# What is the original Latin for this Pompey quote (and where should I be looking for this?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 31, 2017, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-original-latin-for-this-pompey-quote-and-where-should-i-be-looking-for-this/778639 "2017-01-31T03:29:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-original-latin-for-this-pompey-quote-and-where-should-i-be-looking-for-this/778639/1 "2017-01-31T03:29:53Z")
What is the original Latin for this Pompey quote (from as related by Plutarch, I believe): > [@](#): > > Stop quoting laws, we carry weapons! I actually thought this would be 30 second googling job. But I was surprised that the original Latin versions of many Latin quotes is fairly hard to find. I could find a ton of different English translations, but none of them had the original Latin (there is a list of phrases on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_phrases), but it doesn’t have that many quotations). Is there a source I am missing? (other than just trawling through the Latin version of Plutarch) ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-original-latin-for-this-pompey-quote-and-where-should-i-be-looking-for-this/778639/2 "2017-01-31T03:49:18Z")
This is Cicero, but apparently there’s a connection to Pompey: \* silent enim leges inter arma\* (“in times of war, the laws fall silent”) > **[Pro Milone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_Milone)** > > The "Pro Tito Annio Milone ad iudicem oratio" (Pro Milone) is a speech made by Marcus Tullius Cicero in 52 BC on behalf of his friend Titus Annius Milo. Milo was accused of murdering his political enemy Publius Clodius Pulcher on the Via Appia. Cicero wrote the speech after the hearing and so the authenticity of the speech is debated among scholars. > Milo was a praetor at the time who was attempting to gain the much-wanted post of consul. Clodius was a former tribune standing for the office of pr... ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-original-latin-for-this-pompey-quote-and-where-should-i-be-looking-for-this/778639/3 "2017-01-31T04:01:24Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > What is the original Latin for this Pompey quote (from as related by Plutarch, I believe) . . . The original is Greek, not Latin. It’s from Plutarch’s _Parallel Lives_, a text composed in Greek. There’s a link to the Greek text of Plutarch’s life of Pompey on [this page](http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/searchresults?q=plutarch), but as I don’t have any Greek I can’t trace this particular passage, so that is left as an exercise for the student. There’s also a link to an English text of the same work, so if you can find the passage you want in the English text you should be able to narrow down it’s approximate location in the Greek text. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-original-latin-for-this-pompey-quote-and-where-should-i-be-looking-for-this/778639/4 "2017-01-31T07:07:28Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > The original is Greek, not Latin. It’s from Plutarch’s _Parallel Lives_, a text composed in Greek. > . That would explain the lack of Latin translation 🙂 Thanks