Alea iacta est
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Alea iacta est (also alea jacta est, Latin: "The die is cast") is a Latin phrase attributed by Suetonius (as iacta alea est [ˈjakta ˈaːlɛa ɛst]) to Julius Caesar on January 10, 49 BC as he led his army across the River Rubicon in northern Italy. With this step, he entered Italy at the head of his army in defiance of the Roman Senate and began his long civil war against Pompey and the Optimates.
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[edit] Meaning and form
The phrase is still used today to mean that events have passed a point of no return, that something inevitable will happen. Caesar was said to have borrowed the phrase from Menander, his favorite Greek writer of comedy. Plutarch reports that these words were said in Greek:
Ἑλληνιστὶ πρὸς τοὺς παρόντας ἐκβοήσας, "Ἀνερρίφθω κύβος," [anerriphtho kybos] διεβίβαζε τὸν στρατόν.
He [Caesar] declared in Greek with loud voice to those who were present 'Let the dice be cast' and led the army across.– Plutarch, 'Life of Pompey, 60.2.9'
See also Plutarch's Life of Caesar 32.8.4 and Sayings of Kings & Emperors 206c.
It is generally assumed, e.g. by Shakespeare, that Caesar here meant, "The dice have been cast"; i.e., "The dice are now cast", and not, "The die is cast."
According to Lewis and Short[1], the phrase used was a future active imperative, Jacta alea esto, "Let the dice be cast!", or "Let the game be ventured!" This is the meaning of Plutarch's third-person imperative ἀνεῤῥίφθω κύβος.
By the first century AD 'alea' refers to the early form of backgammon that was played in Caesar's time. Augustus (Octavian) mentions winning this game in a letter. Dice were commonly known in Roman times and generally known as 'cubus'. It has thus been suggested that another probable translation of the phrase would be 'the (backgammon) game has begun'.
[edit] References in popular culture
- In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Robert Walton says "The die is cast; I have consented to return if we are not destroyed."
- In the 1972 film Roma, at the very beginning, while crossing the Rubicon heading to Rome, the teacher screams to his students, "alea iacta est".
- The phrase is often used by Julius Caesar in the popular French comic book Asterix, generally with its modern meaning. It is also one of many Latin clichés spouted by the hapless pirates whose ship is constantly being sunk by Asterix and Obelix. Another oft-used phrase is 'cogito, ergo sum'.
- In the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, there is an episode by this very name, instead referencing the crossing of a joint Cardassian-Romulan fleet entering the Gamma Quadrant.
- In Election Day--Season 4, Episode 7 of The West Wing--as Will Bailey runs around wildly trying to ensure a win for his dead candidate, Horton Wilder, in the 47th congressional district of California on election day, Elsie Snuffin says to him, "The die has been cast, big brother. You're making everyone crazy." Will responds, "There's a moment after you cast the die but before it hits the table. Breathe wrong and you'll change the way it lands."
- The phrase is displayed on one of the opening screens to the Playstation puzzle game Devil Dice.
- "Alea jacta est" is the subject of a classroom lecture in the 2002 film, The Emperor's Club.
- In the 2003 film Battle Royale II: Requiem, "Jacta Alea Est" is the slogan for the terrorist organisation Wild Seven, led by Shuya Nanahara.
- In MC Solaar's 2007 song "Carpe Diem" as part of the chorus, "Le temps passe, | Alea Jacta Est | Qu'on vienne de Budapest ou de gare de l'Est | Alors Carpe Diem."
- Alea Jacta Est is the name of a Grade 5 ice climb near La Grave in the French Alps. It is climbed by Joe Simpson in his book The Beckoning Silence.
- In the 2006 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, "Bootstrap" Bill Turner told his son "The die is cast" after he bet his soul and an eternity of servitude on the Flying Dutchman.
- In Samurai Warriors, this phrase is quoted by Nobunaga Oda in Hideyoshi's opening cinematic.
- "Alea Jacta" is the name of a song by the Spanish heavy metal band Dark Moor.
- "Alea Jacta Est" was the last written sentence in the suicide note of Marc Lépine, a young Canadian who shot twenty-eight people, killing fourteen women, during the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal.
- Finnish metal band Turisas use the quote "the die is cast" in their song The Land of Hope and Glory.
- American rock band The Smashing Pumpkins uses the phrase "the die is cast" in the song "Tales of a Scorched Earth," from the "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" release.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Online Dictionary: alea, Lewis and Short at the Perseus Project. See bottom of section I.
[edit] External links
- Divus Iulius, paragraph 33 by Suetonius, where the quote is found.
- Reference to Augustus playing Alea
