The Rubicon is now a small shallow river in northeastern Italy. Yet many centuries ago it marked a boundary between Julius Caesar, govenor of Gaul, and Julius Caesar, the Emperor of Rome.
Read our story to find out how one of the most important decisions in world history was made. You will also learn the link between the words Rubicon, ruby and rubric.
In his 2005 song ‘Streets of Love’ the British rock musician Mick Jagger sings:
‘You're awful bright, you're awful smart
I must admit you broke my heart
The awful truth is really sad
I must admit I was awful bad
While lovers laugh and music plays
I stumble by and I hide my pain
The lights are lit, the moon is gone
I think I've CROSSED THE RUBICON…’
The final line ‘I think I’ve crossed the Rubicon’ might not be clear to you if you do not know the story of the Roman general and statesman Julius Caesar starting the three-year civil war that eventually transformed the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.
To begin with, Caesar was a highly ambitious man. By the time he was 31, he had already become a military tribune, a high ranking officer in the Roman Army, the position which was considered to be a stepping stone to the Senate but he was profoundly dissatisfied. On seeing a statue of Alexander the Great, he was on the point of crying. When asked why he was so deeply distressed, he replied: ‘Alexander at my age had conquered most of the world and what do my achievements amount to?’ The feeling that he hadn’t done enough might have provided a powerful spur to action.
In 49 BC Caesar was governor of Gaul, a Roman province which stretched from the south of the Alps and to the east of the Apennines as far as the river Rubicon and included a small territory on the other side of the Alps, which roughly equaled today's French regions Provence and Languedoc. Caesar’s military talent (he had successfully conquered new territories and incorporated them in Gaul), widespread popularity, the enormous fortune he had accumulated made him a strong rival to the Senate in Rome and the Senate ordered him to dissolve his army and to return to Rome because his governor’s term was over.
It was the moment of truth for Caesar: to obey the Senate and come to Rome alone, unprotected or to lead his troops towards Rome. To do the latter amounted to treason because there was a strict law forbidding any general from entering Italy proper with an army. The river Rubicon marked a boundary between Caesar’s province and Italy proper. Caesar is said to have paused at the edge of the bank of the Rubicon thinking over the consequences of the decision he was going to make. Then he ordered his soldiers to cross the bridge, which was the first step towards Caesar defeating his rivals and becoming Dictator of the Roman Republic.
Crossing the Rubicon was for Caesar an action that had important implications for his future and was irreversible. Now the line from Mick Jagger’s song should be more understandable to you – he has fallen in love and there is no going back. Though his love is not returned he has got to bear the pain.
Let us turn our attention to some words in modern English the origin of which is connected with the name of the river Rubicon. The water in the Rubicon was reddish in colour because of the mud that covered the banks; hence the name from Latin RUBER –red. In English you will unmistakably see the same root in the word ‘ruby’, which is a dark red precious stone and in the word ‘rubric’, which stands for instructions that you see, for example, on your examination paper. How are instructions connected with the colour red? The answer is simple: in old manuscripts headings were often written in red ink and were consequently called rubric.
#etymology #wordstories #wordorigin #crossingtherubicon #advancedvocabulary#idioms #englishidioms #studyenglish #worldhistory #juliuscaesar #caesar #learningenglishthroughhistory #advancedenglish #lexis #ruby #rubric #mickjagger
Image Credit: Disclaimer
We post only texts written by us but we use images we have found on the web. Should you find an image of yours and want it to be removed, or if you would like us to give you credit as the author of this image, please let us know and we will be happy to do it.
Read our story to find out how one of the most important decisions in world history was made. You will also learn the link between the words Rubicon, ruby and rubric.
In his 2005 song ‘Streets of Love’ the British rock musician Mick Jagger sings:
‘You're awful bright, you're awful smart
I must admit you broke my heart
The awful truth is really sad
I must admit I was awful bad
While lovers laugh and music plays
I stumble by and I hide my pain
The lights are lit, the moon is gone
I think I've CROSSED THE RUBICON…’
The final line ‘I think I’ve crossed the Rubicon’ might not be clear to you if you do not know the story of the Roman general and statesman Julius Caesar starting the three-year civil war that eventually transformed the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.
To begin with, Caesar was a highly ambitious man. By the time he was 31, he had already become a military tribune, a high ranking officer in the Roman Army, the position which was considered to be a stepping stone to the Senate but he was profoundly dissatisfied. On seeing a statue of Alexander the Great, he was on the point of crying. When asked why he was so deeply distressed, he replied: ‘Alexander at my age had conquered most of the world and what do my achievements amount to?’ The feeling that he hadn’t done enough might have provided a powerful spur to action.
In 49 BC Caesar was governor of Gaul, a Roman province which stretched from the south of the Alps and to the east of the Apennines as far as the river Rubicon and included a small territory on the other side of the Alps, which roughly equaled today's French regions Provence and Languedoc. Caesar’s military talent (he had successfully conquered new territories and incorporated them in Gaul), widespread popularity, the enormous fortune he had accumulated made him a strong rival to the Senate in Rome and the Senate ordered him to dissolve his army and to return to Rome because his governor’s term was over.
It was the moment of truth for Caesar: to obey the Senate and come to Rome alone, unprotected or to lead his troops towards Rome. To do the latter amounted to treason because there was a strict law forbidding any general from entering Italy proper with an army. The river Rubicon marked a boundary between Caesar’s province and Italy proper. Caesar is said to have paused at the edge of the bank of the Rubicon thinking over the consequences of the decision he was going to make. Then he ordered his soldiers to cross the bridge, which was the first step towards Caesar defeating his rivals and becoming Dictator of the Roman Republic.
Crossing the Rubicon was for Caesar an action that had important implications for his future and was irreversible. Now the line from Mick Jagger’s song should be more understandable to you – he has fallen in love and there is no going back. Though his love is not returned he has got to bear the pain.
Let us turn our attention to some words in modern English the origin of which is connected with the name of the river Rubicon. The water in the Rubicon was reddish in colour because of the mud that covered the banks; hence the name from Latin RUBER –red. In English you will unmistakably see the same root in the word ‘ruby’, which is a dark red precious stone and in the word ‘rubric’, which stands for instructions that you see, for example, on your examination paper. How are instructions connected with the colour red? The answer is simple: in old manuscripts headings were often written in red ink and were consequently called rubric.
#etymology #wordstories #wordorigin #crossingtherubicon #advancedvocabulary#idioms #englishidioms #studyenglish #worldhistory #juliuscaesar #caesar #learningenglishthroughhistory #advancedenglish #lexis #ruby #rubric #mickjagger
Image Credit: Disclaimer
We post only texts written by us but we use images we have found on the web. Should you find an image of yours and want it to be removed, or if you would like us to give you credit as the author of this image, please let us know and we will be happy to do it.
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