Ver el código de «Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant»

[[Archivo:Ave Caesar Morituri te Salutant.jpg|thumb|''Ave Caesar Morituri te Salutant'', por [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]] (1859), donde se muestra a un grupo de gladiadores que saluda al emperador [[Vitelio]].]]

'''«Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant»''' (trad. lit. «Salve, [[César (título)|César]], los que van a morir te saludan») es una [[locución latina|frase latina]] citada en las ''[[Vidas de los doce césares]]'' de [[Suetonio]],<ref>[[Suetonio|Suetonius]], ''[[Vidas de los doce césares|De Vita Caesarum]]: Divus Claudius'', 21.6</ref> la cual es tradicionalmente atribuida a los delincuentes ajusticiados como si fuesen [[gladiador]]es. Históricamente, esta frase se utilizó en un espectáculo acontecido en el 52 d.&nbsp;C. en el [[Fucino|lago Fucino]] por criminales destinados a morir en combate en simulaciones de [[Naumaquia|encuentros navales]] ante la presencia del [[emperador romano]] [[Claudio]]. De acuerdo a Suetonio, Claudio contestó: «Aut non» («O no»).

Algunas variantes incluyen «Ave, Imperator» y «salutamus»,<ref name="routledge">{{cita libro|apellidos=Stone|nombre=Jon R|título=The Routledge dictionary of Latin quotations: the illiterati's guide to Latin maxims, mottoes, proverbs and sayings|editorial=Routledge|año=2005|página=232|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=bXGJuX1mDrwC&pg=PA232&dq=Suetonius+%22ave+caesar+morituri%22&num=100&cd=3#v=onepage&q=Suetonius%20%22ave%20caesar%20morituri%22&f=false|isbn=0-415-96909-3}}</ref> esta última en [[Persona gramatical|primera persona]] («Quienes vamos a morir»)<ref name="cassius">Texto griego citado con traducción al francés en [http://remacle.org]: [http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/historiens/Dion/livre60.htm Dion Cassius, Histoire Romaine LX] (33) (traducido por E. Gros)</ref> junto con una respuesta en textos del {{siglo|XV||s}} de «Avete vos» («Que les vaya bien»).<ref name="pike">{{cita libro|título=Gai Suetoni Tranquilli de vita Caesarum, libri III-VI: Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero|editor=Joseph Brown Pike|editorial=Allyn and Bacon|año=1903|página=259|url=http://books.google.com/books?cd=8&num=100&id=Z71LAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22aut+non%22+%22avete+vos%22&q=%22avete+vos%22#search_anchor}}</ref>

A pesar de su popularidad en tiempos contemporáneos, dicha frase no se halla registrada en ningún otro documento histórico de Roma, por lo cual se ha cuestionado si existió alguna vez como un saludo típico. Más bien se trató de un caso aislado expresado por cautivos y criminales en tono desesperado que se hallaban condenados a la muerte, e incluso algunos historiadores romanos lo atribuyen al inusual indulto de la [[plebe]] que se le garantizaba a los supervivientes de la contienda naval.

== Fuente del material histórico ==
El texto original proviene de las obras de tres historiadores romanos, todos ellos nacidos tras los eventos del 52&nbsp;d.&nbsp;C. Suetonio (c.&nbsp;69–75 hasta después de 130, probablemente escribió alrededor del 121&nbsp;d.&nbsp;C.),<ref>Michael Grant (1979) Introducción a la edición Penguin Classics de ''La vida de los doce césares''</ref> y [[Dion Casio]] (aproximadamente 155-164 hasta después de 229, probablemente escribió alrededor del 200-22&nbsp;d.&nbsp;C.)<ref>{{cita web|url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/Introduction*.html|autor=Earnest Cary|año=1958|título=Introduction to the Loeb Classics edition of Dio's ''Roman History''}}</ref> escribieron cada uno sobre dicho suceso y citaron la frase. [[Tácito]] (c.&nbsp;56–117, escribió desde el 98 al 117)<ref>{{cita web|url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/Histories/Introduction*.html|año=1925–37|título=Introduction a la edición Loeb Classics de ''The Histories'' de Tácito}}</ref> menciona el evento pero no cita la frase.
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The first known record of the phrase is in the writings of Suetonius:
: Even when he was on the point of letting out the water from Lake Fucinus he gave a sham [i.e., mock] sea-fight first. But when the combatants cried out: "Hail, emperor, they who are about to die salute thee," he replied, "Or not" [''Sed cum proclamantibus naumachiariis: "Ave Imperator, Morituri te salutant!" respondisset: "Aut non"'' <ref name="Suetonius_text_and_translation">The [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Claudius*.html English translation] is stated to be a reproduction of the [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Claudius*.html#ref30 1914 Latin published text] from the [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/loeb/ Loeb Classical Library] of [[Harvard University]].</ref>], and after that all of them refused to fight, maintaining that they had been pardoned. Upon this he hesitated for some time about destroying them all with fire and sword, but at last leaping from his throne and running along the edge of the lake with his ridiculous tottering gait, he induced them to fight, partly by threats and partly by promises. At this performance a Sicilian and a Rhodian fleet engaged, each numbering twelve [[trireme]]s...<ref name="Suetonius_text_and_translation" />

