The point of no return

The Roman historian Suetonius described Julius Caesar as timid and noncommittal as he initially approached the Rubicon River – a shallow and narrow waterway that, at the time, demarcated the boundary between Cisalpine Gaul and Italy proper – in January 49 B.C.E. In fact, the historian ultimately attributed Caesar’s decision to cross the waterway, precipitating a fouryear civil war and ultimate Caesarian dictatorship, to the supernatural. Prior to crossing, again according to Suetonius, Caesar uttered the now-infamous phrase: “The die has been cast.”