Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant
"Ave, Imperator, morituri te salutant" ("Hail, Emperor, those who are about to die salute you") is a well-known Latin phrase quoted in Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum ("The Life of the Caesars", or "The Twelve Caesars"). It was reportedly used during an event in AD 52 on Lake Fucinus by naumachiarii—captives and criminals fated to die fighting during mock naval encounters—in the presence of the emperor Claudius. Suetonius reports that Claudius replied "Aut non" ("or not").
Variant wordings include "Ave Caesar" and "Nos morituri te salutamus"—the latter in the 1st person ("We who are about to die salute you")—and a response in 15th century texts of "Avete vos" ("Fare you well").
Despite its popularization in later times, the phrase is not recorded elsewhere in Roman history. Historians question whether it was ever used as a customary salute. It was more likely an isolated appeal by desperate captives and criminals condemned to die, and noted by Roman historians in part for the unusual mass reprieve granted by Claudius to the survivors.
The source material comes from the works of three Roman historians, who were all born after the events of 52 AD. Suetonius (c. 69–75 to after 130, probably writing around AD 121), and Cassius Dio (around 155–164 to after 229, probably writing 200–22) both wrote about the event and quoted the phrase. Tacitus (c. 56–117, writing from around 98 to 117) mentions the event but does not quote the phrase.
The first known record of the phrase is in the writings of Suetonius:
The same incident is described in the writings of Cassius Dio, a Roman consul and historian who wrote in Greek. In Book 60 of his Roman History he states:
The person of the main verb differs in the two sources. Suetonius quotes it with a third-person plural verb (salutant, meaning "they/those salute/greet"), and Cassius quotes it with a first-person plural verb (ἀσπαζόμεθα, meaning "we salute/greet"). Apart from this, the Latin and Greek expressions have the same meaning.
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