Today is, of course, the Ides of March.  The word "ides" is derived from the Latin word for the 15th of the month in March, May, July and October and the 13th in the other months.  The Latin word is derived from the still older Etruscan word meaning to divide.  The 15th is roughly the dividing day of the month.  The assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC made the date famous.

According to the Greek historian Plutarch, a seer warned Julius Caesar of this day while Caesar was on his way to the Senate:

ὥς τις αὐτῷ μάντις ἡμέρᾳ Μαρτίου μηνὸς, ἣν Εἰδοὺς Ῥωμαῖοι καλοῦσι, προείποι μέγαν φυλάττεσθαι κίνδυνον ἐλθούσης δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας προϊὼν

("A seer was telling Caesar on this day of the month of March, which is called the Ides by the Romans (Εἰδοὺς in Greek), a great danger was coming . . . ")

Fifteen centuries after Plutarch wrote these lines, William Shakespeare incorporated the seer's warning into his play, Julius Caesar:

Soothsayer. Beware the ides of March.

Caesar. What man is that?

Brutus. A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.

In Thornton Wilder's historical novel,The Ides of March, Caesar exclaims: "I govern innumerable men but must acknowledge that I am governed by birds and thunderclaps".  The story, of course, ends with Caesar's assassination and a different kind of "March madness".

Counting the Vote

The National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP) recently published a podcast in which I discuss one of my favorite topics - issues in counting stockholder votes.  

Delaware Pre-Litigation Demand 

Those interested in pre-litigation demand and director committees, will want to read this post by my partner, Rick Horvath, in the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation.