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the persistent veto of Cæsar's tribunes by the proclamation of martial law. The tribunes fled away, as Metellus Nepos had done thirteen years before (see p. 170) to their master's camp. Cæsar had now the pretext for which he had been waiting. He appealed to the legion which he had with him at Ravenna, and led his advanced guard at once across the river Rubicon, the frontier of his province. "The die was cast," and the Civil War had begun.