By Larry Fyffe
Sure it be that Julius Caesar has no pocket watch, but he likely travels a lot by “painted wagon”, not on a stallion as romanticized by poets, and painters.
Placing his faith on the power of the sword, not on the what the entrails of a bull might foretell, he’s about to cross the Rubicon:
Born from a modest spring It is parched by the heat of summer But then it's volume was increased by winter ... (Lucan: Pharsalia ~ translated)
So too Julius Zimmerman romanticizes his persona:
I crossed the Rubicon on the fourteenth day Of the most dangerous month of the year At the worst time, and the worst place That's all I seem to hear (Bob Dylan: Crossing The Rubicon)
The city of Rome corrupted by greed is envisioned by Caesar as in distress; the city personified as female, wants him to be tolerant, and hold her hand.
However, Julius, as a son of Jove, finds no peaceful option available; certainly it’s not his fault, but civil war it will be.
Like a lion, he leads his legions across the Rubicon, and onward to Rome:
His shall hold the guilt who forces me To act as your enemy Then he let loose the bonds of war And led his standards swiftly over the swollen stream (Lucan: Pharsalia ~ translated)
In the song lyrics below, it might be said that corrupted America, figuratively speaking, replaces Rome as the New Babylon.
Hyperbole abounds in the lyrics beneath – the Almighty is not left unscathed since He allows the New Promised Land to be lost.
Eden’s gone again:
Well, you defiled the most beautiful flower in all of womanhood Others can be tolerant, others can be good I'll cut you up with a crooked knife, Lord And I'll miss you when you're gone I stood between heaven and earth And I crossed the Rubicon (Bob Dylan: Crossing The Rubicon)
A Scottish Romantic poet called upon in the following song lyrics.
The low road represents the path for the dead:
Oh, ye'll take the high road And I'll take the low road And I'll be in Scotland afore ye (Robbie Burns: The Bonnie Banks Of Loch Lomond)
Taking the cue from the ballad above, the Caesar in the following song lyrics be not as confident of success as the one in Lucan’s epic poem:
Take the high road, take the low road Take any one you're on I poured the cup, I passed it on And I crossed the Rubicon (Bob Dylan: Crossing The Rubicon)
Apparently, only Mona, the Moon Goddness, keeps him hanging on.