![]() ![]() the exact date is not known, nor even the location of this most historically significant of rivers". "Sometime around 10 January 49 BCE, Julius Caesar. Caesar's decision for swift action forced Pompey, the consuls, and a large part of the Roman Senate to flee Rome. ![]() 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 the point of no return". Īccording to Suetonius, Caesar uttered the famous phrase ālea iacta est ("the die has been cast"). It was reported that Caesar dined with Sallust, Hirtius, Oppius, Lucius Balbus and Sulpicus Rufus on the night after his famous crossing into Italy on 10 January. Roman historian Suetonius depicts Caesar as undecided as he approached the river and attributes the crossing to a supernatural apparition. In doing so, he deliberately broke the law on imperium and made armed conflict inevitable. ![]() Julius Caesar led a single legion, Legio XIII, south over the Rubicon from Cisalpine Gaul to Italy to make his way to Rome. Julius Caesar Julius Caesar, depicted as pausing on the banks of the Rubicon Generals were thus obliged to disband their armies before entering Italy. If a general entered Italy in command of an army, both the general and his soldiers became outlaws and were automatically condemned to death. Furthermore, obeying the commands of a general who did not legally possess imperium was a capital offense. Any magistrate who entered Italy at the head of his troops forfeited his imperium and was therefore no longer legally allowed to command troops.Įxercising imperium when forbidden by the law was a capital offense. Roman law specified that only the elected magistrates ( consuls and praetors) could hold imperium within Italy. The governors then served as generals of the Roman army within the territory they ruled. Governors of Roman provinces were appointed promagistrates with imperium (roughly, "right to command") in one or more provinces. On the northwestern side, the border was marked by the river Arno, a much wider and more important waterway, which flows westward from the Apennine Mountains (its source is not far from the Rubicon's source) into the Tyrrhenian Sea. According to some authors, he uttered the phrase alea iacta est ("the die is cast") before crossing.ĭuring the late Roman Republic, the river Rubicon marked the boundary between the Roman province of Cisalpine Gaul to the northeast and Italy proper (controlled directly by Rome and its allies) to the south. As it was illegal to bring armies into Italy (the northern border of which was marked by the river Rubicon) his crossing the river under arms amounted to insurrection, treason, and a declaration of war on the state. As his term of governorship ended, the Senate ordered him to disband his army and return to Rome. Caesar had been appointed to a governorship over a region that ranged from southern Gaul to Illyricum. His crossing of the river precipitated Caesar's civil war, which ultimately led to Caesar's becoming dictator for life ( dictator perpetuo). Scholars usually place it on the night of 10 and 11 January because of the speeds at which messengers could travel at that time. Its meaning comes from allusion to the crossing of the river Rubicon by Julius Caesar in early January 49 BC. The phrase " crossing the Rubicon" is an idiom that means "passing a point of no return". The modern Rubicon river (dark blue), believed to be the same river crossed by Caesar Look up cross the Rubicon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ![]()
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