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Crossing the Rubicon

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Coordinates:44°05′35″N12°23′46″E / 44.093°N 12.396°E /44.093; 12.396

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, seeCrossing the Rubicon (disambiguation).

Idiom to mean a point of no return

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Julius Caesar

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Assassination

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The phrase "crossing the Rubicon" is anidiom meaning "passing thepoint of no return".^[1] Its meaning comes from the crossing of theRubicon river byJulius Caesar in January 49 BC at the head of the13th Legion. Caesar was not allowed to command an army within Italy proper, and by crossing the river with his forces wasdefying law and risking death. The crossing precipitateda civil war,^[2] which eventually led to Caesar becomingdictator for life (dictator perpetuo).

Caesar had previously been appointedgovernor of a region that stretched from southernGaul toIllyricum. As his term was coming to an end, theSenate ordered him to disband his army and return to Rome. Caesar defied the order, and instead brought his army to Rome, occupying the city ofAriminum^[3] then crossing the Rubicon towards the south. The exact date of the crossing is unknown,^[4] but scholars usually place it on the night of 10 and 11 January because of the speeds at which messengers could travel at that time.^[5] The phrasealea iacta est ("the die is cast"), allegedly uttered by Caesar just before the crossing, also comes from this event.

History

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A map of theRubicon (dark blue), believed to be the same river crossed by Caesar

During the lateRoman Republic, the river Rubicon was a small river that flowed east from theApennine Mountains into theAdriatic Sea. It was one of two rivers that marked the boundary between theRoman province ofCisalpine Gaul to the north and areas controlled directly by Rome and itsallies to the south; west of the Apennines, the border was marked by the riverArno, a much wider and more important waterway which flows into theTyrrhenian Sea.

Governors of Roman provinces were appointedpromagistrates withimperium (roughly, "right to command") in one or more provinces. The governors then served as generals of theRoman army within the territory they ruled.Roman law specified that only the electedmagistrates (consuls andpraetors) could holdimperium within Italy. Any magistrate who entered Italy at the head of his troops forfeited hisimperium and was therefore no longer legally allowed to command troops.

Exercisingimperium when forbidden by the law was a capital offense. Furthermore, obeying the commands of a general who did not legally possessimperium was a capital offense. If a general entered Italy in command of an army, both the general and his soldiers became outlaws and were automatically condemned to death. Generals were thus obliged to disband their armies before entering Italy.

Julius Caesar

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In January 49 BC,Julius Caesar led a singleRoman legion,Legio XIII, south over the Rubicon from Cisalpine Gaul to Italy to make his way to Rome. In doing so, he deliberately broke the law onimperium and made armed conflict inevitable. Roman historianSuetonius depicts Caesar as undecided as he approached the river and attributes the crossing to a supernatural apparition. It was reported that Caesar dined withSallust,Hirtius,Oppius,Lucius Balbus andSulpicus Rufus on the night after his famous crossing into Italy on 10 January.^[6] A dramatic moment in literary narratives, the importance of the anecdote is undermined somewhat by Caesar's forces having already crossed into Italy the previous day. By the time Caesar himself entered Italy the war had already begun, with his legate, Quintus Hortensius, occupying the Italian town ofAriminum.^[7]

According toSuetonius, Caesar uttered the famous phraseālea iacta est ("thedie has been cast").^[8] The phrase "crossing the Rubicon" has survived to refer to any individual or group committing itself to a risky or revolutionary course of action, similar to the modern phrase "passing thepoint of no return". Caesar's decision for swift action forcedPompey, the consuls, and a large part of theRoman Senate to flee Rome.

References

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Citations

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^Beard 2015, p. 286.
^EgRedonet, Fernando Lillo (2017-03-15)."How Julius Caesar Started a Big War by Crossing a Small Stream".History. National Geographic. Archived fromthe original on April 10, 2021. Retrieved2023-11-21.
^Badian 1990, p. 30. "The civil war did not begin with Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon. By the time he reached the river, Q. Hortensius had already occupied Ariminum".
^Beard 2015, p. 286. "Sometime around 10 January 49 BCE, Julius Caesar... crossed the Rubicon... the exact date is not known, nor even the location of this most historically significant of rivers".
^Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 322.
^Dando-Collins, Stephan (2002).The Epic Saga of Julius Caesars Tenth Legion and Rome. Wiley. p. 67.ISBN 0-471-09570-2.
^Badian 1990, pp. 29–30.
^Lives of the Caesars, "Divus Julius" sect. 32. Suetonius gives theLatin version,iacta alea est, although according toPlutarch'sParallel Lives, Caesar quoted a line from the playwrightMenander: "ἀνερρίφθω κύβος",anerríphthō kȳbos, "let the die be cast". Suetonius' subtly different translation is often also quoted asalea iacta est. Alea was a game played with a die or dice rather than the actual dice themselves, so another translation might be "The game is afoot".

Sources

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Badian, Ernst (1990).Gnomon.62 (1):22–39.ISSN 0017-1417.JSTOR 27690364.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
Beard, Mary (2015).SPQR: a history of ancient Rome (1st ed.). New York: Liveright Publishing.ISBN 978-0-87140-423-7.OCLC 902661394.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911)."Rubicon" .Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Goldsworthy, Adrian Keith (2006).Caesar: Life of a Colossus. Yale University Press.ISBN 978-0-300-12048-6.
Morstein-Marx, Robert (2021).Julius Caesar and the Roman People. Cambridge University Press.doi:10.1017/9781108943260.ISBN 978-1-108-83784-2.LCCN 2021024626.S2CID 242729962.

External links

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"Rubico" on Livius.org Archived 2012-12-22 at theWayback Machine
Rubicon at Reference.com
Pearce, M., R. Peretto, P. Tozzi, R. Talbert, T. Elliott, S. Gillies (15 November 2020)."Places: 393484 (Rubico fl.)". Pleiades. RetrievedMarch 8, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Julius Caesar

Major life events

Military campaigns

Mytilene

Gallic Wars	Arar Bibracte Vosges Axona Sabis Atuatuci Octodurus Morbihan Invasions of Britain Ambiorix's revolt Avaricum Gergovia Alesia Uxellodunum
Civil War	Corfinium Brundisium Ilerda Dyrrhachium Pharsalus Alexandrian war Siege Battle of the Nile Zela Ruspina Corduba Thapsus Munda

Planned invasion of the Parthian Empire

Legislation

Works

Quotes

Buildings

Portraits

Family

Wives	Cossutia (disputed) Cornelia Pompeia Calpurnia
Children	Julia Caesarion Augustus (adopted)
Other	Gaius Julius Caesar (father) Aurelia (mother) Julia Major (sister) Julia Minor (sister)