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Sic semper tyrannis is aLatin phrase meaning 'thus always totyrants'. In contemporary parlance, it means tyrannical leaders will inevitably be overthrown. The phrase also suggests that bad but justified outcomes should, or eventually will, befall tyrants. It is thestate motto of theU.S. commonwealth ofVirginia.
Before 509 BC,Rome was ruled bykings, with the last beingLucius Tarquinius Superbus. The king's son,Sextus Tarquinius, raped a noblewoman,Lucretia, who revealed the offense to various Roman noblemen and then died by suicide. The noblemen obtained the support of the aristocracy and the people to expel the king and his family and to institute theRoman Republic. The leader of the noblemen wasLucius Junius Brutus, who became one of the first consuls of the Republic. It has been suggested that the phrase was used at this event, but the suggestion is not based on any Latin surviving literature of the time.[1]
SenatorMarcus Junius Brutus, a descendant ofLucius Junius Brutus and who also took part in theassassination of Julius Caesar on 15 March 44 BC,[2][3] is sometimes credited with originating the phrase.[1]Plutarch suggests he either did not have a chance to say anything, or if he did, no one heard it:
Caesar thus done to death, the senators, although Brutus came forward as if to say something about what had been done, would not wait to hear him, but burst out of doors and fled, thus filling the people with confusion and helpless fear.[4]
Mike Fontaine, professor ofClassics atCornell University, proposes that the expression is likely a Latin translation by the U.S. founding fatherGeorge Wythe of whatTiberius Gracchus' brother-in-law, the general and statesmanScipio Aemilianus, said when he heard of the assassination of Gracchus. This is also reported by Plutarch in hisLife of Gracchus (21.4), where he reacted by quoting Homer'sOdyssey (1.47):ὡς ἀπόλοιτο καὶ ἄλλος, ὅτις τοιαῦτά γε ῥέζοι ("And so perish all who do the same").[1] Gracchus was assassinated due to theland reforms he had made a major priority, to which Aemilianus was opposed.[1]
The phrase has been invoked as an epithet about one allegedly abusing power, or as a rallying cry againstabuse of power.
The phrase was recommended byGeorge Mason to theVirginia Convention in 1776, as part of the commonwealth's seal. TheSeal of the Commonwealth of Virginia showsVirtue, spear in hand, with her foot on the recumbent form ofTyranny, whose crown lies nearby. The Seal was planned by Mason (designed byGeorge Wythe) who signed theUnited States Declaration of Independence and taught law toThomas Jefferson.[5]
A joke referencing the image on the seal that dates as far back as theCivil War, is that "Sic semper tyrannis" actually means "Get your foot off my neck."[6]
"Happy While United" was the slogan on a medal coined by the State of Virginia in 1780. First envisioned byThomas Jefferson, the medal was minted and designed to be given toNative American signatories to the treaties Jefferson planned with theNative Americans of Virginia. The medal portrays a Virginia colonial, sitting, enjoying apeace pipe with a Native American. The obverse portrays a variation of the Virginia state seal of the state symbol standing triumphant over a slain enemy with the legend: "Rebellion to Tyrants Is Obedience to God".
The phrase is the motto of theUnited States Navy attack submarine named for the state, theUSSVirginia. Before that, it was the motto of the nuclear-powered cruiserUSSVirginia.
The phrase appears on the Insignia of the149th Fighter Squadron which is located atJoint Base Langley–Eustis, Virginia.
John Tyler's father,John Tyler Sr., uttered the phrase to a schoolteacher who had been tied up by the younger Tyler and his fellow pupils.[7]
In her non-fiction polemicalA Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin,Harriet Beecher Stowe noted the irony ofrunaway slave ads appearing in Southern newspapers withnameplate mottos likeSic semper tyrannis and "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God".[8]
During the Civil War, at least one regiment of theUnited States Colored Troops used it as their motto.[9]
John Wilkes Booth wrote in his diary that he shouted "Sic semper tyrannis" aftershooting U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, in part because of the association with the assassination of Caesar.[10][11][12]
Timothy McVeigh, the perpetrator of theOklahoma City Bombing on April 19, 1995, wore a shirt on the day of the bombing with a picture of Lincoln and the phrase "Sic semper tyrannis," printed on it.[13]
The phrase was also in the pro-Confederate Civil War song "Maryland, My Maryland", which was popular with Southern sympathizers in Maryland. The song "Maryland, My Maryland", was the official state song ofMaryland from 1939 until its repeal by that state's general assembly in 2021 (effective July 1, 2021).[14]
The phrase is also the motto ofAllentown, Pennsylvania, the third largest city inPennsylvania.[15]
...the coat of arms of the state of Virginia, bearing the motto,Sic semper tyrannis, which the soldiers translated, "Take your foot off my neck", from the action of the principal figure ... representing Liberty, who, with a lance in her right hand, is standing over the conquered and prostrate tyrant, and apparently trampling on him with her heel.
