ALEA IACTA EST

During my tours of Rome, I use to describe the famous episode of the passage of the Rubicon river by Caesar and his legion at the moment of traveling to occupy Rome.The Greek writer reports that Caesar had a moment of hesitastion before crossing the Rubicon and had a strange dream: he dreamt to have an incest with his mother. Plutarch describes with many details how Caesar was torn apart by whether or not acting for his own glory or if he was offending Rome and its citizens. Plutarch wrote in Greek the famous sentence attributed To Caesar but in the history of the Latin Literature the sentence "alea iacta est" which means "the dice have been cast" was written by Suetonius. The phrase recalls also to my mind the etymology of an adjective that is currently used in the English vocabulary:"aleatory" which means, "subject to random" and " uncertain".Julius Caesar decided to return back to Rome after 10 years of campaign abroad, because he had discovered that the triumvirate did not work anymore. Crassus was dead since 53 BC in Parthia, killed by an arrow,and Pompey was created by the manipulated senate," consul sine collega". If Pompey broke the consitution of Rome, Caesar felt himself in full right to do the same and to chase his enemy. Pompey will be defeated in the battle of Pharsalus by Caesar and during his flight to Egypt, he was assassinated by Ptolomeus XIII, brother of Cleopatra and his head was offered on a silver platter to Julius Caesar, who was horrified by the cruelty of the Egyptians.Julius Caesar then fell in love with Cleopatra and had a son, Cesarion who was killed by Octavian during the second triumvirate.There is only one portrait of the son of Caesar and Cleopatra and is preserved in the British museum in London.