The River Rubicone at Savignano sul Rubicone in the Province of Forlì-Cesena, Emilia-Romagna, northeastern Italy. In 49 BC the river marked the boundary of Cisalpine Gaul, the imperium or sphere of authority allotted to Julius Caesar by the Roman Senate, and in continuing to command a military force (Legio XIII Gemina) and in crossing into Italy he was issuing a challenge that could only be interpreted as civil war. The crossing itself was no drama: the Rubicon is and always was of modest size, and as Suetonius indicated Caesar used a convenient bridge.
Part 1 of 2
ACCORDINGLY, when word came that the veto of the tribunes had been set aside and they themselves had left the city, he [Julius Caesar] at once sent on a few cohorts with all secrecy, and then, to disarm suspicion, concealed his purpose by appearing at a public show, inspecting the plans of a gladiatorial school which he intended building, and joining as usual in a banquet with a large company.
It was not until after sunset that he set out very privily with a small company, taking the mules from a bakeshop hard by and harnessing them to a carriage; and when his lights went out and he lost his way, he was astray for some time, but at last found a guide at dawn and got back to the road on foot by narrow by-paths.
Précis
In 49 BC the Roman Senate, encouraged by Pompey, sought to strip Julius Caesar of his military command. Stung, Caesar nevertheless managed to hide his feelings, and perform his civic duties — opening a gladiator school and attending a banquet — as if nothing were amiss. But next morning he summoned his troops to the southern border of his province, Cisalpine Gaul. (61 / 60 words)
Part Two
A rather weathered statue of Julius Caesar (100 - 44 BC) stands among other effigies of notable Roman figures connected with the British Isles, erected at the Roman baths in the city of Bath in 1894. During the Gallic Wars (58-51 BC) that brought him to such prominence at home, Caesar briefly visited Britain’s southern coast but found his reception a trifle too warm: see First Contact. His subsequent career was breathtaking but turbulent, and he was assassinated in 44 BC.
Then, overtaking his cohorts at the river Rubicon, which was the boundary of his province, he paused for a while, and realising what a step he was taking, he turned to those about him and said: “Even yet we may draw back; but once cross yon little bridge, and the whole issue is with the sword.”
As he stood in doubt, this sign was given him. On a sudden there appeared hard by a being of wondrous stature and beauty, who sat and played upon a reed; and when not only the shepherds flocked to hear him, but many of the soldiers left their posts, and among them some of the trumpeters, the apparition snatched a trumpet from one of them, rushed to the river, and sounding the war-note with mighty blast, strode to the opposite bank. Then Caesar cried: “Take we the course which the signs of the gods and the false dealing of our foes point out. The die is cast,” said he.*
* Suetonius’s account has furnished the English language with two useful sayings. ‘The die is cast’ means that a matter is now under the control of a higher power, as when a gambler who has thrown his dice must wait patiently for Fortune to favour him — or not. Similarly, to ‘cross the Rubicon’ means to pass the point of no return, to begin a course of action which, once begun, must be followed through to the end.
Précis
There at the River Rubicon, the boundary of his authority, Caesar halted, knowing that if he stepped across into Italy civil war was inevitable. At this tense moment, a mysterious figure appeared among the troops, playing on pipes. Suddenly he snatched a trumpet and sounded the advance. Thereupon Caesar cried to his men to follow, for the die was cast. (60 / 60 words)
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