Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam

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Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam (more rarely ceterum autem censeo Carthaginem esse delendam ; Latin for: "Incidentally, I am of the opinion that Carthage must be destroyed") is ascribed to the Roman statesman Cato the Elder (234–149 BC) Saying.

Historical background

In the period before the beginning of the Third Punic War , Cato applied for the destruction of Carthage at every session of the Roman Senate . He is said to have ended all his speeches with this saying - regardless of the actual subject of the discussion. In contrast, Publius Scipio Nasica advised that Carthage should be spared. 150 BC The Senate finally approved Cato, which led to the Third Punic War and the destruction of Carthage.

origin

As the only ancient author, Plutarch (* around 45; † around 125 AD) quoted Cato "literally" in the first volume of his parallel biographies ( Οἱ βίοι παράλληλοι Hoi bíoi parálleloi ) in 75 AD, a good 225 years after Catos Death. Plutarch also wrote in ancient Greek : Δοκεῖ δέ μοι καὶ Καρχηδόνα μὴ εἶναι ('It seems to me, however, that Carthage should not be either'). The authenticity of the Latin expression is therefore not certain. The French historian Charles-François Lhomond (1727–1794) quotes Cato in 1775 with Hoc censeo, et Carthaginem esse delendam ('This I propose that Carthage should also be destroyed.'). Often one only finds Carthago delenda est or Carthago est delenda ('Carthage must be destroyed').

Language and translation

The sentence Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam can be divided into three parts:

  • ceterum - 'also', 'by the way'
  • censeo - 'I mean', 'I advise', 'I request'
  • Carthaginem (also: Karthaginem ) esse delendam - Accusativus cum infinitivo , which refers to censeo and is itself a gerundive construction : 'Carthage is to be destroyed' / 'that Carthage is to be destroyed' / 'that Carthage is to be destroyed' / ' that Carthage must be destroyed '.

The first three words of the saying form an alliteration , at least in Latin in the time of Cato, when the "C" was always pronounced as "K".

It was customary in the Senate to sharpen a speech on a statement introduced with censeo . Accordingly, the sentence was preceded by "therefore I am making the request to do this and that", whereupon ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam can be translated as follows in the context of the meaning: "I am also making the further request to destroy Carthage."

Modern use

Based on the historical saying, one speaks today of a ceterum censeo when a demand is persistently repeated.

In 1864, the Württemberg democrat Ludwig Pfau spoke out in favor of the dissolution of Prussia , without which unification of Germany in the liberal sense would not be possible: "Ceterum censeo Borussiam esse delendam" ( I also believe that Prussia must be destroyed ).

In the 1890s the London newspaper Saturday Review published anti-German articles and a. based on Cato with Germania est delenda (German: Germany must be destroyed. ).

The saying is also quoted in the Asterix volumes, for example in Caesar's laurels , there abbreviated as “Delenda Carthago”.

swell

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Remarks

  1. ↑ Marcus Cato (legendary, died 149 BCE). By Plutarch. Written 75 ACE ... in: Reprinted from John Dryden's translation of Plutarch's Marcus Cato . The Internet Classics Archive on the MIT website (accessed February 28, 2011)
  2. ↑ Max Schlossarek: The correct pronunciation of classical Latin. Taking into account the pronunciation of Greek. 2nd improved and enlarged edition. Frankes Buchhandlung, Habelschwerdt 1931, p. 22.
  3. ^ Heinrich August Winkler : The long way to the west , Vol. 1: German history from the end of the Old Empire to the fall of the Weimar Republic . CH Beck, Munich 2000, p. 170.
  4. ^ Donald R. Kelley: Frontiers of History: Historical Inquiry in the Twentieth Century. Yale University Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0300120622 , p. 50. ( limited preview in Google Book Search)
  5. ↑ https://www.comedix.de/lexikon/db/delenda_carthago.php