The Question:
I'm not sure, but I think Alexander the Great
said, "The die is cast." Please set me straight as to who, when, and
where.
The Answer:
Actually, it was Julius Caesar who
uttered the phrase "Iacta alea est" [the die is cast].
Reportedly, with these words on Jan. 19, 49 B.C.E., Caesar and
his army crossed the Rubicon, the stream
bounding his province, to enter Italy. The advancement, in violation
of the senate's orders, meant the civil war and Caesar's march against
Pompey had begun.
Caesar was said to have borrowed the phrase from his favorite
Greek poet-dramatist, Menander. Today, the
phrase "to cross the Rubicon" means to take an irrevocable
step.
—The Editors
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