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What Is the Best Latin Translation of Maximus's Motto ("Strength and Honor")?

Subject: What Is the Best Latin Translation of Maximus's Motto ("Strength and Honor")?
From: Stephen M. OBrien ([email protected])
Date: Sun Dec 31 2000 - 16:34:33 EST

Dear Fellow Classicists,

As a classicist who is an avid fan of the film *Gladiator* (I've seen it
six times), and who admires the U.S. Navy SEALs, I am engaged in the
following project, which I hope will promote, not only this awesome flick
and this awesome military unit, but also the study of Latin. What I am
trying to do is to persuade the SEALs to ask the permission of Russell
Crowe and DreamWorks to adopt a Latin translation of Maximus's motto
("Strength and honor") as their own official motto.

I first have to confirm that my proposed translation is the best one:
*Vires et honestas*. Alternatives which I have tentatively rejected
are: *Vires et honos, Vires et virtus, Fortitudo et honestas, Robur et
honestas*.

I prefer *Vires et honestas* for the following reasons:

1. *Vires* is concrete and physical, just as Maximus, his legionaries,
and his brother gladiators themselves were. *Fortitudo* is abstract and
philosophical. *Vires* is more suited to the battlefield, whereas
*fortitudo* is more suited to the scholar's study.

2. While not exclusively applicable to inanimate objects, *robur*, by
reason of its connection to the concept of the hardness of oak wood, is
less effective than *vires* for conveying the military qualities of
*viri*.

3. *Honestas* is the honor that actually resides within the person
honored as an intrinsic attribute, whereas *honos* is the extrinsic honor
that is bestowed on you by someone else who merely deems you worthy of
it. (I thank Michael Myer of the American Classical League for alerting
me to this distinction.)

4. In view of entries in Lewis and Short and Forcellini's *Lexicon
Totius Latinitatis*, which both cite, e.g., Pliny 11.19:60: ("velut
castratis viribus"), *vires* can be regarded as possessing the added
advantage of having a secondary, double-entendre meaning (the male
gonads) that would appeal tremendously to a gung-ho, elite military unit
like the SEALs. *Vires et honestas* can be translated as--ladies on this
list, please forgive the vulgarism!--"Balls and honor."

I appeal to all the classicists on this list to comment on both my
project and my proposed Latin translation of Maximus's motto. Please
post your replies on this list, but please, in addition, e-mail them to
me directly. My e-mail address is: [email protected].

*Gratias maximas vobis ago!*

Sincerely,

Steve

Stephen M. O'Brien
1100 Clove Rd., Apt. 4H
Staten Island, NY 10301-3631, U.S.A.
(718) 447-7891

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Hope this helps!

Ave atque vale!

Rich