The Ides of March have come

 

 

A certain seer had told him to be on his guard against great danger on a day in the month of March which the Romans call the Ides; and when this day had come and Caesar was going to a meeting of the Senate, he greeted him with a joke, saying, “Well then, the Ides of March have come”; to which the seer replied softly, “Aye, they have come; but they have not gone.”

 

Τις αὐτῷ μάντις ἡμέρᾳ Μαρτίου μηνός, ἣν Εἰδοὺς Ῥωμαῖοι καλοῦσι, προείποι μέγαν φυλάττεσθαι κίνδυνον· ἐλθούσης δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας προϊὼν ὁ Καῖσαρ εἰς τὴν Σύγκλητον ἀσπασάμενος προσπαίξειε τῷ μάντει, φάμενος, “Αἱ μὲν δὴ Μάρτιαι Εἰδοὶ πάρεισιν,” ὁ δὲ ἡσυχῇ πρὸς αὐτὸν εἴποι, “Ναὶ πάρεισιν, ἀλλ’ οὐ παρεληλύθᾱσι.”

 

—Plutarch, Life of Julius Caesar 63.3

Your mum

 

 

Or again, when in a dispute Metellus Nepos repeatedly asked Cicero “Who is your father?”, Cicero replied, “In your case, your mother has made this question rather difficult to answer.”

 

Μετέλλου δὲ Νέπωτος ἐν διαφορᾷ τινι πολλάκις λέγοντος “Τίς σοῦ πατήρ εστιν;” ὁ Κικέρων “Σοὶ ταύτην,” ἔφη, “τὴν ἀπόκρισιν ἡ μήτηρ χαλεπωτέραν ἐποίησεν.”

 

—Plutarch, Life of Cicero 26.6