3. The Romans had
ever been taught to consider this river as the sacred boundary of
their domestic empire. 4. Caesar, therefore, when he advanced at the
head of his army to the side of it, stopped short upon the bank, as if
impressed with terror at the greatness of his enterprise. He could not
pass it without transgressing the laws; he therefore pondered for some
time in fixed melancholy, looking and debating with himself whether he
should venture in. "If I pass this river," said he to one of his
generals, "what miseries shall I bring upon my country! and if I now
stop short I am undone." 5. After a pause he exclaimed, "Let us go
where the gods and the injustice of our enemies call us." Thus saying,
and renewing all his former alacrity, he plunged in, crying out, "The
die is cast." His soldiers followed him with equal promptitude, and
having passed the Ru'bicon, quickly arrived at Arim'inum, and made
themselves masters of the place without any resistance.
6. This unexpected enterprise excited the utmost terror in Rome; every
one imagining that Caesar was leading his army to lay the city in
ruins.
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