Share this page: Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres. Gaul as a whole is divided into three parts. -- These are the opening words of Caesar's historical work, Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentaries on the Gallic War), which was celebrated for its terse, third person style. Iacta est alea! The die is cast! -- Julius Caesar, 49 BC. This was the observation made as he crossed the Rubicon, a stream that separated Gaul (modern-day France) from Italy. By this phrase Caesar meant that he had now irrevocably started the war and that there was no going back. (Source: Roman historian Suetonius' book, Julius Caesar.) This incident is the source of the English phrase, to cross the Rubicon, which again means to take a step that commits one to an undertaking. Veni, vidi, vici. I came, I saw, I conquered. -- Julius Caesar According to the historian Suetonius in his Lives of the Caesars ("Divus Julius, section 37), Caesar is reported to have first used this phrase when writing a letter to a friend just after the victory of Zela (47 BC) at the end of the Pontic campaign. It referred to the rapidity of Caesar's success in the Pontic campaign. ("Pontic" is an adjective referring to "Pontos", the ancient Greek name for the modern-day Black Sea.) According to the biographer Plutarch in his Parallel Lives ("Julius Caesar"), the Latin phrase "Veni, vidi, vici" was written on placards carried through Rome in 46 BC by Julius Caesar's soldiers in their triumphal procession celebrating their Pontic victory. Share this page:

The selection of the above quotes and the writing of the accompanying notes was performed by the author David Paul Wagner. About Us • Contact Us • Privacy • Terms of Use © 2005-23 Wide World of Quotes. All Rights Reserved.