“Why, madam, the Ides were eight old women, the Nones nine, and Calind another, making eighteen in the whole. Their breath was [as] poison as the effluvia of asps. In the month of March, particularly when other folks kept in, by reason of bad going, these old hags were sure to be abroad, blurting and puffing their venom against every good reputation, to which they were mortal enemies.”
–The Old Farmer’s Almanac, 1816

March 15: The Ides of March