The decision for war was not a moment´s idea. By the autumn of 50 war was beginning to loom as a real chance. Pompey seems to have thought that Caesar would back down, or in any case would be easily beaten.

It is sure that Caesar did not want war, but the decision for it was purely his. Weeks before the Rubicon Caesar had dispatched orders to Gallia Comata to make the army ready. When Caesar crossed the Rubicon he was doing it for his dignitas, that was his main reason as stated by him.

He probably hoped for a negotiated solution but seeing the intransigence of Pompey and his other senatorial opponents and their military weakness he decided to force the issue.

The motives of Sulla in 88 and Caesar in 49 did not differ. In both cases an aristocrat defended his dignitas -with fatal consequences to the lives of myriads.