January 10th 49 BCE – Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon.
Have you ever heard the phrase 'crossing the Rubicon'?
If so - did you know if refers to an actual time and place?
On this day in the year 49 BCE, Julius Caesar led his army across the River Rubicon which marked the boundary between the lands he had ruled as Governor (Southern Gaul and Illyricum) and Italy – the heart of the Roman Empire.
Roman tradition was that no general can bring their army into Italy. They must disband and wait outside the boundaries, because Rome was ruled by the Senate, not by a general. This was a way of making sure no one person could use their army to seize power in Rome, ending the Republic and establishing a dictatorship.
Until Caesar.
Julius Caesar up until this point had been a powerful and successful general and governor. He had expanded the boundaries of the Roman Empire through his conquest of Gaul and he would lead the first expedition to Britain. By 49 BCE he had served his term as Governor and The Senate instructed him, as is tradition, to disband his army and return to Rome.
Caesar was not keen.
Instead he took the unprecedented step of marching his army into Italy – across the River Rubicon. His message was clear.
Faced with the threat Caesar posed, the Senate had no choice but to appoint him Dictator for Life.
Essentially he had made himself Emperor in all but name only.
Of course as Dictator, Caesar made himself the sworn enemy of those who wanted to preserve the Republic. Five years later in 44 BCE, Caesar would be assassinated by the very Senators he had defied the day he crossed the Rubicon.
His assassination of course sparked the civil war and it would be his adopted son Octavian who would eventually win the blood conflict and establish himself as the first Roman Emperor (ruling as Augustus) and permanently ending the Roman Republic.
These days the term ‘Crossing the Rubicon’ is a phrase which means ‘point of no return.’ It is the point at which a decision is made which cannot be undone.
For Julius Caesar that fateful day in the winter of 49 BCE, marching his army across the Rubicon River and into Italy was that point. The rest of his life and the entire history of Rome would be forever altered by the decision Caesar made that day.
Legend has it that as he ordered his soldiers to march across the river, Caesar said, “Ālea iacta est “which translated into English means “the die is cast.”
(referring to a game of change played with dice).
Caesar knew that this would be a fateful decision with far reaching consequences, on this day January 10th in the year 49 BCE.
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