Translation

[Dwight Gruber]

"Si vis pacem, para bellum."

I've been looking at this phrase and its gernerally accepted translation. Now, I'm not a Latin speaker but I do have good language sensibilities, and it has always seemed to me that something isn't quite right--the sticking point is the word "vis".

Having some time on my hands this evening, I did a little bit of poking around on the internet. Vis, in the context of its surrounding words, refers to seeing, or the root of the latin for face.

I would suggest that a more accurate translation, certainly a more poetic one, is: "If you would see peace, prepare for war."

--Dwight