| 词条 | Alea iacta est |
| 释义 |
Meaning and formsCaesar was said to have borrowed the phrase from Menander, his favourite Greek writer of comedy; the phrase appears in Ἀρρηφόρος (transliterated as Arrephoros) (or possibly The Flute-Girl), as quoted in Deipnosophistae , paragraph 8.[1] Plutarch reports that these words were said in Greek: {{Quotation|{{lang|grc|Ἑλληνιστὶ πρὸς τοὺς παρόντας ἐκβοήσας, «Ἀνερρίφθω κύβος»}}, [{{lang|grc-Latn|anerríphthō kýbos}}] {{lang|grc|διεβίβαζε τὸν στρατόν.}}[2]He [Caesar] declared in Greek with loud voice to those who were present 'Let a die be cast' and led the army across.|Plutarch|Life of Pompey, 60.2.9[3]}} Suetonius, a contemporary of Plutarch writing in Latin, reports a similar phrase. {{Quotation|Caesar: '... iacta alea est,' inquit.[4]Caesar said, "The die has been cast."|Suetonius, Vita Divi Iuli (The Life of the deified Julius), 121 CE, paragraph 32}} Lewis and Short,[5] citing Casaubon and Ruhnk, suggest that the text of Suetonius should read iacta alea esto (reading the imperative esto instead of est), which they translate as "Let the die be cast!", or "Let the game be ventured!". This almost matches Plutarch's use of third-person singular perfect middle/passive imperative of the verb {{lang|grc|ἀναρρίπτω}},[6] i.e. {{lang|grc|ἀνερρίφθω κύβος}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|anerríphthō kýbos}}, {{IPA-el|anerːípʰtʰɔː kýbos|pron}}). Strictly speaking, since Plutarch's Greek omits the definite article, the Greek phrase should be translated into English with an indefinite rather than a definite article. The same should therefore apply to Suetonius' Latin equivalent as well. In Latin alea refers to the early form of backgammon that was played in Caesar's time. Augustus (Octavian) mentions winning this game in a letter. Dice were common in Roman times and were 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.[7] In Greek a die was {{lang|grc|κύβος}} kybos.[8] In other languagesThe phrase in translation is used in many languages to indicate that events have passed "a point of no return"; for example:
See also{{Portal|Ancient Rome}}
References1. ^Book 13 2. ^Perseus Digital Library Plut. Pomp. 60.2 3. ^See also Plutarch's Life of Caesar 32.8.4 and Sayings of Kings & Emperors 206c. 4. ^Perseus Digital Library Suet. Jul. 32 5. ^{{L&S|alea&highlight{{=}}esto|alea|ref}} 6. ^{{LSJ|a)narri/ptw|ἀναρρίπτω|ref}}. 7. ^{{L&S|alea|ref}} 8. ^{{LSJ|ku/bos|κύβος}}. External links{{wiktionary|the die is cast}}
2 : Julius Caesar|Latin quotations |
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