Cæsar, forgetting his virtues in order to sacrifice everything to his
ambition, prepared to march against his country. But this was not
done without a mental struggle. When he arrived on the banks of the
Rubicon, he was a prey to a thousand conflicting thoughts; he stopped
all at once, and turning to his friends, said: “We have it still in
our power to retract; but if we cross this rivulet, the enterprise
must be carried out by force of arms.” According to Suetonius, there
appeared at that moment a man of extraordinary height, playing upon
a rustic flute, and the soldiers flocked round him to listen to him.
This wonderful man, seizing a trumpet, applied it to his mouth, and
sounding a charge, crossed the river. This was most likely a _ruse_
of Cæsar’s to encourage his troops; be that as it may, he immediately
cried out,--“Forward! let us go whither the voice of the gods and the
injustice of our enemies call us;--the die is cast!” And he crossed
the Rubicon. The short siege and the capture of Rimini were the
consequences of this determination, followed by the civil war between
Cæsar and Pompey, which annihilated the liberties of Rome.