel? I will always think of her when I split open an avocado, as she used to bring them to school and give them to the students to plant. Soozi had one that actually grew, I only remember seeing one leaf at the top of the stalk, however.


And don’t you think it is interesting that until this blog, I never knew there were Ides of any other month? In The Roman Calendar, the term ides was used for the 15th day of the months Of March, May, July, and October, and the 13th day of the other 8 months.


Isn’t it great to have memories of a teacher that taught you something in a magical way that you didn’t think you wanted to learn? Oh dear, I am remembering that famous 20 lines……………….
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him;
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones,
So let it be with Caesar ...
The noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answered it ...


The only soothsayer I see is saying...............

Marvelous March 15.

e