Crossing the Rubicon

In 49 BC, Caesar marched home from years of conquest and reached the Rubicon, a small river marking the legal edge of Italy. Roman law was absolute: no general could cross it with an army. Doing so was treason, punishable by death.

The Senate, now siding with Pompey, ordered Caesar to disband his troops and come home powerless. He refused. Standing at the water, legend says he declared "alea iacta est" — the die is cast — and led his soldiers across. With one step, he had chosen civil war.