The Ides of March, of course.

Now, as a commentor has pointed out, Julius Caesar wasn’t actually assassinated on exactly this spot:

(Also the cat sanctuary)…but nearby. That’s okay – close enough. According to this site, the wall of Pompey’s Theater, at which the Senate was meeting that day, is visible behind one of the temples here, and the porch on which Julius Caesar was stabbed is a bit further on, now under a sidewalk.

When you go to the Forum, one of the smaller sites, unmarked by huge columns or porticos, is under a tin roof – a mound which, is it said, is all that’s left of the altar of the Temple of Caesar, where he body was burned. On the mound, you can almost find a fresh flower – a rose the day we went. One site I read said that the number of flowers increase on days associated with Great Moments in Italian Fascism. I’m not sure what those days would be, but, perhaps.

I had hoped to do the Forum and perhaps even what parts of the Palatine Hill that were accessible with a guide, but it didn’t work out. That’s okay – even without a guide to point out elements and put things into context, the Forum is still a thought-provoking place, as are all of the ruins of ancient Rome that are nearby, and that you even run into as you’re walking down the street – a column here, an excavation of an ancient apartment complex there –

As the children scamper among these physical remains of a once-mighty empire, you can’t help thinking, as a commentor pointed out last week, that perhaps, one day, the meek shall inherit the earth:

But not, I’m afraid, before the principalities put up a fight. To the death, without doubt. But as in the photo, the light shines through the ruins, a sign of hope.