It is the cause which shatters or exalts the soldier’s strength; if there be no just cause behind him, shame dashes the weapons from his hands.
[Frangit et attollit uires in milite causa;
quae nisi iusta subest, excutit arma pudor.]Propertius (50–16 BC) Roman elegiac poet [Sextus Propertius]
Elegies, Book 4, Elegy 6, l. 51ff (4.6.51–52) [tr. Phillimore (1906)]
(Source)
Because of the corruption of the manuscripts of Propertius and speculating from internal references, some 19th Century scholars (e.g., Lachmann) argued for a different division of the elegies into books, thus the translations noted which instead label this as Book 5, Elegy 6.
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:It is the cause that fires the warrior's breast,
Let it be just, or shame will lower his crest.
[tr. Moore (1870), 5.6]The cause unnerves or nerves the soldier's might,
And shame disarms who strikes not for the right.
[tr. Cranstoun (1875), 5.6]With soldiers the cause they fight for raises or depresses their strength; if it is not just, shame makes them drop their arms.
[tr. Gantillon (1884), 5.6]'Tis his cause that makes or mars a soldier's strength. If the cause be not just, shame strikes the weapon from his hands.
[tr. Butler (Loeb) (1912)]If the cause is not just, men's hands will drop their weapons;
just cause can rally soldiers back to their ranks.
[tr. Carrier (1963)]It's the cause that breaks or exalts a soldier's strength;
If the cause is unjust, from his hand shame strikes his weapon.
[tr. Musker (1972)]It is his cause that makes or breaks a soldier's strength; unless his cause is just, shame dashes the weapons from his hand.
[tr. Goold (Loeb) (1990)]It is their cause that breaks or raises soldiers' strength;
If that is unjust, shame throws down their weapons.
[tr. Lee (1992)]The cause exalts or breaks a soldier’s strength: unless it is just, shame downs his weapons.
[tr. Kline (2001)]The cause men that men acclaim will force or limit courage:
shame will press their weapon down.
[tr. Holcombe (2009)]
