"Happy" Ides of March

Alright, so today is the Ides of March, so I thought I'd do a little post in honor of Julius Caesar. Since it is upon Shakespeare that the popular understanding of the term "Ides of March" depends, I thought I'd pull a little quotation from the play to pay homage.

His wife Calpurnia is trying to get Caesar to stay in today, as there have been several prophesies of his death. But our Caesar, who had faced and defeated thousands upon thousands of barbarous Gauls and not quite so many Britons, Republicans, and Africans, was not worried about that togate band, most of whom he had previously pardoned. Here's what Shakespeare has him say in Julius Caesar, Act II, scene ii:

Servant: They would not have you to stir forth to-day.
Plucking the entrails of an offering forth,
They could not find a heart within the beast.

Caesar:  The gods do this in shame of cowardice:
Caesar should be a beast without a heart,
If he should stay at home to-day for fear.
No, Caesar shall not: danger knows full well
That Caesar is more dangerous than he:
We are two lions litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible:
And Caesar shall go forth.

The part about the beast without a heart is based on an actual quotation reported by Suetonius, Life of Julius Caesar ch. 77.

I'd also like to remark also upon the famous last words of Caesar according to Shakespeare. et tu, Brute? "Even you, Brutus?" That's pretty good drama. Even cooler though is the phrase ascribed to him by the ancient, albeit sensationalistic, Suetonius. καὶ σὺ τέκνον; "Even you, child?" "Child" being perhaps particularly appropriate because at one time Brutus might have been engaged to Caesar's beautiful daughter Julia and that Caesar had a long-term affair with Brutus' mother.

P.S. According to Wikipedia, Caesar was the first Roman to have his portrait put on coins while he was still alive. Check out his issues with thumbnails or without.