Ides of March

Book info: Ides of March (Hardcover, – Signet, 1967) – Signet, 1967. Language: Eng.

Condition: Good

Ides of March is an epistolary novel by Thornton Wilder. It is, in his words, 'a fantasia on certain events & 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 & events leading to, & culminating in, the assassination of Julius Caesar. The novel is divided into four books, each of which starts earlier & ends later than the previous book. Catullus' poems & the closing section by Suetonius are the only documents which are not imagined, however many of the events are historical, such as Cleopatra's visit to Rome. Tho 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 & the subsequent divorce of Caesar's second wife Pompeia 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 (46), Catullus (ca 54), Julia Marcia (69) & Clodius (52).