BLOOD IN THE SENATE! Julius Caesar, treacherously cut down by his own allies

March 15, 44 BC (the Ides of March)

Politics: A conspiracy in broad daylight

It was close to 11:00 in the morning when Caesar entered the Curia. According to eyewitnesses, a group of some 60 senators surrounded him on the pretext of handing him a petition. The signal was given by Casca, who drove the first dagger into his neck. "This is violence!" Caesar managed to cry out before he found himself ringed by steel.

The great shock has been the presence of Marcus Junius Brutus. Newsroom sources confirm that the Dictator, on seeing his protégé among the assassins, covered his face with his toga and ceased to struggle. Rome is now a powder keg: the assassins have taken refuge on the Capitol, and the people, caught between panic and fury, have begun to shutter their businesses.

Society: Did the stars foretell it?

The gossip in the Baths of Caracalla today goes by a single name: Calpurnia. Caesar's wife is said to have tried to keep him home after suffering nightmares in which she saw her husband drenched in blood. Even the seer Spurinna had warned him: "Beware the Ides of March." It would seem the Dictator erred on the side of overconfidence (or of a shortage of private security).

Sports - Chariot races suspended

The Aedile has announced that, on account of national mourning and security, the races scheduled for this afternoon in the Circus Maximus are cancelled. The bettors are furious, but the priority now is to learn who will sit upon the curule chair.

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