molon labe

{{short description|Classical Greek phrase meaning 'come and take [them]'}}

File:Geiger Richárd - görög népek 027 Leonidasz hírnököt küld Spártába hogy kitartanak.jpg of Leonidas I sending a messenger to the Spartans, 1900]]

{{Transliteration|grc|Molṑn labé}} ({{langx|grc|μολὼν λαβέ|label=Greek}}, {{Translation|"come and take [them]"}}) is a Greek phrase attributed to Leonidas I of Sparta during his written correspondence with Xerxes I of Persia on the eve of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. A classical expression of defiance, it is among the Laconic phrases reported by the Greek historian Plutarch,{{Cite book |last=Plutarch |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0196%3Achapter%3D51%3Asection%3D11 |title=Moralia 225D |work=Sayings of Spartans |language=el |quote=saying 11 |via=Perseus Project}} and is said to have been Leonidas's response to Xerxes's demand that the Spartan army lay down their weapons and surrender to the Persian army during the second Persian invasion of Greece.

Grammar

The phrase {{lang|grc-Latn|"molṑn labé"}} is in the Classical Greek of Plutarch, and does not necessarily reflect the Doric dialect that Leonidas would have used. The form {{lang|grc|ἔμολον}} is recorded in Doric as the aorist for {{lang|grc|εἷρπον}}, "to go, come".[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=ei%28%3Drpon&la=greek&can=ei%28%3Drpon0&prior=e(/rpw#lexicon {{lang|grc|ἕρπω}}] in Liddell & Scott, A Greek–English Lexicon (1940).

The classical pronunciation is {{IPA|[mo.lɔ᷆ːn la.bé]}}, the Modern Greek pronunciation {{IPA|[moˈlon laˈve]}}.{{efn|At the time of Plutarch, when the phrase was recorded, the pronunciation would have been somewhere between the classical and the modern, approximately {{IPA|[mo'loːn la'βe]}}.}}

The phrase is participial, and the translation would be "when you come, take it!" This use of the participle is known as the circumstantial participle in the grammar of classical Greek, i.e. the participle gives a circumstance (the coming) attendant on the main verb (the taking).Alston Hurd Chase and Henry Phillips Jr., A New Introduction to Greek ({{ISBN|978-0196111704}}), Lesson 21. It is a form of hypotaxis, where English would use parataxis, the conjunction of two verbs, "come and take". This construction normally (but not always) occurs within narrative literature.Daniel Wallace (1996), Greek Grammar beyond the Basics, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, pp. 640–645.

The first word, {{lang|grc|μολών}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|molṓn}}, "having come"), is the aorist active participle (masculine, nominative, singular) of the Greek verb {{lang|grc|βλώσκω}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|blṓskō}}, "to come").[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dblw%2Fskw {{lang|grc|βλώσκω}}] at Liddell & Scott, A Greek–English Lexicon (1940).

The aorist stem is {{lang|grc|μολ-}} (the present stem in {{lang|grc|βλώ-}} being the regular reflex of {{lang|grc|μλώ-}}, from a verbal root reconstructed as {{lang|grc-Latn|*melə-}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|*mlō-}}, "to appear"Pokorny (1959), p. 721f.). The aorist participle is used in cases where an action has been completed, also called the perfective aspect. This is a nuance indicating that the first action (the coming) must precede the second (the taking).

The second word, {{lang|grc|λαβέ}}, is the second person singular aorist imperative of {{lang|grc|λαμβάνω}} "take; grasp, seize". The entire phrase is thus in the singular, i.e. Leonidas is depicted as addressing Xerxes personally, not the Persian army as a group.

