Quote:
Originally Posted by homoe
"Let The Chips Fall Where They May":.....
To let something happen, no matter if it's good or bad.
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Now, that phrase (or one very similar) has a history that goes back to 49BC! The Senate of Rome had ordered a young successful general returning from campaigning in southern Gaul to disband his army before crossing the Rubicon river, which was then regarded as the border of Italy. The general ignored it, and crossed the river with one of his legions, uttering the phrase "Alea iacta est!" as he did so.
This of course was regarded as treason by the Senate, and the incident sparked a civil war which resulted in the general - Julius Caesar - taking sole charge of the Roman state, turning the Senate into little more than a bureaucratic rubber-stamping body. And so Rome gained its first emperor.
The phrase Alea iacta est means that the dice (alea) have been thrown, but have not yet landed, so the outcome of the throw is unknown. It's often translated into English as "the die is cast" but in modern English that appears to mean that things are set, whereas the original meant that all is in a state of flux. Some prefer "Throw the dice high!" as capturing the spirit of the original better.
And from this same incident, we get "crossing the Rubicon", meaning that a point of no return has been reached.