The same incident is also 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:
: Claudius conceived the desire to exhibit a naval battle on a certain lake; so, after building a wooden wall around it and erecting stands, he assembled an enormous multitude. Claudius and Nero were arrayed in military garb, while Agrippina wore a beautiful [[chlamys]] woven with threads of gold, and the rest of the spectators whatever pleased their fancy. Those who were to take part in the sea-fight were condemned criminals, and each side had fifty ships, one part being styled "Rhodians" and the other "Sicilians." First they assembled in a single body and all together addressed Claudius in this fashion: "Hail, Emperor! We who are about to die salute thee [{{polytonic|χαῖρε, αὐτοκράτορ· οἱ ἀπολούμενοί σε ἀσπαζόμεθα}}]."<ref name="cassius" /> And when this in no wise availed to save them and they were ordered to fight just the same, they simply sailed through their opponents' lines, injuring each other as little as possible. This continued until they were forced to destroy one another.<ref>The [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/61*.html#60-33.3 English translation] is stated to be a reproduction of the 1925 published text from the [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/loeb/ Loeb Classical Library] of [[Harvard University]].</ref>

=== Source variations and interpretation ===
The [[Grammatical person|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 ({{polytonic|ἀσπαζόμεθα}}, meaning "we salute/greet"). Apart from this, the Latin and Greek expressions have the same meaning.

Claudius' response is stated in several sources as "''Avete vos!''" ("Fare you well!"), suggesting an act of favor. The earliest editions of ''De Vita Caeserum'' published in Rome in 1470 and Venice in 1471 used "''Avete vos''", but this version was still accepted in the nineteenth century, as can be seen in the Baumgarten-Crusius edition of 1816.<ref>{{Cita libro|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ueYAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA671#v=onepage&q=&f=false|title=C. Suetonii Tranquilli|año=1826}}</ref> Karl Ludwig Roth returned to the better quality manuscripts for his 1857 edition—chiefly the ninth-century ''Codex Memmianus'', the oldest known extant version of Suetonius' work<ref name="pike" /><ref>The ''Codex Memmianus'' was first recorded in the thirteenth century, but disappeared until the sixteenth century and received little attention until it was acquired by the Royal Library of Paris in 1706. The second oldest manuscript ''Gudianus 268'' was unknown to Roth.</ref>—and corrected Claudius' reported response to "''Aut non''".<ref name="pike" /> John C. Rolfe notes both responses, describing them as "one of Claudius' feeble jokes, which the combatants pretended to understand as meaning that they need not risk their lives in battle".<ref>{{Cita libro|nombre=John (translating Suetonius)| apellido=Rolfe |title=Suetonius, Volume 2|páginas=44 (footnotes)}}</ref> Donald Kyle describes it as a possible attempt at a witticism.<ref name="kyle">{{Cita libro|apellido=Kyle|nombre=Donald|title=Spectacles of death in ancient Rome |editorial=Routledge|año=2001|página=94|isbn=0-415-24842-6|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=1GYH63-fARUC&pg=PA94&lpg=PA94&dq=%22morituri+te+salutant%22+commodus&source=bl&ots=cauYF42a5g&sig=uIPtdT1EE0WpGAMV9cb2ybhYaJw&hl=en&ei=O8aYS8irNo754Abaofm7Ag&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CC0Q6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=%22morituri%20te%20salutant%22%20commodus&f=false}}</ref> Joseph Pike states in his notes on Roth's text:
<blockquote>
The reading 'Avete vos' is from the fifteenth century manuscripts and editions. In this case the emperor is simply returning the salutation. The literal meaning is, however, 'be well', 'be safe', or 'be sound', and the gladiators understood it as dismissing them.<ref name="pike" />
</blockquote>

