- Rubicon
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/rooh"bi kon'/, n.1. a river in N Italy flowing E into the Adriatic. 15 mi. (24 km) long: in crossing this ancient boundary between Cisalpine Gaul and Italy, to march against Pompey in 49 B.C., Julius Caesar made a major military commitment.2. cross or pass the Rubicon, to take a decisive, irrevocable step: Our entry into the war made us cross the Rubicon and abandon isolationism forever.
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Small stream that separated Cisalpine Gaul from Italy in the era of the Roman republic.The movement of Julius Caesar's forces over the Rubicon into Italy in 49 BC violated the law that forbade a general to lead an army out of the province to which he was assigned. Caesar's act thus amounted to a declaration of war against the Roman Senate and resulted in the three-year civil war that left Caesar ruler of the Roman world. "Crossing the Rubicon" became a popular phrase describing a step that irrevocably commits a person to a given course of action.* * *
Latin Rubico, or Rubicon,small stream that separated Cisalpine Gaul from Italy in the era of the Roman Republic. The movement of Julius Caesar's forces over the Rubicon into Italy in 49 BC violated the law (the Lex Cornelia Majestatis) that forbade a general to lead an army out of the province to which he was assigned. His act thus amounted to a declaration of war against the Roman Senate and resulted in the three-year civil war that left Caesar ruler of the Roman world. “Crossing the Rubicon” became a popular phrase describing a step that definitely commits a person to a given course of action.The modern Rubicone (formerly Fiumicino) River is officially identified with the Rubicon that Caesar crossed, but the Pisciatello River to the north and the Uso to the south have also been suggested.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
