''Avē Imperātor, moritūrī tē salūtant'' ("Hail, Emperor, those who are about to die salute you") is a well-known

Latin phrase This is a list of Wikipedia articles of Latin phrases and their translation into English. To view all phrases on a single, lengthy document, see: List of Latin phrases (full). Lists of pages * List of Latin phrases (A) * List of Latin phrases ( ...

quoted in

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is ''De vita Caesarum'', common ...

, '' De vita Caesarum'' ("The Life of the Caesars", or "The Twelve Caesars"). It was reportedly used during an event in AD 52 on Lake Fucinus by naumachiarii—captives and criminals fated to die fighting during mock naval encounters—in the presence of the

emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...

. Suetonius reports that Claudius replied "''Aut nōn''" ("or not"). Variant components in the exchange include "'' Have''"The Latin text, with no length marks, together with th
English translation
is stated to be a reproduction of th

from th
Loeb Classical Library
of

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. Vowel length marks added here to the Latin text follow those found in the 2016 edition of '' Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français'', and in the ''Woordenboek Latijn/Nederlands'' (7th revised edition, 2018), and in general the grammar and meaning of the text, except for the vocalization of "have", which is according to

Quintilian Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (; 35 – 100 AD) was a Roman educator and rhetorician born in Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quin ...

. as the first word instead of the grammatically proper "''Avē''", as well as the alternate wordings "''Avē Caesar''" and "''Moritūrī tē salūtāmus''"—the latter in the 1st person ("We who are about to die salute you")Greek text cited with French translation a
Dion Cassius, Histoire Romaine LX
(33) (Translated by E. Gros)—and a response in 15th-century texts of "''Avete vos''" ("Fare you well"). Despite its popularization in later times, the phrase is not recorded elsewhere in Roman history. Historians question whether it was ever used as a salute. It was more likely an isolated appeal by desperate captives and criminals condemned to die, and noted by Roman historians in part for the unusual mass reprieve granted by Claudius to the survivors.

Historical source material

The source material comes from the works of three Roman historians, who were all born after the events of 52 AD. Suetonius (c. 69–75 to after 130, probably writing around AD 121), and

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

(around 155–164 to after 229, probably writing 200–22) both wrote about the event and quoted the phrase.

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

(c. 56–117, writing from around 98 to 117) mentions the event but does not quote the phrase. The first known record of the phrase is in the writings of Suetonius (here with apices for legibility):

...quín laudiuset émissúrus Fúcinum lacum naumachiam ante commísit. Sed cum próclámantibus naumachiáriís: " Have imperátor, moritúrí té salútant!" respondisset: "Aut nón," neque post hanc vócem quasi veniá datá quisquam dímicáre vellet, diú cúnctátus an omnés igní ferróque absúmeret, tandem é séde suá prósiluit ac per ambitum lacús nón sine foedá vacillátióne discurréns partim minandó partim adhortandó ad pugnam compulit. Hóc spectáculó classis Sicula et Rhodia concurrérunt, duodénárum trirémium singulae...

The same incident is described in the writings of Cassius Dio, a Roman

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

and historian who wrote in Greek. In Book 60 of his ''Roman History'' he states:

Source variations and interpretation

The

person A person (: people or persons, depending on context) is a being who has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations suc ...

of the main verb differs in the two sources. Suetonius quotes it with a third-person plural verb (''salūtant'', meaning "they/those salute/greet"), and Cassius quotes it with a first-person plural verb (, meaning "we salute/greet"). Apart from this, the Latin and Greek expressions have the same meaning. Claudius' response is stated in several sources as "''Avēte vōs!''" ("Fare you well!"), suggesting an act of favor. The earliest editions of ''De Vita Caesarum'' published in Rome in 1470 and Venice in 1471 used "''Avēte vōs''," but this version was still accepted in the nineteenth century, as can be seen in the Baumgarten-Crusius edition of 1816. Karl Ludwig Roth returned to the better quality manuscripts for his 1857 edition—chiefly the ninth-century ''Codex Memmianus'', the oldest known extant version of Suetonius' work—and corrected Claudius' reported response to "''Aut nōn''". John C. Rolfe notes both responses, describing them as "one of Claudius' feeble jokes, which the combatants pretended to understand as meaning that they need not risk their lives in battle". Donald Kyle describes it as a possible attempt at a witticism. Joseph Pike states in his notes on Roth's text:

