San Andreas independent., 1858-03-13
Caesar Passing the Rubicon.

CSbSaI EdSSlug Lu0 RuulCcA'
On the ever-memorable night when
Julius Caesar resolved to take the first
step (and in such a case the first, as re-
garded the power of retreating, was also
the final STEP which placed him in arms
against the State, it happened that his
headquarters were at some distance from
the little river Rubicon, the boundary be-
tween Italia and Gallia Cisalpine, and
consequently the limit of Caesars military
command. With his usual caution, that
no news of his motion might run before
himself, on this night Caesar gave to his
friends an entertainment, in the middle
of which he slipped away unobserved, and
with small retinue, proceeded through
the woods to the point of the river at
which he designed to cross
The night was stormy, the torches of
the escort were blown out by the wind, so
that the whole party lost their way, and
wandered about until early dawn enabled
| them to recover their true course. The
light was still grey and uncertain as Caesar
and his retinue rode down upon the banks
of the fatal river-to cross which, with
arms in their hands, since the further
bank lay within the territory Of the Re
public, ipso tacto proclaimed any Roman
rebel and traitor We may suppose
Caesar to have been deeply agitated when
looking down upon this little brook; for
the whole course of future history and the
fate of every nation, would necessarily be
determined by the irretrievable act of the
next half hour. Caesar was yet lingering
on the hither bank, when, says the story,
suddenly at point not far distant from
himself, an apparation was described in
sitting posture, and holding in it's hand
what seemed to be flute What is sin
gular in the story, on any hypothesis
which could explain it out of Caesars in
dividual condition of exhaustion, and in
tense anxiety, is that others saw the phan-
tom as well as he, both pastoral laborers
and some of the sentinels stationed at the
passage of the river. These men fancied
even that a strain of music issued from
the aerial flute
A few Roman trumpeters advanced and
from one of them the phantom suddenly
caught trumpet, and blowing blast of
superhuman strength, plunged into the
Rublcon, passed to the other bank, and
disappeared in the dusky twilight of the
dawn. Upon which Caesar exclaimed -
1t is finished the die is cast; let us fol-
low whittier the guiding portends from
heaven and the malice of our enemy alike
summons us to 90. So saying, he crossed
the river with impetuosity; and in a sud-
den rapture OF passion and vindictive am
bition, placed himself and his retinue
upon the Italian soil and, as if by inspi-
ration from heaven, in one moment in
volved himself and his followers in trca-
son, raised the standard of revolt, put his
foot upon the neck of the inyincible Re-
public which had humbled all the kings
of the earth, and founded an empire which
was to last thousand and half athousand
years. In what manner this spectral ap-
pearance was managed, whether Caesar
were its author or its dupe, will remain
unknown for ever.
The Rubicon is considered by Cluveri-
US and D'Anville to be the Flumecino of
Italy, and their opinion is Supported by
the inhabitants of Rimini, in whose terri
tory it is; the point being "a ford on the
road from Rayenna. The celebrity of the
event has passed into proverb; hence to
pass the Rubicon' is to take a desperate
step in an enterprise, or to adopt meas
are from which one cannot recede, or
from which he is determined not to recede.
Julius Caesar is said to have fought
! fifty battles, and to have killed of the
Gauls alone 1892, 900 men, and as many
more in his civil wars. In the inscription
which Pompey placed in the Temple of
Minerva he professed that he had slain,
or vanquished and taken 1888, 900 men,