FATEFUL CHOICES · 15 MAR 44 BC · ROME
Caesar stays home
On the morning of the Ides of March, Caesar nearly did not go: Calpurnia had dreamed him dead and he ordered the Senate adjourned, until a conspirator came to his house and talked him out the door. This is the timeline where the door stays shut.
You are reading the timeline that almost was · notes marked THE RECORD are real history
15 MAR 44 BC · MORNING
Three days before he leaves to make war on Parthia, the dictator of Rome is arguing with his wife about a dream. Calpurnia has seen him dead in her arms. She begs him not to go to the Senate. Caesar has already sent word to adjourn when Decimus Brutus arrives: trusted, smiling, secretly sworn. He asks whether the master of the world means to hide behind a woman’s sleep. In our timeline, the taunt worked.
In the timeline recorded here, Caesar looks at his friend a moment too long. He tells him the Senate can wait upon a dictator’s cold, and turns back into the house. He never learns, that morning, how true the dream was. He only stays home.
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