The reading 'Avēte vōs' is from the fifteenth century manuscripts and editions. In this case the emperor is simply returning the salutation. The literal meaning is, however, 'be well', 'be safe', or 'be sound', and the gladiators understood it as dismissing them.

Basil Kennett, writing in 1820, describes the "''Avete vos''" response as a cruel jest: " en they would gladly have interpreted it as an act of favour, and a grant of their lives, he soon gave them to understand that it proceeded from the contrary principle of barbarous cruelty, and insensibility."

Cultural background

Claudius, the fourth Roman Emperor of the

Julio-Claudian dynasty The Julio-Claudian dynasty comprised the first five Roman emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. This line of emperors ruled the Roman Empire, from its formation (under Augustus, in 27 BC) until the last of the line, Emper ...

, ruled the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

following

Caligula Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), also called Gaius and Caligula (), was Roman emperor from AD 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the Roman general Germanicus and Augustus' granddaughter Ag ...

's death in AD 41 until his death in AD 54. According to Suetonius, Claudius was extraordinarily fond of the games. He is said to have risen with the crowd after gladiatorial matches and given unrestrained praise to the fighters, and he was criticized for not leaving the arena during the executions as was the custom among the noble classes. Claudius also presided over many new and original events. Soon after coming into power, Claudius instituted games to be held in honor of his father,

Nero Claudius Drusus Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus (38–9 BC), commonly known in English as Drusus the Elder, was a Roman general and politician. He was a patrician Claudian but his mother was from a plebeian family. He was the son of Livia Drusilla and the s ...

, on the latter's birthday. Annual games were also held in honor of his accession, and took place at the

Praetor ''Praetor'' ( , ), also ''pretor'', was the title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to disch ...

ian camp where Claudius had first been proclaimed emperor.Suetonius ''Claudius'' 21 Claudius celebrated the Secular games—a religious festival that had been revived by

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

—to mark the 800th anniversary of the

founding of Rome The founding of Rome was a prehistoric event or process later greatly embellished by Roman historians and poets. Archaeological evidence indicates that Rome developed from the gradual union of several hillfort, hilltop villages during the Prehi ...

. He also on at least one occasion participated in a wild animal hunt himself according to

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

, setting out with the Praetorian cohorts to fight a killer whale which was trapped in the harbor of Ostia. Public entertainments varied from combat between just two

gladiator A gladiator ( , ) was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their ...

s, to large-scale events with potentially thousands of deaths. The naumachia (also called ''navalia proelia'' by the Romans) was one of the latter, a large-scale and bloody spectacular combative event taking place on many ships and held in large lakes or flooded arenas.

Prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

and criminals condemned to die were tasked with enacting naval battles to the death for public entertainment. Those selected were known as ''naumachiarii''. Unlike gladiatorial combats, naumachiae were infrequently held—they were usually only called to celebrate notable events.JStor link
/ref>

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

held an event with 6,000 naumachiarii in the lesser Codeta, a marshy area by the

Tiber The Tiber ( ; ; ) is the List of rivers of Italy, third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the R ...

