The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-08-19
CROSSING RUBICONS.


scene on the banks Of the Rubicon out OF
which subsequent chroniclers invented the
famous legend. In all momcntous enter
prises, whether they are of national or
only of private dimensions, men rathcr
shirk the recognition Of final and decl-
sivc step than seek dramatic excitement
from the knowledge that the die IS cast.
They are scarcely likely to find any COM
fort in the reflection that they are just on
tho point Of doing something which they
will never, on any conditions, be able 10
nndo. Probably even the most resolute
disposition is glad to hide from itself the
iron bonds which it has Just forged. III Is
only a fool who can cross his RnDlcon
either to cnslave people or marry VIE
with glccful enjoyment OF the conscious
ness that he is doing for himself one way
or another. 1t is all very well on the stage
or in novels for hero to march on to
death or victory with an elated stride, and
with fine apophthegm on his lips; but in
real life the tremendous significance of the
alternative presents itself great deal too
f0rciby and markedly to allow Of much Of
this magnificent hilarity.
To cool outsider the cry "Death or
Victory" "Splendor or RUM" has the
sound and air Of q very fine antithesis
about it. For the combatant himself there
is somewhat too much at stake to leave his
mind quite free to appreciate the charming
anti,hetical completeness Of the two posi-
Die examinations Of his undertaking. 1t
happens to most of us that we cross the
Rubicon without any notion that 1t differs
from all the other streams that encounter
us in the journey. We are Ignorant that
the passage Of this particular boundary
commits rs TO definite or hazardous
course for the rest Of our days. The die
Is thrown without anybody knowing it, and
il is not till afterwards that one discovers
which face came uppermost.
The fashion Of growing fearful over any
If IN memorable conditions of life, from
death. the most memorable of them all,
duwnwards, engendcrs state of feeling as
little profitable as any that one can ina
zine. The relations between men and
women are q very favorable field for these
windy infections. 1t certainly is rather
sad and startling to think that you may
possibly at the last croquet party have met
Young lady who is destined to embittcr
the rest of your days, and bring your gray
hairs in sorrow to the grave. But then
ANYBODY who habtually yielded to this
cheerful tone of thought would either baf-
nc lis destiny by avoiding all young ladies,
or else would anticipate its horrors in these
preliminary apprehensions. The only prac-
tticoI good that can arise from observing
how unconscousy we may take the
most decisive steps for good or for
evil is that it may teach us to
ha nj
thinking and wise acting as to lessen, and
in some matters almost to destroy, the
chances of being hurried across the fatal
stream uuawarcs. The worst Of it is that
even this is only faint sort of protection,
because the fact Of somebody else having
taken decisive step is constantly just as
wcightv for you as il il had been your own
doing. The Pompcians crossed no Rubi-
con. but Caesars doing SO was fully as
nlomcntous TO them as anything they
could have done for themselves. 1t is
very proper and elcvating to believe that
oman is man, and master of his fate"
Practically, this is by far the most i'm
portant and the most worthy aspect
OF human action, and to lose sight
OF this as the greatest Of all princi-
pies in its kind is to suffer a complete
moral paralysis. Only, in surveying
life it is childish not to see that q man is
not by any means the only master of his
own fate. His father and mother, and all
the generations before them, have some
thing to do with it, and so have his chill
drcn. The misery which betals mother
who has been bcreavcd of her child is an
element in her fate over which she can
have no mastery, and so arc ten thousand
other things which must inevitably enter
into the lot of social being with any rcla
ton or dealings with his ncighbors or the
species at large. The certainty, however,
that one may, and very often does, cross
the Rubicon by proxy, or suffer the con-
sequences Of other peoples exploits, is not
wholesome or useful thing to reflect
upon. 1t is very apt to saddle man with
the snug but particularly Improbable
habit Of letting himself off too lightly and
easily, and anything which tends ever so
remotely to diminish the sense Of each
mans strict responsibility for his own con-
duct is best kept in the background.
There is a great difference between I'M
willingness to think very much about the
tremendous consequences which may fol-
low upon having taken decisive step and
a habitual unwillingneSs to take the step
itself. The one implies merely sober
caution Of mind; the other entails all the
dire miserics of helpless irresolution. a
not infreuuent result of these miseries is
to drive the sufferer into an opposite habit
of oycruuick reSolutencSS. n readiness
in a man to c1ult in the fact that he has
done something which he cannot undo,
that he has pledged himself to u course
from which he cannot draw back, is more
commonly the sign Of a weak than of 4
strong nature. The comfort of plunging
right into the stream is unspeakable to
ANYBODY who has been accustomed to
stand shivering and irresolute on the
bank. When person of this sort has
brought himself to take the plunge, his
emulation and tearleSSncSs are wonder
full. The knowledge that the Rubicon is
crossed and the die cast seems to re-
licve him from the necessity Of further
resolution. He has set in motion a ma
chine which will Of itself wind Off results
and consequences for him without more
ado on his own part and this is an order
of release from the demands of circum-
stance upon his will, for which he cannot
be too thankful. SO he comes at last really
TO be fond of crossing Rubcons and taking
decisive measures, just because they are
decisive. a good many people, we fancy,
get married on this principle. They per
Suade themselves that marriage is yoke,
pleasant or otherwise, which they are des
tined one day to 60 under. But the labor
of exercising a very careful and deliberate
choice is more than they can bear; so
they rush blndly across the stream, really
relieved at being able to cry out "4Alea
Jucta est" In too many cases this method