I see this as a Military qoute, But Im not sure it said like this, but i think so.

Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori: It's Sweat And fullfilling to die for your country.

I guess there is some room for artistical interpretation, I looked it up and some guy made this out of the quote:


DULCE ET DECORUM EST PRO PATRIA MORI
Horatius; Carmina III 2;13 It is good and fitting to die for the fatherland

As I said, it is a trifle difference and the meaning is the same.

Both of the translations quoted by EagleHammer and Ted seem perfectly good renderings of Horace's Latin to me. Wilfred Owen quoted the line in his poem 'Dulce Et Decorum Est', which I think would not go amiss in a military discussion site.

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.

A very nice poem I should say. I reckon that every youth should read this as to hear the other side of the medallion. It is not anti-military but it does put a perspective on things. Thanks for the poem Antiquary!

say...dulce means sweet or candy in spanish! how bout that! ahahahaha...sorry, just had to contribute.

I liked it
-m