, to celebrate his fourth victory to be honored by triumph. Cassius Dio writes of two naumachiae that Titus held during the inaugural games of the Flavian Amphitheater, including an event of 3,000 men enacting a battle between the

Athenian Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

s and the Syracusans; and

Domitian Domitian ( ; ; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was Roman emperor from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavian dynasty. Described as "a r ...

held a naumachia in which Dio reports "practically all the combatants and many of the spectators as well perished". The naumachia called by Claudius celebrated the completion of a drainage work and agricultural

land reclamation Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lake ...

project at Italy's largest inland lake,

Lake Fucino The Fucine Lake ( or ) was a large endorheic karst lake between above sea level and surrounded by the Monte Sirente-Monte Velino mountain ranges to the north-northeast, Mount Salviano to the west, Vallelonga to the south, and the Valle del Giove ...

, an 11-mile (19 km) long crater lake in the Central Apennine mountain range located around 50 miles (80 km) from

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. The project, which took eleven years to complete and employed 30,000 men, included the leveling of a hill top and the construction of a tunnel between the lake and the river Liri (Lat. ''Liris'').Tacitus, ''Annals'' 12.56 (''trans'' J. Jackson), Loeb Classical Library The tunnel has been described as "the greatest Roman tunnel" (''

Encyclopedia Americana ''Encyclopedia Americana'' is a general encyclopedia written in American English. It was the first general encyclopedia of any magnitude to be published in North America. With '' Collier's Encyclopedia'' and ''Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclo ...

'') despite initially only achieving partial success, and was the longest such tunnel until the construction of that of Mont Cenis in 1876. According to the ''

Annals Annals (, from , "year") are a concise history, historical record in which events are arranged chronology, chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction betw ...

'' of Tacitus:

in order that the impressive character of the work might be viewed by a larger number of visitants, a naval battle was arranged upon the lake itself, on the model of an earlier spectacle given by Augustus – though with light vessels and a smaller force ..

In a footnote to a 2008 publication of Tacitus' ''Annals'', it is noted that "such an amount of criminals 9,000 according to Tacitus and other sourcesmay probably represent the sweepings of the provinces as well as of Rome and Italy; but even on this supposition the number, as Friedländer remarks (ii, 324), is suggestive of iniquitous condemnations".

Description of the event by Tacitus

According to Tacitus (writing around 50 years after the event):

Claudius equipped
trireme A trireme ( ; ; cf. ) was an ancient navies and vessels, ancient vessel and a type of galley that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean Sea, especially the Phoenicians, ancient Greece, ancient Greeks and ancient R ...
s, quadriremes, and nineteen thousand combatants: the lists he surrounded with rafts, so as to leave no unauthorized points of escape, but reserved space enough in the centre to display the vigour of the rowing, the arts of the helmsmen, the impetus of the galleys, and the usual incidents of an engagement. On the rafts were stationed companies and squadrons of the praetorian cohorts, covered by a breastwork from which to operate their
catapult A catapult is a ballistics, ballistic device used to launch a projectile at a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden rel ...
s and
ballista The ballista (Latin, from Ancient Greek, Greek βαλλίστρα ''ballistra'' and that from βάλλω ''ballō'', "throw"), plural ballistae or ballistas, sometimes called bolt thrower, was an Classical antiquity, ancient missile weapon tha ...
e: the rest of the lake was occupied by marines with decked vessels. The shores, the hills, the mountain-crests, formed a kind of theatre, soon filled by an untold multitude, attracted from the neighbouring towns, and in part from the capital itself, by curiosity or by respect for the sovereign. He and Agrippina presided, the one in a gorgeous military cloak, the other – not far distant – in a Greek mantle of cloth of gold. The battle, though one of criminals 'sontes'' was contested with the spirit and courage of freemen; and, after much blood had flowed, the combatants were exempted from destruction 'occidioni''

Usage in Roman times

H. J. Leon of the University of Texas considered this salutation in the ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' in 1939. He observed that the salute had become widely represented and embellished in "numerous works dealing with Roman antiquities, so that it has become one of the best known and most often cited of Roman customs". It was recognized in lay and academic writings as a customary salute of

s to the emperor. And yet "there is no other ancient reference to a salute of the gladiators, and in this case it was uttered not by gladiators at all, but by naumachiarii." A striking example of this pervasive belief even in academia can be found in

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

Jérôme Carcopino Jérôme Carcopino (27 June 1881 – 17 March 1970) was a French historian, author, and Nazi collaborator. He was the fifteenth member elected to occupy seat 3 of the Académie française, in 1955. Biography Carcopino was born at Verneuil-sur-A ...

