The phrase was a quote from a play by Menander, and according to Plutarch, Caesar originally said the line in Greek rather than Latin. The Latin version is now most commonly cited with the word order changed (Alea iacta est), and it is used both in this form, and in translation in many languages. The same event inspired another related idiom, "crossing the Rubicon".
Meaning and forms
A Roman die
Caesar was said to have borrowed the phrase from Menander, the famous Greek writer of comedies, whom he considered a great playwright.[note 1][1] The phrase appears in the lost play Arrephoros, as quoted in Deipnosophistae.[note 2]Plutarch reports that these words were said in Greek:
In Latin alea refers to a game with dice and, more generally, a game of hazard or chance. Dice were common in Roman times and were usually cast three at a time. There were two kinds. The six-sided dice were known in Latin as tesserae and the four-sided ones (rounded at each end) were known as tali.[7] In Greek a die was κύβοςkybos.[8]
^Caesar's admiration of Menander is known from one of Caesar's poems, which was preserved in Suetonius's The Twelve Caesars. In the poem, he praises the playwright Terence, saying that he is "ranked with the highest", but despite this is only a "half-sized Menander".[1]
A: You will not marry if you're in your senses
When you have left this life. For I myself
Did marry; so I recommend you not to. B: The matter is decided—the die is cast. A: Go on then. I do wish you then well over it;
But you are taking arms, with no good reason,
Against a sea of troubles. In the waves
Of the deep Libyan or Ægean sea
Scarce three of thirty ships are lost or wreck'd
But scarcely one poor husband 'scapes at all.
^ abCasali, Sergio (2018). "Caesar's Poetry in its Context". In Grillo, Luca; Krebs, Christopher B. (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to the Writings of Julius Caesar. Cambridge University Press. pp. 208–209. doi:10.1017/9781139151160.015.
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