Posted on 01/10/2018 6:52:04 AM PST by harpygoddess
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 haven’t 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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