Basil Kennett, writing in 1820, describes the "''Avete vos''" response as a cruel jest: "[W]hen they would gladly have interpreted it as an act of favour, and a grant of their lives, he soon gave them to understand that it proceeded from the contrary principle of barbarous cruelty, and insensibility."<ref name="kennett">{{Cita libro|apellido=Kennett|nombre=Basil|title=Romæ antiquæ notitia: or, The antiquities of Rome. (In two parts)|editorial=Stirling and Slade|año=1820|página=264|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=dgYMAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Avete+vos%22&source=gbs_navlinks_s}}</ref>

=== Cultural background ===
{{main|Claudius|Naumachia}}
[[Archivo:La naumaquia-Ulpiano Checa.JPG|thumb|left|250px|alt=Two ships collide in a flooded arena or stone-lined body of water, and their crew mingle in fight. The shorter boat is powered by oars, the taller by sails. The emperor and crowd look on.|''La Naumaquia'' (detail): an imaginative recreation by [[Ulpiano Checa]], first exhibited in Paris in  1894]]
Claudius, the fourth [[Roman Emperor]] of the [[Julio-Claudian dynasty]], ruled the [[Roman Empire]] following [[Caligula]]'s death in AD 41 until his death in AD 54. According to Suetonius, Claudius was extraordinarily fond of the games.<ref name="kyle" /><ref>Kyle (2001) also cites Suetonius ''Claudius'' 34.2 and Dio 60.13.4 on this point.</ref> He is said to have risen with the crowd after gladiatorial matches and given unrestrained praise to the fighters,<ref>Suetonius ''Claudius'' 12</ref> and he was criticized for not leaving the arena during the executions as was the custom among the noble classes. Claudius also presided over many new and original events. Soon after coming into power, Claudius instituted games to be held in honor of his father, [[Nero Claudius Drusus]], on the latter's birthday.<ref>Suetonius ''Claudius'' 11</ref> Annual games were also held in honor of his accession, and took place at the [[Praetor]]ian camp where Claudius had first been proclaimed emperor.<ref name="Suet">Suetonius ''Claudius'' 21</ref> Claudius celebrated the [[Secular games]]—a religious festival that had been revived by [[Augustus]]—to mark the 800th anniversary of the founding of Rome. He also on at least one occasion participated in a [[venatio|wild animal hunt]] himself according to [[Pliny the Elder]], setting out with the Praetorian cohorts to fight a [[killer whale]] which was trapped in the harbor of Ostia.<ref>[http://www.ostia-antica.org/~atexts/plinsen.htm Translation of Pliny's ''Historia Naturalis''] IX.14–15.</ref>

Public entertainments varied from combat between just two [[gladiator]]s, to large-scale events with potentially thousands of deaths. The [[naumachia]] (also called ''navalia proelia'' by the Romans) was one of the latter, a large-scale and bloody spectacular combative event taking place on many ships and held in large lakes or flooded arenas. [[Prisoners of war]] and criminals condemned to die were tasked with enacting naval battles [[public execution|to the death]] for public entertainment. Those selected were known as ''naumachiarii''.

