Miko: annotations

insolent

insolent or presumptuous

Today the word “saucy” is a light-hearted word meaning “naughty”. In Shakespeare's day, however, it was a serious accusation of lasciviousness.

Diana was goddess of the moon and of chastity.

perform

Mark Antony is one of the Luperci, pagan priests. The Luperci presided over the feast of Lupercalia held on February 15 in Rome. As part of the tradition, Luperci ran around a hill and hit women with the skins of sacrificial animals to make the women fertile.

Londoners claimed that the Tower of London was built by Julius Caesar. It's unclear to what extent they actually believed it.

The feast of Lupercalia was held on February 15. However, Plutarch states that Caesar returned triumphantly to Rome in October.

It's interesting that Flavius seems to think it is not a holiday. Later in the scene, Murellus says that it is the feast of Lupercalia, a Roman holiday held on February 15. Lupercal was known for loud, chaotic celebrations.

The original texts of the play have Brutus asking if tomorrow is “the first of March”. Modern editions change it to the ides of March to be consistent with the famous line “beware the Ides of March”. However, it might be that Shakespeare intentionally had the discrepancy. At the time this play was written, around 1599, Protestant countries such as England had a significantly different calendar than Catholic countries. At issue was a correction in the calendar ordered by Pope Gregory XIII that in 1582 the days of October 5-14 would be eliminated. Doing so corrected the calendar so it would be in sync with the solar calendar.

However, Protestant countries did not choose to follow the pope's orders, and so there was a growing discrepancy between calendars. The Ides of March was in fact approximately two weeks off between England and Catholic countries such as Italy.

Without further evidence, it's hard to say if Shakespeare made a mistake or intentionally had the innacuracy.