Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori
Dulcē et decōrum est prō patriā mōrī is a line from the Odes by the Roman lyric poet Horace. The line translates: "It is sweet and fitting to die for the homeland." The Latin word patria, literally meaning the country of one's fathers or ancestors, is the source of the French word for a country, patrie, and of the English word "patriot".
Horace's line was quoted in the title of a poem by Wilfred Owen, "Dulce et Decorum est", published in 1920, describing soldiers' horrific experiences in World War I. Owen's poem, which calls Horace's line "the old lie", essentially ended the line's straightforward uncritical use. Before 1920, the phrase had tended to appear in memorials and monuments to the fallen; after 1920, it tended to decry war propaganda.
Context
The poem from which the line comes, exhorts Roman citizens to develop martial prowess such that the enemies of Rome, in particular the Parthians, will be too terrified to resist the Romans. In John Conington's translation, the relevant passage reads:A humorous elaboration of the original line was used as a toast in the 19th century: "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, sed dulcius pro patria vivere, et dulcissimum pro patria bibere. Ergo, bibamus pro salute patriae." A reasonable English translation would be: "It is sweet and fitting to die for the homeland, but sweeter still to live for the homeland, and sweetest yet to drink for the homeland. So, let us drink to the health of the homeland."
Uses in art and literature
- Perhaps the most famous modern use of the phrase is as the title of a poem, "Dulce et Decorum est", by British poet Wilfred Owen during World War I. Owen's poem describes a gas attack during World War I and is one of his many anti-war poems that were not published until after the war ended. In the final lines of the poem, the Horatian phrase is described as "the old lie". It is believed, and illustrated by the original copy of the poem, that Owen intended to dedicate the poem ironically to Jessie Pope, a popular writer who glorified the war and recruited "laddies" who "longed to charge and shoot" in simplistically patriotic poems like "The Call".
- "Died some, pro patria, non 'dulce' non 'et decor'..." from part IV of Ezra Pound's "Hugh Selwyn Mauberley", a damning indictment of World War I; "Daring as never before, wastage as never before."
- In a 1915 school essay, German playwright Bertolt Brecht referred to the phrase as Zweckpropaganda and pointed out that "It is sweeter and more fitting to live for one's country", an essay for which he was nearly expelled.
- The title of Damon Knight's 1955 short story "Dulcie and Decorum" is an ironic play on the first three words of the phrase; the story is about computers that induce humans to kill themselves.
- The film Johnny Got His Gun ends with this saying, along with casualty statistics since World War I.
- In the film All Quiet on the Western Front, a teacher quotes this early on while talking to his class.
- In his book And No Birds Sang, chronicling his service in Italy with the Canadian army during World War II, Farley Mowat quotes Wilfred Owen's poem on the opening pages and addresses "the Old Lie" in the final section of the book.
- Tim O'Brien quotes the line in the book If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home.
- In Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, the Tarleton brothers are buried under a tombstone which bears the phrase.
- The last words attributed to the Israeli national hero Yosef Trumpeldor – "It is good to die for our country" – are considered to be derived from Horace's, and were a frequently used Zionist slogan in the early 20th century.
- In William Makepeace Thackeray's novel Vanity Fair, the quote appears on George Osborne's tombstone after he dies at Waterloo.
- In Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel: A Story of the Buried Life, after the outbreak of World War I, adolescent Eugene, encouraged by his teacher, Margaret Leonard, devours stories of wartime courage, and fueled by these stories, composes his own, to the ever-present literary-referenced commentary by Wolfe.
- Karl Marlantes' novel features a mock-mass between Mellas and others, in which the line is satirically quoted.
- The British rock band Kasabian includes the phrase at the end of the music video for their song "Empire".
- The British rock band The Damned released a single named "In Dulce Decorum" in 1987.
- American band Kamelot quotes the line in the song "Memento Mori", from their seventh album, The Black Halo.
- Scottish rock band The Skids include a song named "Dulce Et Decorum Est " on the album Days in Europa in 1979.
- British folk-metal band Skyclad uses the quote in the song "Jeopardy", in their album The Silent Whales of Lunar Sea.
- The British dark cabaret act The Tiger Lillies include a song called "Dulce et Decorum Est" in the album A Dream Turns Sour from 2014. This is a reading of the Wilfred Owen poem with music written by Martyn Jacques.
- In Kenneth Branagh's film version of Mozart's "The Magic Flute", Sarastro's palace has the quote engraved across its entrance.
- The line is quoted in the 1966 movie "Modesty Blaise," after a plane is apparently shot down.
Use as a motto and inscription
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;Dominican Republic
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;Pakistan
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Organizations
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori is the motto of the following organizations:- The Portuguese Military Academy
- The Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne
- The 103rd Ground Reconnaissance Squadron of the Royal Netherlands Army
- The 10/27 Royal South Australian Regiment of the Royal Australian Infantry Corps adopted Pro Patria derived from the above line meaning "For One's Country" as their unit motto.
- Pro Patria is the motto of the Higgins or O'Huigan clan.
- It is the motto of the Sri Lanka Army as well as being inscribed on the collar insignia of the Royal Canadian Regiment.
- Pro Patria is the name of a neighborhood in Caracas, Venezuela.