CLEP Western Civ I

Answer: E - Julius Caesar instigated the second Roman civil war in 49 BCE when he took his army across the Rubicon, a river in Italy. In doing so, he entered a region of the country that the Roman government had designated off-limits to military forces. His entrance was a de facto declaration of war and a crime against the state that would have been punishable by death had he lost. Caesar was fighting in opposition to the conservative branch of the Roman Senate, known as the Optimates, who were led by his former ally Pompey the Great. After several years of fighting in Greece and Africa, Caesar defeated the Optimates and took the helm of the Roman government. The phrase “crossing the Rubicon” has since become synonymous with reaching a “point of no return.”