Julius Caesar Crossing the Rubicon

On 7 January 49 BCE, the Senate demanded Julius Caesar to hand over his ten well-trained legions to a new governor. Caesar heard the news in Ravenna, and knew that he had to make a choice between prosecution and rebellion; preferring the dignity of war over the humiliation of a process, Caesar chose to rebel, quoting his favorite poet Menander, “the die is cast“ (alea iacta est). On January 10 or 11, his army advanced to Rimini, where Caesar could control the passes across the Apennines: in doing so, he crossed the river Rubico, thereby invading Italy and provoking the Second Civil War. The bridge at modern Savignano probably marks the place where the ancient Via Aemilia crossed the Rubico. When he came to the river (it is called the Rubico) which forms the frontier between Cisalpine Gaul and the rest of Italy he became full of thought; for now he was drawing nearer and nearer to the dreadful step, and his mind wavered as he considered what a tremendous venture it was upon which he was eng