Expert: Maria - 4/17/2010

Question
Dear Maria

I know that the phrase 'alea iacta est' means 'the die has been cast' but I have also seen the phrase written as 'iacta alea est'.

Which is the more correct? Is 'iacta alea est' a different tense of the same phrase? Is one a more accurate account of what Caesar is supposed to have said when he was crossing the Rubicon?

Best regards

Nick, UK

Answer
Hello,

As we read in  Suetonius “Life of  Caesar”, chapter  32, “Iacta alea est” is the memorable exclamation of Caesar when, at the Rubicon, after long hesitation, he finally decided to march to Rome, in 49 BC.

So, “Iacta alea est” ('The die has been cast' ) is the exact quotation from Suetonius, but its variant 'alea iacta est' -with a different word order which in Latin can be variable- is equally correct and has the same meaning and the same tense, since  the past tense, passive voice “iacta est” means “has been cast” (literal) and thus loosely “is now cast”, as in “The die is now cast”, i.e. “The decision has been made and is irrevocable”.

Best regards,
Maria
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Note that:

-IACTA EST (has been cast) is the past tense, passive voice, of the verb IACIO(I cast, I throw) whose paradigm is IACIO (present indicative, 1st.person).IACIS (present indicative, 2nd.person).IECI (past tense, 1st.person).IACTUM (supine).IACERE (infinitive).

-ALEA (subject, nominative case,feminine noun, 1st.declension) = the die

-Latin word order can be different from English since Latin  is an inflected language where syntactical relationships are indicated by the endings of each term, not by the order of the words.

-As for the Rubicon river which flows from the Apennine Mountains to the Adriatic Sea through the modern region called  Emilia-Romagna between the towns of Rimini and Cesena, I have to point out that it was then considered the boundary between the Roman province of Cisalpine Gaul
and the Roman Republic so that to cross  this river with an army on the way to Rome was rebellion and treason.
Therefore, when Julius Caesar led his army across the Rubicon, which separates his jurisdiction (Cisalpine Gaul) from that of the Senate (Rome and Italy), and thus initiated a civil war from which he later emerged as the unrivaled leader of the Roman world, he wanted to oppose the will of the Senate that then supported Pompey, his competitor in the struggle for  power.


-Suetonius, Divus Iulius,chapter 32, Latin text
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0061%3Alif...

-Suetonius, Divus Iulius,chapter 32, English translation
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Suet Jul. 32&lang=original