As a dramatist, he wrote lots of good quotes: The Greek gentlemanвЂ™s name was Menander, who died in 290 BC. He was quoting a much older Greek saying. вЂњ Asterix the GaulвЂќ - the first time the phrase is said in the seriesД¬aesar didnвЂ™t say it first. I sometimes wonder if he consulted the sacred chickens before making this decisionвЂ¦ The Shocking Twist! вЂњTake we the course which the signs of the gods and the false dealing of our foes point out. Upon this, Caesar exclaimed, вЂњLet us go whither the omens of the Gods and the iniquity of our enemies call us. When, not only the shepherds, but a number of soldiers also flocked from their posts to listen to him, and some trumpeters among them, he snatched a trumpet from one of them, ran to the river with it, and sounding the advance with a piercing blast, crossed to the other side. A person remarkable for his noble mien and graceful aspect, appeared close at hand, sitting and playing upon a pipe. While he was thus hesitating, the following incident occurred. To set it up: Caesar stands at the Rubicon, wondering whether he should cross it with his troops and start a civil war or not. HereвЂ™s a translation of that section of вЂњThe Lives of the Twelve CaesarsвЂќ. Uderzo completely disregards this timeline in вЂњ Asterix and the Actress.вЂќ In ContextД¬aesar is said to have said вЂњalea jacta estвЂќ as his troops crossed through the Rubicon River. And EgyptвЂ™s leader, Ptolemy, beheaded Pompey and presented it to Caesar. Yes, this is also the birth of the phrase, вЂњCrossing the Rubicon,вЂќ which has a meaning very similar to вЂњthe die is cast.вЂќД«y the way, Caesar won that Civil War. Of importance to this articleвЂ™s love of language, I should mention the name of the river Caesar crossed over to enter Italy from the North. (I think thatвЂ™s another Shakespeare sayingвЂ¦) So Caesar went to PompeyвЂ™s home town and started a war. When politicians stand against you while you control an army that just killed a million people, why would you listen to politicians? They ordered him to step away from the military he had led in the war and return to Rome, where his term as governor had ended during his march across Europe. (In fact, he married the daughter of another political rival to Caesar.)

Pompey had defected and wasnвЂ™t coming back. A third pal in that relationship had recently died, as had CaesarвЂ™s daughter, who had married Pompey.Д¬aesar, being a fan of good customer service, then offered a niece to Pompey in exchange, but it was too late. For starters, his biggest political pal, Pompey, defected to the opposition in the Senate. So, we shall run with it.Д«ut things had changed in Rome while Julius Caesar was marching across Europe and winning the Gallic Wars. Of course, theyвЂ™re all written nearly 100 years after the fact, so there might be some shades of truth to some of the facts, but itвЂ™s what we have. Some chapters of his Julius Caesar book are lost, sadly, but what remains gives us lots of juicy details. Roman historian Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus,В a/k/a Suetonius, born in 69 A.D., wrote biographies ofВ twelve different Caesars in his life. Depending on the time scale of вЂњAsterix,вЂќ itвЂ™s possible that all instances of him saying the phrase are chronologically correct. вЂњ Asterix the LegionaryвЂќ is clearly set after that, perhaps as late as 46 BC. So the year 49 BC came a year after 50 BC, which is when вЂњAsterixвЂќ supposedly takes place.

Remember, these years are counting down to the year 1 B.C. Julius Caesar is quoted as saying вЂњalea jacta estвЂќ in 49 BC. It plays fast and loose with things, and can occasionally be downright anachronistic. Yes, вЂњAsterixвЂќ is not an historical novel.

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