the die is cast

Meaning

Phrase

• The future is determined; there are no more options; events will proceed in an irreversible manner; the point of no return has been passed.

Origin

• From games of chance in which the outcome is determined by the throwing of dice or a single die. Popularized by its use by Suetonius when Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon to begin a civil war in the Roman Republic, indicating the commission of an irreversible act, whence also cross the Rubicon.
• The form “the die is cast” is from the , a grammatically, and thereby semantically, incorrect translation by Suetonius, 121 , of the Ancient Greek phrase of Menander ἀνερρίφθω κύβος, which Caesar quoted in Greek (not Latin). The Greek translates rather as “let the die be cast!”, or “let the game be ventured!”.
• Historical details
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• | “The die is cast” is a literal translation of Latin iacta ālea est, as quoted in Suetonius, Vīta Dīvī Iūlī (The Life of the deified Julius), 121 , :
• Originally stated by Caesar in Ancient Greek as [[ἀναρρίπτω, as reported by Plutarch:
• Caesar in turn was quoting Menander, his favorite Greek comic dramatist, specifically Ἀρρηφόρῳ, as quoted in Deipnosophistae, , par. 8.