Alea iacta est

File:Crossing the Rubicon.jpg

Julius Caesar is said to have uttered the phrase when leading his army across the river Rubicon

("The die is cast") is a variation of a Latin phrase ( ) attributed by Suetonius to Julius Caesar on 10Template:NbsJanuary 49 BC, as he led his army across the Rubicon river in Northern Italy, in defiance of the Roman Senate and beginning a long civil war against Pompey and the Optimates. The phrase is often used to indicate events that have passed a point of no return.

According to Plutarch, Caesar originally said the line in Greek rather than Latin, as Template:Transliteration, literally "let a die be cast", metaphorically "let the game be played". This is a quote from a play by Menander, and Suetonius's Latin translation is slightly misleading, being merely a statement about the inevitability of what is to come, while the Greek original contains a self-encouragement to venture forward. The Latin version is now most commonly cited with the word order changed (), and it is used both in this form, and in translation in many languages. The same event inspired another related idiom, "crossing the Rubicon".

Meaning and forms

File:9BFE00 -roman lead die (FindID 103936) (cropped).jpg

A Roman die

Caesar probably borrowed the phrase from Menander, the famous Greek writer of comedies, as the phrase appeared in Menander's lost play (Template:Gloss),Template:NoteTag and Caesar was known to have considered him a great playwright.Template:NoteTag Plutarch reports that Caesar quoted these words in Greek:

Appian, also writing in Greek, reports a very similar phrase, and states that it was familiar (a well-known saying or quote): Template:Quotation

Suetonius, a contemporary of Plutarch and Appian, writing in Latin, has the quote in Latin instead of Greek:

In Latin refers to a game with dice and, more generally, a game of hazard or chance. Dice were common in Roman times and were usually cast three at a time. There were two kinds. The six-sided dice were known in Latin as and the four-sided ones (rounded at each end) were known as . In Greek a die was .

See also

• Aleatoricism
• List of Latin phrases

External links

• Divus Iulius, paragraph 32 by Suetonius, where the quote is found.
• Reference to Augustus playing Alea