History and Literature Latin Words and Grammar. Iacta Alea Est: Crossing the Rubicon. By Amelie Rosengren. What Say The Ancients?
Click Here. Amelie Rosengren Amelie Rosengren, M. Written by Amelie Rosengren. Related articles. As Caesar advances on Rome, Pompey and his allies retreat south, ultimately abandoning Italy for Greece. Caesar pursues Pompey across the Adriatic and decisively defeats him at the Battle of Pharsalus in Greece. After the loss, Pompey flees to Egypt where he is assassinated. Caesar becomes dictator of Rome.
The day before the crossing, Caesar acted as if nothing unusual was happening. The conqueror of Gaul attended a public event in Ravenna and carefully examined plans for a gladiator school. Secretly, he had ordered his cohorts to proceed to the banks of the river and wait for him there. Later, during dinner that night, he told his guests he would have to leave them for a moment.
A chariot pulled by mules from a nearby bakery was waiting for him outside, and after a considerable delay in finding the exact position of his troops, he eventually managed to join them on the bank.
Here he mulled the agonizing choice that lay before him. Writing around a century and a half later, the historian Suetonius produced an account of this moment that reveals the legendary status the event had attained in the Roman mind.
Still unsure whether to advance, a man of extraordinary height and beauty appeared, clearly sent by the gods. The die is cast. Caesar was not the first person to openly violate the law of the republic. During his youth, generals and politicians often exploited their military victories to take political control of the state. Born around B. In 81 B. Sulla was appointed dictator. In 60 B.
Revealing his lifelong instinct for survival, however, Caesar cut a deal with Pompey and Crassus, enabling him to leave for Gaul to achieve the military glory that would, in turn, increase his grip on power. Eight years later, at the beginning of the year 50 B. But the main beneficiary of the wars was undoubtedly Caesar himself. At the same time, he had at his back a trained, experienced, and fiercely loyal army. After the fighting was ended in Gaul, Caesar was obliged to stand down from his position as governor, disband his army, and so lose the immunity his official position had given him.
Pompey and his new optimate allies hatched a plan to seize the moment to take Caesar to court. By accusing him of corruption and abuses of power during his time in Gaul, they hoped to bring his political career to an end. But Caesar stood his ground in March 50 B.
He would not stand down as governor of Gaul, as stipulated, but would instead stay on until the end of 49 B. Faced with such obstinacy, his enemies in Rome scrambled to increase the pressure on the rogue governor.
They reiterated to the Senate that since the military campaign was over, Caesar must disband his army, and a new governor of Gaul be elected to replace him. The hostile atmosphere in the Senate convinced Caesar that he needed to defend himself militarily and politically. He moved some of his troops into the north of Italy, at the same time extending his influence in the corridors of power. Bribery continued to be the most effective tool.
In a particularly spectacular coup, he even managed to buy off the consul Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paullus for a colossal down payment of some nine million denarii. In return, the consul promised not to support any initiatives against him during his remaining term of office. Caesar definitely debated for a while about what to do. According to Suetonius, Caesar quipped, "Even yet we may drawback, but once cross yon little bridge, and the whole issue is with the sword. The Roman historian Plutarch reported that at this critical moment of decision Caesar declared in Greek and in a loud voice, "let the die be cast!
Plutarch renders the phrase in Latin, of course, as "alea iacta est" or "iacta alea est. A die is simply one of a pair of dice. Even in Roman times, gambling games with dice were popular. Just as it is today, once you've cast or thrown the dice, your fate is decided. Even before the dice land, your future has been foretold. Menander was one of Caesar's favorite dramatists. When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, he started a five-year Roman civil war.
At the war's end, Julius Caesar was declared dictator for life. Upon Julius Caesar's death, his adopted son Augustus became Rome's first emperor. The Roman Empire started in 31 B. Therefore, by crossing the Rubicon into Gaul and starting the war, Caesar threw the dice, not only sealing his own political future but effectively ending the Roman Republic and beginning the Roman Empire.
Recounted in Plutarch's Lives: Julius Caesar c. New Word List Word List. Save This Word! We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.
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