's 1940 book ''La vie Quotidienne à Rome à l’Apogée de l’Empire'' (''Daily Life in Ancient Rome: The People and the City at the Height of the Empire''). In this book the author, a member of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

, professor at

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

and the Sorbonne, and Director of the French Academy in Rome, cites the phrase and writes in vivid and poetic detail of the gladiators' "melancholy salutation" as they parade past the emperor prior to entering the

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; , ultimately from Ancient Greek word "kolossos" meaning a large statue or giant) is an Ellipse, elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphi ...

. – reprinted by Read Books, 2008, . Following a review of the source material related to the AD 52 naumachia, Leon observes that the fighters were not gladiators but were convicted criminals sentenced to death. Their intended fate was ''occidioni'' (massacre, or slaughter). The lake had been surrounded with "rafts" to prevent a mass breakout and was surrounded by "the crack soldiers of the praetorian guard, both infantry and cavalry, who were protected by ramparts and equipped with catapults and ballistae, and further reinforced by ships bearing marines ready for action". He concludes that this was not a formal salute, but in all likelihood an isolated incident of a mass plea for sympathy or mercy by desperate convicted men sentenced to death on a specific occasion, and that

mbining the three accounts, we can reasonably assume that, condemned as they were to die, these convicts invoked Claudius with their "Morituri te salutant", which was not a regular and formal salute, but an appeal used only on that occasion in the hope of winning the Emperor's sympathy. When he replied "Aut non", they took his words as meaning "aut non morituri" r not dieand indicating pardon – Suetonius says "quasi venia data" – and refused to fight, but finally yielded either to the entreaties of the Emperor or to force, and fought bravely until the survivors were excused from further slaughter.

My conclusion is, accordingly, that there is no evidence whatever for the much-quoted salute of the gladiators. The only two ancient references, those in Suetonius and in Dio, refer not to gladiators but to naumachiarii, men condemned to die, and even these references are to one specific episode, the circumstances of which indicate that the supposed salute was not even a regular salute of the naumachiarii.

Alan Baker broadly agrees, stating, "There is no evidence that this was common practice among gladiators. As far as we know, the only time this phrase was used was at an event staged by Claudius." Plass notes that "it is hard to see why or how the phrase came to be used on this occasion if it was not a regular formula. On the other hand, if it was something that Claudius might expect to hear it would more naturally serve in its role as a feed line for his repartee portraying his invincible gaucherie." He comments on the distancing effect of the Latin source and the first person of the Greek source and notes that the interpretation and response by the fighters "seems to be a maneuver within rules governing clemency in the arena". Kyle concurs that no other sources record the "supposed gladiator salute" in any other context "and it did not come here from true gladiators". Treated as a commodity, they were not elite gladiators but captives and criminals doomed to die, who usually fought until all were killed. When the salute or appeal failed, and they were forced to kill one another in earnest,

ting with some initiative and inventing a pseudo-gladiatorial salute, and then fighting well, these men, despite their criminal and non-professional status and their intended extermination, atypically turned themselves into proper gladiators for a day. Hence some survived.

He concludes that " e sources remark on the incident, in part, because it was an anomaly in arena practice—a mass Androclean reprieve."

