The Ides of March (novel)

The Ides of March

First edition
Author	Thornton Wilder
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Julius Caesar
Genre	Historical fiction
Publisher	Harper & Brothers
Publication date	1948
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	246 pp
OCLC	519672619
LC Class	PZ3.W6468 Id

The Ides of March is an epistolary novel by Thornton Wilder that was published in 1948. It is, in the author's words, 'a fantasia on certain events and persons of the last days of the Roman republic... Historical reconstruction is not among the primary aims of this work'. The novel deals with the characters and events leading to, and culminating in, the assassination of Julius Caesar.

American publisher Bennett Cerf remarked at that year's meeting of the American Booksellers Association that there had been "only three novels published since the first of the year that were worth reading ... Cry, The Beloved Country, The Ides of March, and The Naked and the Dead.^[1]

The novel is divided into four books, each of which starts earlier and ends later than the previous book. Catullus' poems and the closing section by Suetonius are the only documents of the book which are not imagined; however, many of the events are historical, such as Cleopatra's visit to Rome.

Though the novel describes events leading up to Caesar's assassination on 15 March 44 BC a number of earlier events are described as if they were contemporary. These include the transfer of the violation of the mysteries of the Bona Dea by Publius Clodius Pulcher, the subsequent divorce of Caesar's second wife Pompeia, and the circulation of two poems by Catullus suggesting that Caesar and his engineer Mamurra were lovers (and Catallus's subsequent apology) from December 62 BC to December 45 BC. In addition many of the characters featured in the novel had died by 44 BC, including M. Porcius Cato (in 46 BC), Catullus (in c. 54 BC), Julia Marcia (in 69 BC) and Clodius (in 52 BC).

Major characters in the novel

Note that names, relationships, and events are described as they occur in the novel, and are not necessarily historically accurate.

• Julius Caesar, ruler of Rome
• Lucius Mamilius Turrinus, a friend of Caesar's, now living in retirement; various characters write to him but he never replies.
• Clodia Pulcher, an extremely angry, intelligent and fascinating woman; the ridicule of Roman society, she lives a life of scandal.
• Publius Clodius Pulcher, her brigand brother; he plays only a minor role.
• Cicero, an orator, statesman, political theorist, lawyer and philosopher
• Julia Marcia, Caesar's aunt.
• Pompeia, Caesar's second wife.
• Cornelius Nepos, a biographer and historian.
• Catullus, a poet who was in love with Clodia. The poems of Catullus included in the novel are the actual poems.
• Cleopatra, queen of Egypt and mistress of Caesar.
• Cytheris, an actress of common birth, greatly admired by Caesar; she 'remade' Marc Anthony and was his lover for 15 years.
• Marc Antony, initially the lover of Cytheris, he meets and falls in love with Cleopatra over the course of the novel.
• Marcus Porcius Cato, renowned Stoic of famous integrity, leader of opposition to Caesar's dictatorship
• Servilia, former mistress of Caesar, half-sister to Cato, mother of Brutus
• Brutus, the most famous of Julius Caesar's assassins, nephew of Cato
• Porcia, wife of Brutus, daughter to Cato
• Calpurnia, third wife of Caesar.
• Suetonius was a prominent Roman historian and biographer; his (historical) account of the assassination closes the novel.

References

External links

• The Ides of March Plot Summary and Critical Analysis; by The Thornton Wilder Society