It so happened that many historical events not only settle in writings, chronicles and chronicles, but also are firmly entrenched in lively speech, and even people who have not heard of the real background of phraseologism can use them. It happened with the famous passage of Caesar through the legendary river. The commander decided to cross the Rubicon, phraseology remained in the speech of the descendants.
This river is now called Fiumicino, flows into the Adriatic and flows between two Italian cities: Rimini and Cesena. Its name was born from “rubeus” (that is, “red” in Latin, because its waters flow on clay soils). Now it is a small rivulet, almost drying up, because its waters have been used for irrigation of fields for many centuries. But at the time of Caesar, the then border between Italy itself and one of the Roman lands, Cisalpine Gaul, passed through the red rivulet. Gaius Julius, who was then a proconsul, commanded the 13th Double Legion and was obliged to stop by the river: after all, the proconsul could command soldiers only in the provinces and could not lead the legions in the lands of Italy proper. This would be a direct violation of the law and powers of the Senate, a state crime and therefore was punishable by death. But, alas, there was no other choice.
Then Caesar fought for power with the Senate of Rome, taking control of the province of Gaul. The famous commander did not immediately decide on military operations, could go to various agreements, if only there would be no bloodshed, and even delayed negotiations with all his might, postponing the start of the actual military operations. However, his efforts did not lead to success, too many wished for war. His opponent was Pompey, who had a huge Roman army.
Caesar's position was not particularly rosy: the bulk of his army was beyond the Alps. Fast moves and decisive options were needed, there was no time to wait for reinforcements. Therefore, in January 49 BC, Guy Julius ordered his commanders to cross the Rubicon and occupy the town of Armin, which was located south of
the river mouth. This demarche called him not just to cross the Rubicon, the significance of this step was enormous.
A brilliant military leader was able to defeat the Senate and become the sovereign and only ruler of the Eternal City, because the opponents panicked and fled, as soon as they heard about Caesar's demarche. For himself, this transition was also a fateful event.
If you believe the story of the historian Suetonius, deciding to cross the Rubicon, the commander even said: "The die is cast." After the victory,
Guy Julius Caesar was able to win not only the love of the people, but also created a powerful state that lasted another fifty years.
Since then, the expression "cross the Rubicon" has become a catch phrase, which means committing a decisive act, making a fateful decision. That is, this is a significant step, forever dividing events into “before” and “after”, fundamentally changing the situation. There is no turning back after such a decision. The expression is quite old, common in many languages of the world.