Si vis pacem para bellum

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Si vis pacem para bellum is a Latin proverb. Literally translated it reads: “If you want peace, prepare (the) war.” (In languages ​​with a certain article, translations with or without an article are possible, as there is no article in Latin.) Other, more free translation versions are : "If you want peace, prepare for war." Or "If you are looking for peace, prepare for war."

The basic idea can already be found in Plato ( Nomoi / Laws VIII) [829 St.2 A]:

But the most noble foundation of a happy life is that one neither does injustice nor suffer injustice from others. Of this, the former is not so difficult to achieve, but to acquire enough power that one can secure oneself against every injustice, and it is impossible to attain it completely in any other way than by being perfect oneself in good shape. And the same thing happens to a state, if it is efficient, it is given a peaceful life, if it is not, feuds beset it from within and without.

But if this is the case, everyone has to practice war not first in war, but already in peacetime, and that is why a sensible citizenry must do no less than one day of military service every month, but probably several more if the authorities ask seems necessary, and be afraid of neither frost nor heat.

The proverb also describes the quintessence of the 7th Philippica , a keynote speech given by Marcus Tullius Cicero in mid-January 43 BC according to all the rules of rhetoric . Before the Roman Senate . In it he first introduces himself as an advocate for peace. He then explains why a peace with Mark Antony is firstly disgraceful, secondly dangerous and thirdly impossible.

It also occurs in Cicero's contemporaries Cornelius Nepos ( Epaminondas 5, 4 ). The closest thing to the sentence comes from the Roman military writer Flavius ​​Vegetius Renatus (around 400 AD) in the foreword to Book III of his De re militari :

"Qui desiderat pacem, bellum praeparat"

"Whoever desires (the) peace prepares (the) war."

The idea is further elaborated in Augustine ( De civitate Dei XIX, 12). He is recorded u. a by John of Salisbury and Sedulius Scottus . He is also treated in the Ritterspiegel by Johannes Rothe and Renatus is quoted several times.

In the modern age, the parabellum weapon technology trademark emerged from the saying . The original title of the American action film John Wick: Kapitel 3 ( John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum , 2019) also takes its name from this saying.

The reversal of the sentence in si vis pacem para pacem appears for the first time in a peace science context as "if you wish for peace, prepare for peace" in John Noble ( Arbitration and a congress of nations as a substitute for war in the settlement of international disputes ) 1863 on. It describes the development of contemporary peace concepts:

Peace both within and between states should be understood as a non-violent political process aimed at preventing the use of force, in which, through agreements and compromises, conditions for the coexistence of social groups or of states and peoples are created that are not endanger their existence and not harm the sense of justice or the vital interests of one or more of them so seriously that they believe they have to use force after all peaceful remedial procedures have been exhausted. In order to achieve peace, sustained efforts towards the rule of law, reliability of expectations, economic balance and empathy are necessary.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Benfield Harbottle : Dictionary of Quotations Latin . Macmillan, New York 1909
  2. ↑ a b Wilfried Stroh : Cicero. Orator, statesman, philosopher (= Beck series. Vol. 2440). Beck, Munich 2008, p. 114
  3. ^ Translation: Franz Susemihl . in: Plato's works, fourth group, ninth to fifteenth volumes, Stuttgart 1863 , PDF document
  4. ↑ G. Gottwein, E. Gottwein: Cornelius Nepos: Epameinondas. Retrieved February 5, 2018 (Latin).
  5. ↑ Carl Lang (Ed.): Flavius ​​Vegetius Renatus: Epitoma rei militaris . Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana , BG Teubner, Oxford 1885, pp. 65, 9
  6. ↑ Johannes Rothe: The Ritterspiegel . Edited, translated and commented by Christoph Huber and Pamela Kalning. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-020819-1
  7. ↑ Boris Paraschkewow: Words and names of the same origin and structure. Lexicon of etymological duplicates in German . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-11-017470-7
  8. ↑ Peter Imbusch , Ralf Zoll (ed.): Peace and conflict research: An introduction with sources. (Peace and Conflict Research Vol. 1.) , Springer-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-322-97349-8
  9. ↑ Dieter Senghaas , quoted from: Peter Imbusch , Ralf Zoll (Hrsg.): Peace and Conflict Research: An introduction with sources. (Peace and Conflict Research Vol. 1.) , Springer-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-322-97349-8