Image: Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon.

On this day in history, January 10, 49 BCE, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River in Northern Italy and set off a civil war in the Roman Republic. There had been many civil wars over the previous century in the Roman Republic, yet the one begun by Julius Caesar would alter Roman history forever. On January 10, 49 BCE, Caesar led a single legion, Legio XIII, south over the Rubicon River from Cisalpine Gaul to Italy to venture to Rome. In doing so, he automatically broke the law on imperium (roughly “right to command”), thus making him no longer legally allowed to command his troops, making armed conflict with Rome inevitable. This action would ultimately lead to Caesar becoming dictator for life (dictator perpetuo).

Bringing an army into Italy past the Rubicon River was illegal. Crossing the river amounted to insurrection, treason, and a declaration of war on the state. Caesar had gone against the Roman Senate and conquered Gaul. He would enamor himself to his troops even further by paying them directly and sharing in the booty. This was now Caesar’s army, not Rome’s.

According to Roman historian Suetonius, Julius Caesar was undecided when he approached the Rubicon and attributed the crossing to a “supernatural apparition.” Upon crossing the Rubicon, Caesar, according to Suetonius, apparently quoted the Athenian playwright Meander, in Greek, “alea iacta esto,” let the die be cast. It was stated that Caesar dined with Sallust, Hirtius, Oppious, Lucius Balbus, and Sulpicus Rufus the night after his famous crossing into Italy.

When word reached the Roman Senate that Caesar had crossed the Rubicon, they were beside themselves with anger and fear. The Senate had no army with which to defend itself in Rome, and within weeks Caesar had occupied the city and Italy. Under the leadership of Pompey the Great, the senators gathered an army in the Balkans. Caesar went into the Balkans and decimated Pompey’s army. Yet the civil war was far from being over. Soon there were anti-Caesarian revolts all over the Empire. Even with the assassination of Pompey, the uprisings continued. After a moderate amount of time, Caesar quelled the rebellions and Caesar went on to make himself dictator of Rome.

Despite having the love and admiration of the general public, the elites had grown to hate their new leader. In 44 BCE, a group of Senators conspired, and Caesar was assassinated as he entered the Roman Senate House. Once again, a civil war started between Mark Antony and Octavian (grand nephew of Caesar), with the latter being victorious. Later Octavian became Augustus, the de-facto first Emperor of Rome. When Caesar crossed the Rubicon River, he started a chain of events that led to the fall of the Roman Republic and the creation of an Imperial system in Rome.

The phrase “crossing the Rubicon” has survived to this day and refers to anyone or group which commits itself irrevocably to a difficult or extreme course of action, similar to the modern phrase “passing the point of no return .”Caesar’s decision for swift action forced changes in the very fabric of Roman society, changes which changed the course of world history.

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