{"id":107821,"date":"2022-07-08T13:31:06","date_gmt":"2022-07-08T11:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/?post_type=ciekawostki&p=107821"},"modified":"2022-07-08T13:31:06","modified_gmt":"2022-07-08T11:31:06","slug":"the-dice-have-been-cast","status":"publish","type":"ciekawostki","link":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/curiosities\/the-dice-have-been-cast\/","title":{"rendered":"“The dice have been cast”"},"content":{"rendered":"

On January 10, 49 BCE Gaius Julius Caesar<\/a> crossed the Rubicon<\/a> River in northern Italy and thus started a civil war<\/a> against Pompey<\/a> and the Senate<\/a>. In the days of the Roman Republic, the Rubicon was a border river between Pre-Alpine Gaul and Italy, and due to the growing political power of Julius Caesar<\/a>, the Senate<\/a> drew a border on the river, which he could not cross due to your legions. It was supposed to be a safeguard against a possible coup d’\u00e9tat. <\/p>\n

As we know, however, Caesar<\/a> crossed this river and Suetonius<\/a> left us the message of this event. Then, while crossing the Rubicon<\/a>, Caesar was to say the words A<\/em>lea iacta est!<\/em> (traditionally “The dice have been cast”), which was meant to mean making an irreversible decision or step of great importance. The phrase was most likely taken by Caesar from a comedy by the Greek writer Menander Arrephorus<\/em>1<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

The historian describes this event as follows:<\/p>\n

\n

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.”<\/p>\n

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<\/a> and the false dealing of our foes point out. The die is cast,” said he.<\/p>\n

– Suetonius<\/b>, Caesar<\/em>, 31-32<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n\n
\n \n\n \n
\n
\n <\/i>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n The current course of the Rubicon River is difficult to identify, but it is believed to be a river Fiumicino[przypis id=\"2\"], which flows into the Adriatic Sea north of Rimini. <\/div>\n \n
\n History.com <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n \n

Under Roman law<\/a> in the republic, provincial governors were officials with the power of imperium<\/em> (the right to command an army<\/a>) within their provinces. Thus, they could not operate their troops outside their sphere of influence. Roman law only allowed the consuls and praetors to keep imperium<\/em> in the lands of Italy. If a general did not have special powers to enter Italian lands, he had to disband the army first. A person who did not obey this law and entered Italy at the head of the army automatically lost imperium <\/em>and command of the army and was sentenced to death. Moreover, soldiers who maintained their obedience to the commander without official authority were also subject to the death penalty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":36273,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"kategorie_ciekawostek":[77],"class_list":["post-107821","ciekawostki","type-ciekawostki","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","kategorie_ciekawostek-unknown-facts"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ciekawostki\/107821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ciekawostki"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ciekawostki"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ciekawostki\/107821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"kategorie_ciekawostek","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kategorie_ciekawostek?post=107821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}