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The phrase "crossing the Rubicon" is an idiom that means "passing a point of no return". [1] Its meaning comes from allusion to the crossing of the river Rubicon from the north by Julius Caesar in early January 49 BC.
Julius Caesar just before crossing the Rubicon, when he is supposed to have uttered the phrase. Alea iacta est ("The die is cast") is a variation of a Latin phrase (iacta alea est [ˈjakta ˈaːlɛ.a ˈɛs̺t]) attributed by Suetonius to Julius Caesar on 10 January 49 BC, as he led his army across the Rubicon river in Northern Italy, in defiance of the Roman Senate and beginning a long civil ...
The speech is known as the 'Rubicon speech' because in its second-last paragraph Botha used the phrase, "I believe that we are today crossing the Rubicon. There can be no turning back." [ 2 ] alluding to the historical reference of Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon River .
Crossing the Rubicon, Suetonius claims Caesar exclaimed alea iacta est ("the die is cast"), though Plutarch maintains Caesar spoke in Greek quoting the poet Menander with anerriphtho kubos ("ἀνερρίφθω κύβος", "let the die be thrown"); [37] Caesar's own commentaries do not mention the Rubicon at all. [38]
On 10 January 49 BC Caesar crossed the Rubicon river (the frontier boundary of Italy) with only one legion and ignited civil war. Upon crossing the Rubicon, Plutarch reports that Caesar quoted the Athenian playwright Menander in Greek, saying anerrhiphthō kubos (ἀνερρίφθω κύβος; let the dice be tossed). [33]
On Jan. 11, 49 BC, Julius Caesar marched his Roman Legions across the Rubicon River into Rome, the seat of the longest reigning democracy the world has ever known.
The phrase originates with Julius Caesar's seizure of power in the Roman Republic in 49 BC. Roman generals were strictly forbidden from bringing their troops into the home territory of the Republic in Italy. On 10 January, Caesar led his army across the Rubicon River, crossing from the province of Cisalpine Gaul into Italy. After this, if he ...
After Caesar's crossing, the Rubicon was a geographical feature of note until about 42 BC, when Octavian merged the Province of Cisalpine Gaul into Italia and the river ceased to be the extreme northern border of Italy. The decision robbed the Rubicon of its importance, and the name gradually disappeared from the local toponymy.