If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it.
War gives the right to the conquerors to impose any condition they please upon the vanquished.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the nature of power dynamics in war, highlighting how victors can dictate terms to the defeated.
In this quote, Julius Caesar emphasizes the harsh realities of warfare and its aftermath, suggesting that the victors in a conflict can impose their will on the losers without regard for justice or fairness. This perspective on conquest underscores the often brutal and arbitrary nature of power, showcasing how morality can be overshadowed by might, as the conqueror creates conditions and rules for the conquered, regardless of their previous rights or claims.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a history class to discuss the implications of military victories throughout history.
More from Julius Caesar
All quotes βI have always reckoned the dignity of the republic of first importance and preferable to life.
As a rule, men worry more about what they can't see than about what they can.
All bad precedents begin as justifiable measures.
No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected.
What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also.
Similar quotes
Man, by his very nature, tends to give himself an explanation of the world into which he is born. And this is what distinguishes him from the other species. Every individual, even the least intelligent, the lowest of outcasts, from childhood on gives himself some explanation of the world. And with it he manages to live. And without it, he would sink into madness.
If an enemy has alliances, the problem is grave and the enemy's position strong; if he has no alliances, the problem is minor and the enemy's position weak.
There's just some kind of men you have to shoot before you can say hidy to 'em. Even then, they ain't worth the bullet it takes to shoot 'em.
We will neglect our cities to our peril, for in neglecting them we neglect the nation.
New York... is a city of geometric heights, a petrified desert of grids and lattices, an inferno of greenish abstraction under a flat sky, a real Metropolis from which man is absent by his very accumulation.
That man is truly humble who neither claims any personal merit in the sight of God, nor proudly despises brethren, or aims at being thought superior to them, but reckons it enough that he is one of the members of Christ, and desires nothing more than that the Head alone should be exalted.