91.3
He put away his wife Pompeia because her name was linked in gossip with Clodius, but later, when Clodius was brought to trial on this charge, and Caesar was cited as a witness, he spoke no evil of his wife. And when the prosecutor asked, Then why did you put her out of the house ? he replied, Because Caesar’s wife must be free from suspicion. Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Caesar, chap. x. (712 C); Life of Cicero, chap. xxix. (875 E); Dio Cassius, xxxvii. 45; Suetonius, Divus Iulius 6 and 74.
91.4
While he was reading of the exploits of Alexander, he burst into tears, and said to his friends, When he was of my age he had conquered Darius, but, up to now, nothing has been accomplished by me. Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Caesar, chap. xi. (712 F) and Perrin’s note in vol. vii. of the L.C.L.; Dio Cassius, xxxvii. 52. 2: Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 7.
91.5
As he was passing by a miserable little town in the Alps, his friends raised the question whether even here there were rival parties and contests for the first place. He stopped and becoming thoughtful said, I had rather be the first here than the second in Rome. Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Caesar, chap. xi. (712 F).
91.6
He said that the venturesome and great deeds of daring call for action and not for thought.
91.7
And he crossed the river Rubicon from his province in Gaul against Pompey, saying before all, Let the die be cast. Ibid. chap. xxxii. (723 F); Life of Pompey, chap. lx. (651 D); Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 32 iacta alea est or esto. The expression seems to have been proverbial; Cf. Leutsch and Schneidewin, Paroemiographi Graeci, i. p. 383 and the references; Aristophanes, Frag. 673 Kock, Com. Att. Frag. i. p. 557 and Menander, Frag. 65, Ibid. iii. p. 22.