Die is Cast

[A. Maberry]

The Lewis & Short Latin Dictionary has a very long entry on dice games
played by the Romans (too long for me to retype here) which includes the
following: "Trop. Jacta alea esto, Let the die be cast! Let the game be
ventured ... Suetonius Caes. 32 ubi v. Casaub. and Ruhnk. (Casaubon and
Ruhnken).
I see that while writing this Bernie Kane has given Plutarch's version
of the story of Caesar at the Rubicon which notes that the words were
originally spoken in Greek. Suetonius has: "tunc Caesar: eatur, inquit,
quo deorum ostenta et inimicorum iniquitas vocat. iacta alea est, inquit."

Allen
maberry at u.washington.edu

On Sun, 28 May 2000, Frank Abate wrote:

> This does originate with Julius Caesar, the Latin being "Alea iacta est".
> When JC crossed the River Rubicon in northern Italy with his army, violating
> a restriction placed on Roman generals, he said the phrase, meaning "There's
> no going back", that he had taken the risk of provoking civil war by his
> violation of the law.
>
> I don't have access to sources now to give a date (about 48 BC) and cite, but
> perhaps someone else?
>
> Frank Abate
>