Posted on 01/10/2018 6:52:04 AM PST by harpygoddess
Today is the anniversary of the day in 49 B.C. when Julius Caesar - noting, Iacta alea esto ("The die is cast") - crossed the Rubicon River with his legions to march on Rome in defiance of both the Senate and Roman law, which forbade any general from crossing the Rubicon and entering Italy proper with a standing army. To do so was treason. This tiny stream would reveal Caesar's intentions and mark the point of no return.
Born around 100 B.C. into one of the oldest patrician families of the republic, Caesar began his political career as a member of the popular party in 78 B.C., at first supported Pompey in his grasp for power, and served as governor of Spain.
In 63, as Pontifex Maximus (essentially the high priest of the Roman government), he was responsible for the institution of the Julian calendar and in 60 organized the coalition known as the First Triumvirate, with Pompey and Crassus, to rule the city. He fully established his military reputation in the Gallic Wars from 58 to 49 B.C., but with the demise of the triumvirate, civil war loomed, and Caesar "crossed the Rubicon" to join the struggle for power.
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I've always heard it as "the die is cast" ("alea iacta est").
A little googling revealed this: "Lewis and Short[4], citing Casaubon and Ruhnk, suggest that the text of Suetonius should read iacta alea esto (reading the imperative ESTO instead of EST), which they translate as "Let the die be cast!", or "Let the game be ventured!". This matches Plutarch's use of third-person singular perfect middle/passive imperative of the verb ἀναρρίπτω,[5] i.e. ἀνερρίφθω κύβος (anerrhiphtho kybos, pronounced [anerːípʰtʰɔː kýbos])."
I tracked the Lewis & Short link: alea
The ppp with sum/esse is often challenging to translate. Formally "iacta est" is the perfect passive "has been cast" not present passive "is cast" ("iacitur").
"iacta esto" is apparently a paraphrastic third person imperative (="iacito"). I do not know if this is due to Greek influence or a vulgar construction. In classical latin the hortatory subjunctive "iaciatur" might be more common.
Caesar would be facile in Greek forms. My classics advisor corrected Shakespeare's "Et te, Brute". He said Caesar would more likely have said, "Kai su, teknon" (καὶ σὺ, τέκνον)
What fun! Latin!
He conquered the Franks and enslaved them, so why havent they torn his statue down yet?
Didn’t Caesar own slaves? TEAR DOWN THAT STATUE!
Tear down the Roman ruins and destroy every toilet.
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