Veni, vidi, vici

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The Philip Morris logo, from a pack of Marlboro cigarettes.

"Veni, vidi, vici" (Classical Latin: [ˈweːniː ˈwiːdiː ˈwiːkiː]; Ecclesiastical Latin: [ˈvɛni ˈvidi ˈvitʃi]; "I came; I saw; I conquered") is a Latin phrase 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. The phrase is used to refer to a swift, conclusive victory.

This sentence appears in Plutarch (Plut. Caes. 50) and Suetonius (Suet. Iul. 37.). Plutarch reports that Caesar "gave Amantius, a friend of his at Rome, an account of this action", whereas Suetonius says "In His Pontic triumph he displayed among the show-pieces of the procession an inscription of but three words, 'I came, I saw, I conquered'".

Allusions and references

Variations of the sentence "Veni, vidi, vici" are often quoted, and also used in music, art, literature, and entertainment.

Since the time of Caesar, the phrase has been used in military contexts, from King Jan III of Poland's allusion to the phrase after the 17th-century Battle of Vienna, changing it to "Venimus, Vidimus, Deus vicit" ("We came, We saw, God conquered"), to Hillary Clinton referring in 2011 to the death of Muammar Gaddafi by saying "We came, we saw, he died".

The sentence lends itself to use in music, and has been used in several well-known works over the years, from the opening of Handel's 1724 opera Giulio Cesare: "Curio, Cesare venne, e vide e vinse (Curio, Caesar came, saw and conquered)", references in the 1940s song "These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)" and a line ("You came, you saw, you conquered") from the title song of the musical Mame, through to modern times with such artists as Jay-Z (in "Encore"), The Hives (in Veni Vidi Vicious) and others still using references to the sentence.

There are also many references in literature and film. The title of the poem "Veni, vidi, vixi" by French poet Victor Hugo, written after the death of his daughter Leopoldine at age 19 in 1843, means "I came, I saw, I lived", and the first verse is "J'ai bien assez vécu...", which roughly translated is "I have lived well long enough...". Peter Venkman, one of the protagonists in the 1984 film Ghostbusters, delivered a humorous variation on the phrase: "We came. We saw. We kicked its ass!" This line was among the 400 nominees for the AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes.

Latin grammar

Veni, vidi, and vici are first person perfect 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 grammar

The English phrase "I came, I saw, I conquered" employs what is known as a comma splice. Using a comma to join two independent clauses ("I saw" and "I conquered") is something that should be done sparingly, according to grammarians. Sometimes, the comma splice is avoided by using a semicolon instead: "I came; I saw; I conquered".