Alea iacta est

Meaning and forms

Caesar probably borrowed the phrase from Menander, the famous Greek writer of comedies, as the phrase appeared in Menander's lost play Arrephoros (),{{NoteTag|Menander's Arrephoros (Ἀρρηφόρος, ) was also titled Auletris (Αὐλητρίς, ). Though this play is now lost, the following dialogue from it was preserved in Athenaeus of Naucratis's Deipnosophistae (book 13, paragraph 8): and give up living like this. I'm married

myself—which is why I'm advising you not to do it. |b|It's all decided; the die's been cast. |a|Go ahead—and good luck. Because you're going

to throw yourself into a real sea of troubles now,

and not the Libyan or the Aegean sea...,

where less than three ships out of thirty

get wrecked. Not one married man escapes undamaged.}}}} and Caesar was known to have considered him a great playwright. Plutarch reports that Caesar quoted these words in Greek:

Appian, also writing in Greek, reports a very similar phrase, and states that it was familiar (a well-known saying or quote):

Suetonius, a contemporary of Plutarch and Appian, writing in Latin, has the quote in Latin instead of Greek:

Caesar said, "The die is cast".|Suetonius, Vita Divi Iuli (The Life of the Deified Julius), 121 AD, paragraph 32}}

In Latin alea refers to a game with dice and, more generally, a game of hazard or chance. Dice were common in Roman times and were usually cast three at a time. There were two kinds. The six-sided dice were known in Latin as tesserae and the four-sided ones (rounded at each end) were known as tali. In Greek a die was κύβος kybos.

Notes

References

References

1. Athenaeus. (2010). "The Learned Banqueters". Harvard University Press.
2. Casali, Sergio. (2018). "The Cambridge Companion to the Writings of Julius Caesar". Cambridge University Press.
3. Perseus Digital Library [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plut.+Pomp.+60.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0123 Plut. Pomp. 60.2]
4. See also Plutarch's ''Life of Caesar'' 32.8.4 and ''Sayings of Kings & Emperors'' 206c.
5. Appian. (2020). "Roman History, Volume IV: Civil Wars, Books 1–2". Harvard University Press.
6. Perseus Digital Library [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0061%3Alife%3Djul.%3Achapter%3D32 Suet. Jul. 32]
7. {{L&S. alea. ref
8. {{LSJ. ku/bos. κύβος.