Unlike gladiatorial combats, naumachiae were infrequently held—they were usually only called to celebrate notable events.<ref name="moore">{{Cita libro|apellido=Moore|nombre=Frank Gardner|title=The Roman's world|editorial=Biblo & Tannen Publishers|año=1936|páginas=153|isbn=0-8196-0155-1|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MgP4xdCPey4C&pg=PA153&lpg=PA153&dq=naumachia+infrequent&source=bl&ots=dxDkUpQiEK&sig=iz2d2QM8PgGrVgAj0w7nw4GO8q4&hl=en&ei=k32ZS9iGL5Of4gbznPi7Ag&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=naumachia%20infrequent&f=false}}</ref><ref name="leon">{{cite journal|title=Morituri Te Salutamus|apellido=Leon|nombre=H J|año=1939|pub-periódica=Transactions of the American Philological Association|volumen=70|páginas=45–50|url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/journals/TAPA/70/Morituri_Te_Salutamus*.html|fechaacceso=11 de marzo de 2010}} [http://www.jstor.org/pss/283074 JStor link]</ref> [[Julius Caesar]] held an event with 6,000 naumachiarii in the lesser Codeta, a marshy area by the [[Tiber]],<ref>{{Cita libro|apellido=Suetonius|title=Lives of the Caesars|editor=Catharine Edwards|editorial=[[Oxford University Press]], 2000|año=2000|páginas=302 note 20|isbn=0-19-283271-9|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=spjgeb-TvukC&dq=%22lesser+Codeta%22+tiber+caesar&source=gbs_navlinks_s}}</ref> to celebrate his fourth victory to be honored by [[Roman triumph|triumph]].<ref name="moore" /><ref>Suetonius, The Lives of the Caesars, Julius Caesar, 39.</ref> Cassius Dio writes of two naumachiae that Titus held during the [[Inaugural games of the Flavian Amphitheatre|inaugural games]] of the [[Colosseum|Flavian Amphitheater]], including an event of 3,000 men enacting a battle between the [[Athenian]]s and the [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracusans]];<ref>Cassius Dio 66.25</ref> and [[Domitian]] held a naumachia in which Dio reports "practically all the combatants and many of the spectators as well perished".<ref>Cassius Dio 67/8.</ref>

The naumachia called by Claudius celebrated the completion of a drainage work and agricultural [[land reclamation]] project at Italy's largest inland lake, [[Lake Fucino]], an 11&nbsp;mile (19&nbsp;km) long [[crater lake]]<ref>{{Cita libro|apellido=unknown|title=The earth upsets: (another terrestrial motion)|editorial=Waverley|año=1927|página=101|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=PcraAAAAMAAJ&q=%22ancient+crater+lake+2195%22&dq=%22ancient+crater+lake+2195%22&num=100&cd=1}}</ref> in the [[Apennine Mountains#Central Apennines|Central Apennine]] mountain range located around 50&nbsp;miles (80&nbsp;km) from [[Rome]]. The project, which took eleven years to complete and employed 30,000 men,<ref>Suetonius ''Claudius'' 20</ref> included the leveling of a hill top and the construction of a {{convert|3|mi|km|sing=on}} tunnel between the lake and the river [[Liri]] (Lat. ''Liris'').<ref name="annals tacitus">Tacitus, ''Annals'' 12.56 (''trans'' J. Jackson), Loeb Classical Library</ref> The tunnel has been described as "the greatest [[Roman engineering|Roman tunnel]]" (''[[Encyclopedia Americana]]'')<ref>{{Cita libro|title=Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 27|editorial=Scholastic Library Publishing|año=2005|página=224|isbn=0-7172-0138-4|url=http://books.google.com/books?cd=8&num=100&id=AQJHAAAAMAAJ&dq=size+lake+fucino+claudius&q=fucino+#search_anchor}}</ref> despite initially only achieving partial success,<ref>{{Cita libro|apellido=Bunch|coauthors=Hellemans|title=The history of science and technology: a browser's guide to the great discoveries, inventions, and the people who made them, from the dawn of time to today|editorial=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|año=2004|página=81 ("52 – 53 CE")|isbn=0-618-22123-9|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MlQ7NK9dw7IC&pg=PA81&dq=claudius+narcissus+fucino&num=100&cd=5#v=onepage&q=claudius%20narcissus%20fucino&f=false}}</ref><ref>{{Cita libro|apellido=Marsh|nombre=George Perkins|title=Man and nature|editorial=[[Harvard University Press]]|año=1965|página=301|isbn=0-674-54452-8|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=M6S69kTuWIoC&pg=PA301&dq=fucino+claudius+(%22partly+successful%22+OR+%22partially+successful%22+OR+%22failed+OR+failure+OR+collapse)&num=100&cd=21#v=onepage&q=fucino%20claudius%20%22temporary%20failure%22&f=false}}</ref> and was the longest such tunnel until the construction of [[Fréjus Rail Tunnel|that of Mont Cenis]] in 1876.<ref>{{Cita libro|apellido=Kirby|nombre=Richard Shelton|title=Engineering in history|editorial=Originally pub. McGraw-Hill|año=1956|páginas=76–77|isbn=0-486-26412-2|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=AVn_Sm56OCoC&dq=size+lake+fucino+claudius&lr=}}, republished 1990 by Courier Dover Publications.</ref> According to the ''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annals]]'' of Tacitus:
<blockquote>
in order that the impressive character of the work might be viewed by a larger number of visitants, a naval battle was arranged upon the lake itself, on the model of an earlier spectacle given by [[Augustus]] – though with light vessels and a smaller force [...]"<ref name="annals tacitus" />
</blockquote>
In a footnote to a 2008 publication of Tacitus' ''Annals'', it is noted that "such an amount of criminals [19,000 according to Tacitus and other sources] may probably represent the sweepings of the provinces as well as of Rome and Italy; but even on this supposition the number, as Friedländer remarks (ii, 324), is suggestive of iniquitous condemnations".

