Hi! Welcome to “Dusty Phrases.” You will find a phrase below, in one ancient language or another, along with its English translation. You may also find the power to inspire your friends or provoke dread among your enemies.For other examples, visit HERE:
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Latin:
Fortitudo et Honor
English:
Strength and honor
This is one of the rare cases where I think the English might sound better than the Latin. Strength comes out of your mouth swiftly and it sounds like a sword being pulled from a scabbard. Just feel the way that your lips move when you say the word – like you’re baring your teeth and growing at someone. Fortitudo is slower and more laborious to say. There’s something sing-songy to it.
Did Ancient Roman soldiers clasp arms and say “Fortitudo et Honor”? It is certainly possible. Likely, even. Those are common enough words and they fit well within a war setting. However, the phrase – used famously in the film ‘Gladiator’ – cannot really be sourced to any ancient writing (at least that I’ve been able to locate.) If someone finds a source, I will update this post accordingly.
In the film, the phrase is used as a way to tell the audience who Maximus is at his core. These are his two twin virtues. It’s a clever bit of writing.
The phrase from the movie took on a life of its own. It is used today as the name of a political party in Ukraine.
Strength and Honor (Ukrainian: Сила і Честь, romanized: Syla i Chest’, SiCh) is a Ukrainian political party led by Ihor Smeshko.
In the 2020 Ukrainian local elections, Strength and Honor won 575 local and regional level seats across Ukraine, earning 1.35% of the vote. Its biggest success came in Volyn Oblast in Western Ukraine, where it won four seats on the regional parliament, the Volyn Oblast Council.
Strength & Honour is a strategy game developed by the Canadian studio Magitech for Microsoft Windows. The game, which focuses on global domination, combines turn-based empire-building mechanics with real-time tactics. Players control various civilizations, ranging from the Romans and Carthaginians in the west to the West Indians and Chinese in the east, in a setting based around 200 BC.