Usage in modern times

The story was well known in the 20th century, and indeed appears in

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

's 1912 play '' Androcles and the Lion'' immediately before the Christians face the lions as "Hail, Caesar! those about to die salute thee", with the Emperor responding "Good morrow, friends". As well as taking root in modern conceptions of Roman customs, the phrase has passed into contemporary culture, including use by military pilots such as John Lerew, two unrelated

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

s entitled ''Morituri'' (released

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

and

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

), an episode of '' M*A*S*H'' entitled "Peace on Us", the French comic book ''

Asterix ''Asterix'' ( or , "Asterix the Gauls, Gaul"; also known as ''Asterix and Obelix'' in some adaptations or ''The Adventures of Asterix'') is a Franco-Belgian comics, French comic album book series, series about a Gaulish village which, thanks ...

'' by

René Goscinny René Goscinny (; ; 14 August 1926 – 5 November 1977) was a French comic editor and writer, who created the ''Asterix, Astérix'' comic book series with illustrator Albert Uderzo. Born in France to a Jewish family from Poland, he spent his chil ...

and Albert Uderzo, a

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...

of the 1980s called '' Strikeforce: Morituri'' that focused on

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

es who were inevitably going to die, the ''

Adventure Time ''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward and co-produced by Frederator Studios for Cartoon Network. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn the Human, Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...

'' episode "Morituri Te Salutamus", the '' Jurassic World: Chaos Theory'' episode "Morituri Te Salutant", a set of one-act plays of the 1890s by

Hermann Sudermann Hermann Sudermann (30 September 1857 – 21 November 1928) was a German dramatist and novelist. Life Early career Sudermann was born at Matzicken, a village to the east of Heydekrug in the Province of Prussia (now Macikai, in southwestern ...

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the Eng ...

's canonical 1902

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

Heart of Darkness ''Heart of Darkness'' is an 1899 novella by Polish-British novelist Joseph Conrad in which the sailor Charles Marlow tells his listeners the story of his assignment as steamer captain for a Belgium, Belgian company in the African interior. Th ...

'', James Joyce's novel '' Ulysses'', spoken by the main antagonist, Mr. Brown, shortly before his death in Agatha Christie's 1922 novel '' The Secret Adversary'', as well as mentioned in the epilogue of Christie's book '' A Caribbean Mystery'' (1964), in popular music of the 1980s, as well as music in video games, in the paper title of peer-reviewed medical research, in a political

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

, market commentary during the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

and in modern art, fiction, non-fiction and poetry related to the Roman period. In the 2000 film ''

Gladiator A gladiator ( , ) was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their ...

'', Proximo's squad of gladiators recite the phrase in unison before the emperor

Commodus Commodus (; ; 31 August 161 – 31 December 192) was Roman emperor from 177 to 192, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father Marcus Aurelius and then ruling alone from 180. Commodus's sole reign is commonly thought to mark the end o ...

- all except for Maximus, who remains silent. Later in the film, the former gladiator Tigris the Gaul (played by Sven-Ole Thorsen), brought back from his retirement to kill Maximus, also addresses the emperor with the phrase, with Maximus once again defiantly refusing to do so. '' Those Who Are About to Die Salute You – Morituri Te Salutant'' is the debut album by

, released in 1969 by Fontana. It is one of the pioneering albums of

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...

. '' For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)'' (referred to as ''For Those About to Rock'' on the cover) is the eighth studio album by Australian hard rock band

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

. It appears in the short story " Old Bugs" written by H.P. Lovecraft in late 1919. It appears in the party scene in 1950’s film, All About Eve: “Margo: o BillYou be the host. It's your party. Happy birthday, welcome home, and we who are about to die salute you.” The 2024 show '' Those About to Die'', which is centered on gladiators, is named as a reference to the phrase.

Writing and pronunciation

Written with optional macrons: . Classical Latin pronunciation:

References

External links

Suetonius: De Vita Caesarum ("The Life of the Caesars", also known as "The Twelve Caesars")
- Latin text. English, French, Italian and other translations provided from the navigation bar. {{good article 52 50s in the Roman Empire Latin words and phrases Gladiatorial combat Quotations from military Death in ancient Rome Claudius Ancient Abruzzo