Vae victis (ˈwai 'wiktiːs) is Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 for "Woe to the vanquished (ones)" or also "Woe to the conquered (ones)". (This is the dative plural form—the dative singular is Vae victo if the conquered is masculine, Vae victae if the conquered is feminine.)

In 390 BC

390 BC

Year 390 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Tribunate of Ambustus, Longus, Ambustus, Fidenas, Ambustus and Cornelius...

, an army of Gaul

Gaul

Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...

s led by Brennus attacked Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, capturing all of the city except for the Capitoline Hill

Capitoline Hill

The Capitoline Hill , between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the seven hills of Rome. It was the citadel of the earliest Romans. By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Capitolino in Italian, with the alternative Campidoglio stemming from Capitolium. The English word capitol...

, which was successfully held against them. Brennus besieged the hill, and finally the Romans asked to ransom

Ransom

Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or it can refer to the sum of money involved.In an early German law, a similar concept was called bad influence...

 their city. Brennus demanded 1,000 pounds (327 kg) of gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

, and the Romans agreed to his terms.

Livy

Livy

Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...

, in Ab Urbe Condita

Ab Urbe condita (book)

Ab urbe condita libri — often shortened to Ab urbe condita — is a monumental history of ancient Rome written in Latin sometime between 27 and 25 BC by the historian Titus Livius. The work covers the time from the stories of Aeneas, the earliest legendary period from before the city's founding in c....

(Book 5 Sections 34–49), records that the Gauls provided steelyard balance

Steelyard balance

A steelyard balance or steelyard is a straight-beam balance with arms of unequal length. It incorporates a counterweight which slides along the calibrated longer arm to counterbalance the load and indicate its weight...

s and weight

Weight

In science and engineering, the weight of an object is the force on the object due to gravity. Its magnitude , often denoted by an italic letter W, is the product of the mass m of the object and the magnitude of the local gravitational acceleration g; thus:...

s, and the Romans brought out their gold. But the Romans noticed that the weights were fixed, and the tribunes dared to complain to Brennus about the issue. Brennus took his sword, threw it on to the weights, and exclaimed: "Vae victis!", for the conquered have no rights, forcing the Romans to bring even more gold to fulfill their obligation.

Modern use

"Vae victis" is the motto of the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment (United States Army), B company, and was on a patch worn during deployment in Iraq '07-'08.

In popular culture, it is the battle cry of Kain

Kain (Legacy of Kain)

Kain is a fictional character and the titular character that appears in the Legacy of Kain series of video games. Depending on the game and its viewpoint, Kain has been either the central protagonist, or an antagonist, but in all his depictions he is an anti-hero, interested only in his own goals...

, the anti-hero of the Legacy of Kain

Legacy of Kain

Legacy of Kain is a series of action-adventure video games developed initially by Silicon Knights in association with Crystal Dynamics. After a legal battle, Crystal Dynamics continued the series without Silicon Knights and Eidos Interactive became the publisher...

videogame series. The expression featured prominently in the 2009 movie Open Graves

Open Graves

Open Graves is a 2009 horror film, directed by Álvaro de Armiñán and written by Bruce A. Taylor and Roderick Taylor, the film stars Eliza Dushku, Mike Vogel, Naike Rivelli and Lindsay Robba.-Plot:...

as a synonym for "game over" in a deadly board game, where a character quips that it is Latin for "losers weepers".