Saturday, 10 March 2018

Vae Victoris!

"...if one day a strong barbarian race under a strong leader should form a reliable coalition - then vae victis!"
-Poul Anderson, "Tiger by the Tail" IN Anderson, Agent Of The Terran Empire (London, 1977), pp. 7-36 AT p. 11.

"...if ever somebody among them formed a powerful coalition, and saw an opportunity - vae victis! Even if the Imperialists broke him, the harm he did first would be catastrophic. Vae victoris!"
-Poul Anderson, "Tiger by the Tail" IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 241-276 AT p. 244.

First, Flandry thinks, "Woe to the vanquished!," then he adds, "Woe to the victor!"

Fortunately I have a Latin dictionary and grammar here.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Again, I'm left wondering how well Anderson knew Latin. He certainly seems to have had at least a competent knowledge of the language.

Sean