Ides of March

So, you have studied hard and succeeded in your CISA exams. You passed a strict selection process and got the certification. You abide by the code of professional ethics. And now what??

Sometimes people forget, quite quickly... Being an auditor, does not mean that you have ascended in some semi-divine rank where you see mortal mistakes as a sin that needs to be crushed. Users are sinful, but so are the auditors. Please, bear in mind that you where once among the users, do not forget that. Perhaps a poem for wannabe "CISARS" will change your mind, read it just before your next audit.

Historical background: Artemidoros tried - without success - to warn Julius Caesar on March 15 - Ides of March - about the assassination conspiracy led by Brutus.

Ides of March, The Canon

Be fearful of exalted rank, o soul.
And if you are unable to subdue
your aspirations — doubtingly pursue them
and with precautions. And the more you rise,
the more examining, the warier be.

And when you are arrived at the supreme
height of your glory — a Caesar, as it were:
when you are become a man so widely famed:
then specially be wary — at such time
as you come out into the thoroughfares,
a noted ruler with great following:
if peradventure, from the multitude,
some friendly person, an Artemidorus,
bringing a paper, should press near to you
and rap out sharp “Read this without delay;
herein are weighty matters touching you”,
fail not to tarry; fail not to postpone
all talk or business; fail not to turn off
the different hangers-on who bow and scrape,
(you will attend to them in time); let even
the Senate wait; — leave all, and learn at once
the grave things written by Artemidorus.

--Poems by C. P. Cavafy. Translated, from the Greek, by J. C. Cavafy. Ikaros, 2003