=== Description of the event by Tacitus ===
[[Archivo:Claudiusempereur.jpg|200px|right|thumb|alt=Marble torso of Claudius wearing a wreath and robe (pinned to the front of his right shoulder).|Claudius. Bust from the [[Naples National Archaeological Museum]] (''Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli''), inv. 6060.]]
According to Tacitus (writing around 50 years after the event):
<blockquote>
Claudius equipped [[trireme]]s, [[quadrireme]]s, and nineteen thousand combatants: the lists he surrounded with rafts, so as to leave no unauthorized points of escape, but reserved space enough in the centre to display the vigour of the rowing, the arts of the [[helmsman|helmsmen]], the [[impetus (mechanics)|impetus]] of the [[galleys]], and the usual incidents of an engagement. On the rafts were stationed companies and squadrons of the praetorian cohorts, covered by a breastwork from which to operate their [[catapult]]s and [[ballista]]e: the rest of the lake was occupied by marines with decked vessels. The shores, the hills, the mountain-crests, formed a kind of theatre, soon filled by an untold multitude, attracted from the neighbouring towns, and in part from the capital itself, by curiosity or by respect for the sovereign. He and [[Agrippina the Younger|Agrippina]] presided, the one in a gorgeous military cloak, the other – not far distant – in a Greek mantle of cloth of gold. The battle, though one of criminals [''sontes''], was contested with the spirit and courage of freemen; and, after much blood had flowed, the combatants were exempted from destruction [''occidioni''].<ref name="annals tacitus" />
</blockquote>
-->

== Equívocos ==
La única cita escrita al respecto de la época romana es en la obra de [[Suetonio|Suetonius]], las ''[[Vidas de los doce césares|De Vita Caesarum]]'', 5 (''Divus Claudius''), 21, 6. Pero el lema citado por Suetonio es ligeramente distinto de la frase anteriormente citada, es: "ave imperator, morituri te salutant!"<ref>[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Claudius*.html#ref29 Texto latino] y [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Claudius*.html#ref61 traducción al inglés] en [[LacusCurtius]]</ref> Y no es una invocación al [[Dictador (Antigua Roma)|dictador romano]] [[Julio César]] sino al [[emperador romano]] [[Claudio]]. Además, la apelación no provenía de los gladiadores, sino de los condenados a muerte que iban a participar en una [[naumaquia]] en la celebración del drenaje del lago [[Fucino]] en el año 52 y se dirigieron así, en esa ocasión única y especial, al emperador.

== Uso corriente ==
Actualmente la frase se usa en tono sarcástico o dramático cuando se va a emprender una acción de riesgo y de éxito incierto.

== Véase también ==
* [[Locuciones latinas]]

== Referencias ==
{{listaref}}

{{Control de autoridades}}
[[Categoría:Frases y citas latinas]]