Veni, vidi, vici facts for kids
Veni, vidi, vici (Classical Latin: [weːniː wiːdiː wiːkiː], Ecclesiastical Latin: [ˈveni ˈvidi ˈvitʃi]; "I came; I saw; I conquered") is a Latin phrase used to refer to a swift, conclusive victory. The phrase is popularly attributed to Julius Caesar who, according to Appian, used the phrase in a letter to the Roman Senate around 47 BC after he had achieved a quick victory in his short war against Pharnaces II of Pontus at the Battle of Zela (modern-day Zile, Turkey).
The phrase is attributed in Plutarch's Life of Caesar and Suetonius's Lives of the Twelve Caesars: Julius. Plutarch writes that Caesar used it in a report to Amantius, a friend of his in Rome. Suetonius states that Caesar displayed the three words as an inscription during his Pontic triumph.
Grammar
Latin
Veni, vidi, and vici are first person singular perfect indicative active forms of the Latin verbs venire, videre, and vincere, which mean "to come", "to see", and "to conquer", respectively. The sentence's form is classed as a tricolon and a hendiatris.
English
The English phrase "I came, I saw, I conquered" employs what is known as a comma splice. Grammarians generally agree that using a comma to join two independent clauses should be done sparingly. Sometimes, the comma splice is avoided by using a semicolon instead: "I came; I saw; I conquered". Alternatively, "I came, I saw, I conquered" can be justified as an example of asyndeton, where the lack of the expected conjunction emphasizes the suddenness and swiftness of Caesar's victories. Similarly, this sentence also serves as a famous example of an alliteration due to the repeated use of its first consonant.
See also
In Spanish: Veni, vidi, vici para niños
- Isocolon
- List of Latin phrases
- Ut est rerum omnium magister usus
