Outside legal language, it may be that “Alea iacta est ”, the phrase that Julius Caesar pronounced when crossing the Rubicon, the stream that marked the limit between Republican Rome and Cisalpine Gaul, and heading to Rome with his legions, is the most used Latin expression with the meaning of “ the die is cast ”. Well, it should be pointed out that Julius Caesar did not pronounce that phrase exactly, because he did it in Greek, and that, literally, its meaning would be “ the dice have been thrown ”. Alea It was the game of dice that the Romans liked so much and that also served to generically designate all games of chance. Whether it was to make more bearable the hours that the legionnaires spent besieging a settlement or while drinking a watered down wine in their little leisure time (from otium not from nec otium , business), the fact is that any excuse served to throw some dice and, what is worse, play some coins. Bets, games of chance and money are the necessary ingredients for the cultivation of gambling addiction. At this point, and seeing that some debts were settled even by losing the debtor's freedom, the aleariae laws were enacted. (Lex Cornelia , Lex Publicia and Lex Titia ) that prohibited betting on games of chance. These rules declared legal bets on games or competitions where the result depended on the skill, strength or value of the participants (races in the circus or fights in the amphitheater, for example) and declared illegal those that depended solely on chance, although many of the bettors in the dice commend themselves to the gods.
If you were caught gambling, the fines imposed were a multiple of the amount wagered depending on the circumstances and the family of the bettor. In addition, the law did not recognize gambling debts or crimes committed against the property of "bookmakers". Even so, some emperors, such as Augustus or Nero, had certain problems with the game, but without reaching the vice of Commodus who, after leaving the coffers of the Empire trembling, set up a kind of casino in his palace to be able to continue betting.
But not everything was going to be repression, during the Saturnalia the hand was raised and betting was allowed... and everything else. The great festivals in honor of Saturn began on December 17 and lasted until the 23rd. Most likely, the Saturnalia have their origin in the end of agricultural work, when the fields prepare for winter and the tasks of peasants and slaves they slow down. Let us remember that the society of ancient Rome was eminently agrarian. As these festivities would be important for schools to close, some frivolous feminine and masculine behaviors were well seen, dice could be bet, the roles between masters and slaves were reversed, the wine flowed in torrents and all the members of the family receive a gift, whatever their condition. In addition, all slaves received generous extra pay in coin or wine from their masters (except for the poor wretches who had the misfortune to serve the filthy Marcus Porcius Cato). From the 17th to the 23rd, banquets and wild processions took place (which were the embryo for future carnivals). The plebeians and proletarians set themselves up as judges, and the patricians as serfs. The election of the "King of Teasing" was held and, finally, after so many days of jubilation, the winter solstice arrived, consecrated to Janus, the god of principles, a date considered in ancient times as the Gate of the Gods. .