Dulcē et decōrum est prō patriā morī[a] is a line from theOdes (III.2.13) by the Romanlyric poetHorace. The line translates: "It is sweet and proper to die for one's country." The Latin wordpatria (homeland), literally meaning the country of one's fathers (inLatin,patres) or ancestors, is the source of the French word for a country,patrie, and of the English word "patriot" (one who loves their country).
Horace's line was quoted in the title of a poem byWilfred Owen, "Dulce et Decorum est", published in 1920, describing soldiers' horrific experiences inWorld War I. Owen's poem, which calls Horace's line "the old Lie", essentially ended the line's straightforward uncritical use.
The poem from which the line comes, exhorts Roman citizens to develop martial prowess such that the enemies of Rome, in particular theParthians, will be too terrified to resist the Romans. InJohn Conington's translation, the relevant passage reads:
Angustam amice pauperiem pati robustus acri militia puer condiscat et Parthos ferocis vexet eques metuendus hasta vitamque sub divo et trepidis agat in rebus. Illum ex moenibus hosticis matrona bellantis tyranni prospiciens et adulta virgo suspiret, eheu, ne rudis agminum sponsus lacessat regius asperum tactu leonem, quem cruenta per medias rapit ira caedes. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori: mors et fugacem persequitur virum nec parcit inbellis iuventae poplitibus timidove tergo.[1]
To suffer hardness with good cheer, In sternest school of warfare bred, Our youth should learn; let steed and spear Make him one day the Parthian's dread; Cold skies, keen perils, brace his life. Methinks I see from rampired town Some battling tyrant's matron wife, Some maiden, look in terror down,— “Ah, my dear lord, untrain'd in war! O tempt not the infuriate mood Of that fell lion I see! from far He plunges through a tide of blood!” What joy, to die for fatherland ! Death's darts e'en flying feet o'ertake, Nor spare a recreantchivalry, A back that cowers, or loins that quake.[2]
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 (English: "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").[3][4]
... If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, Bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,– My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie:Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.[5]
Wilfred Owen
Perhaps the most famous modern use of the phrase is as the title of a poem, "Dulce et Decorum est", by British poetWilfred Owen duringWorld 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".[6] It is believed, and illustrated by the original copy of the poem, that Owen intended to dedicate the poem ironically toJessie Pope, a popular writer who glorified the war and recruited "laddies" who "longed to charge and shoot" in simplistically patriotic poems like "The Call".[7]
"Died some, pro patria, non 'dulce' non 'et decor'..." from part IV ofEzra 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 playwrightBertolt Brecht referred to the phrase asZweckpropaganda (cheap propaganda for a specific cause) and pointed out that "It is sweeter andmore fitting tolive for one's country", an essay for which he was nearly expelled.[8]
The title ofDamon 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 1971 filmJohnny Got His Gun ends with this saying, along with casualty statistics since World War I.
In his bookAnd No Birds Sang, chronicling his service in Italy with the Canadian army duringWorld War II,Farley Mowat quotesWilfred Owen's poem on the opening pages and addresses "the Old Lie" in the final section of the book.
Thelast words attributed to theIsraeli national heroYosef Trumpeldor – "It is good to die for our country" (טוב למות בעד ארצנו) – are considered to be derived from Horace's, and were a frequently used Zionist slogan in the early 20th century.
InThomas Wolfe'sLook 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 (Rupert Brooke's"If I Should die..." and R. Hankey'sA Student in Arms), and fueled by these stories, composes his own, to the ever-present literary-referenced commentary by Wolfe.
Karl Marlantes' 2009 novelMatterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War features a mock-mass between Mellas and others, in which the line is satirically quoted.
The British rock bandKasabian includes the phrase at the end of the music video for their song "Empire".[9]
American bandGlobus included the phrase in the lyrics of "In Memoriam", from their albumBreak From This World, released in 2011.[11]
The British dark cabaret actThe Tiger Lillies included a song called "Dulce et Decorum Est" on the albumA Dream Turns Sour from 2014. This is a reading of the Wilfred Owen poem with music written byMartyn Jacques.[12]
The line is quoted in the 1966 movieModesty Blaise, after a plane is apparently shot down.
The line appears as a Morse coded message as part of a puzzle in the 2016 videogameBattlefield 1.
In "A Drinking Song" from TheDivine Comedy's albumPromenade, the subject declares "Heaven be thanked we live in an age where no man need bother except on the stage with 'Dolce et decorum est pro patria mori'".
In the 2021 movieThe King's Man, the verse is cited twice: first during a mass for soldiers going to war (although not many of them understand what the priest says), and again during Conrad's funeral.
Queen's Park in Toronto includes a monument to the militia members who died putting down theNorth-West Rebellion with the phrase.
The phrase appears on a bronze plaque bearing the names of Canadian soldiers lost from the city ofCalgary during World War I and World War II atCentral Memorial High School's front entrance.[13]
The phrase was prominently inscribed in a large bronze tablet commemorating Cuban patriotCalixto García, Major-General of theSpanish–American War. The tablet was erected by the Freemasons where he died at the Raleigh Hotel in Washington, D.C. Today, this tablet resides at the private residence of one of García's direct descendants.
Dominican Republic
The phrase is inscribed in bronze letters above the arch of thePuerta del Conde inSanto Domingo, Dominican Republic.
The phrase is commonly inscribed on stone plaques in public spaces, often school and graveyards, but also churches, factories, and libraries.[15] The plaques list local soldiers that fought and died in theFinnish War of 1918, theWinter War, theContinuation War, theLapland War or, less often, thewars of the 1920s.
India
Found on the inscription on the French Monument inShillong, Meghalaya for the soldiers of the 26thKhasi Labour Corps who died duringWorld War I (1917–1918).
The verse is engraved in each medallion in the center of the crosses ofAquileia's Cemetery of the Heroes, dedicated to every soldier who died during the First World War. This is the place from which, in October 1921, the Unknown Soldier departed in the direction of the Altare della Patria inRome.
Nepal
The phrase was the national motto of Nepal from 1932 to 1962 along withJanani Janmabhumishcha Swargadapi Gariyasi, before being removed, and completely replaced by the latter.
The phrase is written on a plaque on the left wall of main entrance of the Patiala Block,King Edward Medical University, Lahore. It commemorates the students and graduates of the institution who died in the First World War.
The phrase is carved in the monument commemorating theBattle of Wyoming (Pennsylvania), also known as the Wyoming Massacre, 3 July 1778, erected 3 July 1878.
The 10/27 Royal South Australian Regiment of theRoyal Australian Infantry Corps adoptedPro Patria derived from the above line meaning "For One's Country" as their unit motto.
The shorter phrasePro Patria ("for the homeland") may or may be not related to the Horace quote:
Pro Patria is the motto of the Higgins orO'Huigan clan.
^Hässler, Hans-Jürgen; von Heusinger, Christian, eds. (1989).Kultur gegen Krieg, Wissenschaft für den Frieden [Culture against War, Science for Peace] (in German). Würzburg, Germany:Königshausen & Neumann.ISBN978-3884794012.
^KasabianVEVO (3 October 2009)."Kasabian - Empire".Archived from the original on 12 December 2021 – via YouTube.
