 Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon river, the northern boundary of Roman Italy, with his army in 49 BC, a flagrant violation of Roman law, has become the clichéd point of no return for the Republic, as noted in many books, including Tom Holland's "".The end of the Crisis can likewise either be dated from the assassination of Julius Caesar on 15 March 44 BC, after he and Sulla had done so much "to dismantle the government of the Republic," or alternately when Octavian was granted the title of "Augustus" by the Senate in 27 BC, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire.The end could also be dated "earlier", to the time of the constitutional reforms of Julius Caesar in 49 BC.