# Vini Vidi Vici **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2003, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286 "2003-09-23T10:52:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![freerockNroll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@freerockNroll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freerockNroll)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/1 "2003-09-23T10:52:10Z")
For many years Marlboro Cigarettes has put Vini Vidi Vici on the Phillip Morris logo between the two horses, beneath the crown. My question is what do the three words mean and after all these years, why did they take them off? P.S.Glad to be here, My first thread on Straightdope. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/2 "2003-09-23T10:55:26Z")
I came, I saw I conquered. Why they put this on a pack of smokes I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Jabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@Jabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jabba)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/3 "2003-09-23T11:02:16Z")
It’s _veni_, incidentally, perfect tense of _venire_, to come. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/4 "2003-09-23T11:08:40Z")
That should be _Veni_, not _Vini_, but I also have no idea what it’s doing there. Grim ---
**Author:** ![zia\_nova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/bc79bd/32.png) [@zia\_nova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zia_nova)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/5 "2003-09-23T11:16:10Z")
Juleus Ceasar who said that, wasn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/6 "2003-09-23T11:20:02Z")
Without acutally bothering to check, I’m guessing it’s on the Philip Morris “coat of arms” rather than being specific to the brand of cigarettes themselves. My own family coat of arms bears the motto “Que Sera Sera”, which amuses me no end. ---
**Author:** ![freerockNroll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@freerockNroll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freerockNroll)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/7 "2003-09-23T11:26:30Z")
thanks for replies, but don’t it seem strange after all these years they take it off the logo? I just noticed it was missing , dug out an old package that i’ve been saving an it was on the old pack. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/8 "2003-09-23T11:30:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zia\_nova \* > Julius Ceasar who said that, wasn’t it? Yep. In 47 b.c., after defeating Pharnaces, King of Pontus. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/9 "2003-09-23T11:35:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zia\_nova \* > \*\*Juleus Ceasar who said that, wasn’t it? \*\* Yep. Btw **Jabbap** , there’s a joke in you post somewhere. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/10 "2003-09-23T11:36:22Z")
Whoops, I haven’t slept all night, 'scuse me. ---
**Author:** ![Jabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@Jabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jabba)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/11 "2003-09-23T11:38:06Z")
Actually, I think **Jabbap** has a certain ring to it. ---
**Author:** ![Roches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/12 "2003-09-23T11:44:33Z")
“I came, I saw, I conquered” is a rather disturbing message on a product from a company that has been accused of marketing an addictive product to young people and adults. It doesn’t seem strange at all that they’d take it off – I’d be disturbed to find it on anything. Gyrate, a Spanish motto would be extremely rare. Almost all mottoes are in Latin. A few mottoes are in Classical Greek, but these seem to be more commonly associated with academic institutions than with families. If you got your coat of arms from a “heraldry store”, you might want to research the authenticity of the coats-of-arms such stores sell. [This site](http://www.baronage.co.uk/) includes a very scathing review of heraldry and title sales. Apparently mottoes are only official for Scots who bear a coat of arms (and arms must pass patrilineally from nobles who have been granted arms). I was disappointed to find out that stores selling coats of arms are not very legitimate – their products are more like souvenirs than legitimate heraldic articles. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/13 "2003-09-23T13:10:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Roches \* > Gyrate, a Spanish motto would be extremely rare. Spanish? “Que sera sera” is French and means “What will be will be”. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/14 "2003-09-23T13:32:18Z")
My last GF always said, “Vini vidi VISA” after a trip to the mall. We came. We saw. We purchased it with revolving credit. ymmv 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dreaming\_of\_Maria\_Callas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@Dreaming\_of\_Maria\_Callas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dreaming_of_Maria_Callas)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/15 "2003-09-23T13:53:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Floater \* > \*\*Spanish? “Que sera sera” is French and means “What will be will be”. \*\* It’s also perfectly valid Spanish for “what will be will be”, and a phrase commonly heard in some parts of Spain, so that’s why he mentioned Spanish family mottos. UnuMondo ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/16 "2003-09-23T13:53:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Floater \* > \*\*Spanish? “Que sera sera” is French and means “What will be will be”. \*\* Both my French and Spanish are a bit rusty, but I think that grammatically “Que sera sera” is both correct French _and_ Spanish and means “Whatever will be will be” in both languages, just that you’d need to put a few accents in the Spanish version (qué, serà). I could be wrong here, though. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/17 "2003-09-23T14:59:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Schnitte \* > just that you’d need to put a few accents in the Spanish version (qué, serà). I could be wrong here, though. “que será” apparently. You learn something new each day. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/18 "2003-09-23T15:39:59Z")
French mottoes are also not uncommon Honi soit qui mal y pense ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/19 "2003-09-23T16:26:49Z")
At my university, there was a pseudo-fraternity whose unofficial motto was: _“Vidi, Vici, Veni”_ Think about it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286/20 "2003-09-23T16:45:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by acsenray \* > \*\*French mottoes are also not uncommon > > Honi soit qui mal y pense \*\* My family crest has the motto: “Voulez vous couchez avec moi?” and a picture of a lamp post. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vini-vidi-vici/203286.md?page=2)