Vincere, aut mori
The Latin phrase Vincere aut mori , fully actually "aut vincere, aut mori" , means "(either) to win or to die" and was the motto of the Belling Hussars , a Prussian cavalry unit of the Seven Years' War .
source
In his description of the Trojan War De excidio Troiae historia by the Roman historian Dares Phrygius there is the sentence:
"Imperatque ut omnes parati sint, cum signum dederit, per portas irruptionem facere: aut vincere, aut mori sibi certum esse."
"[Aeneas] ordered everyone to be ready and, if he gave the signal, to break through the gates and be sure of victory or death."
"All Death"
The Belling Hussars were set up in 1758. They wore a black uniform. On their headgear was a lying skeleton with an hourglass and scythe as a symbol of death . Above it was the motto “vincere aut mori” . Because this hussar unit, in contrast to others who only wore a skull as an emblem , had a complete - ie "whole" - skeleton, it was also referred to as "the whole of death" .
Individual evidence
- ↑ De excidio Troiae historia 38
- ↑ Benno von Knobelsdorff-Brenkenhoff : A province in peace conquered , p. 168