Caesar at the Rubicon

General forbidden by the Senate from bringing his army into Italy; pauses at the Rubicon, says alea iacta est, crosses with the army; civil war follows; assassinated five years later on the senate floor. Failure mode: Naming a forbidden line and crossing it anyway in pursuit of personal vindication. Restoration path: None taken; the warning to those who would name the line and cross it. Markers: explicit forbidden line; pauses, calculates, crosses; civil war follows the crossing; brief absolute power; assassinated by the body he crossed against — Caesar at the Rubicon, Roman, 49 BC (History)