Origin

Plutarch cites the phrase in his {{lang|grc|Apophthegmata Laconica}} ("Sayings of Spartans"). The exchange between Leonidas and Xerxes occurs in writing, on the eve of the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC):

{{verse translation|language=grc|italicsoff=yes|πάλιν δὲ τοῦ Ξέρξου γράψαντος 'πέμψον τὰ ὅπλα,' ἀντέγραψε 'μολὼν λαβέ.'

|When Xerxes wrote again, 'Hand over your arms,' he wrote in reply, 'Come and take them.'

|attr2=trans. Frank Cole Babbitt, 1931}}

The exchange is cited in a collection of sayings by Leonidas before the Battle of Thermopylae (51.2–15).

The main source for the events of the battle is Herodotus. According to his account, the Spartans held Thermopylae for three days, and although ultimately defeated, they inflicted serious damage on the Persian army. Most importantly, this delayed the Persians' progress to Athens, providing sufficient time for the city's evacuation to the island of Salamis. Though a tactical defeat, Thermopylae served as a strategic and moral victory, inspiring the Greek forces to defeat the Persians at the Battle of Salamis later the same year and the Battle of Plataea one year later.

Modern usage

=Greece=

Modern use of {{lang|grc|'ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ'}} as a military motto appears to originate in the Kingdom of Greece during the First World War or the Greco-Turkish War.{{citation | title = {{lang|el|Η Δίκη των Εξ (τα εστενογραφημένα πρακτικά)}} | trans-title = Trial of the Six official transcript | publisher = {{lang|el|Πρωία}} newspaper | year = 1922 | page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=LPKmBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA213 213]}} The motto was on the emblem of the I Army Corps of Greece. The phrase was inscribed on the Thermopylae monument (1955), using an archaic script that would be appropriate for the time of the Persian Wars.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

During the Cyprus Emergency, EOKA commander Grigoris Afxentiou was surrounded by British Army troops in his secret hideout near the Machairas Monastery on 3 March 1957.Grivas Memoirs (1964), p. 111 The British demanded he surrender his weapons, and Afxentiou shouted {{lang|grc-Latn|molon labe}} in reply. After he killed a corporal of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment with his submachine gun, the Royal Engineers poured petrol into his hideout and set it on fire, killing Afxentiou.Charles Foley (ed.), The Memoirs of General Grivas, Longmans, London (1964), p. 111.

=United States=

File:SIG-Sauer 1911 Spartan.jpg "Spartan" semi-automatic pistol in the United States, 2015]]

Allusion to the phrase in an English translation ("come and take it!") is recorded in the context of the Revolutionary War, noted in 1778 at Fort Morris in the Province of Georgia, and later in 1835 at the Battle of Gonzales during the Texas Revolution where it became a prevalent slogan.{{Cite web |title=Fort Morris State Historic Site |url=http://www.exploregeorgia.org/listing/1796-fort-morris-state-historic-site |access-date=15 August 2018 |publisher=Georgia Department of Economic Development}}

Use of the classical Greek See paragraph Grammar above in the United States is more recent. Its use by militia organizations is reported for the 1990s or early 2000s.{{cite book |first=Scott |last=Barry |title=A Series of Documents |year=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3A7PDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA78 |page=78 |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=978-1678111519}} It is the motto of the Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT).{{Cite web |title=SOCCENT Leaders |url=https://www.socom.mil/soccent/Pages/Leaders.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815023433/https://www.socom.mil/soccent/Pages/Leaders.aspx |archive-date=15 August 2021 |access-date=17 September 2021 |website=US Special Operations Command Central}}

In the United States, the original Greek phrase and its English translation are often heard as a defense of the right to keep and bear arms and opposition to gun control legislation.{{Cite magazine |last=Bateman |first=Robert |url=https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a31392/the-nra-molon-labe-redux/ |title=The NRA Molon Labe Redux |date=14 November 2014 |magazine=Esquire |access-date=22 January 2021}}{{Cite web |date=2015-10-02 |title=The Meaning Behind Molon Labe, a Favored Gun Rights Slogan of Oregon Sheriff John Hanlin |url=https://www.thetrace.org/2015/10/oregon-sheriff-molon-labe-sandy-hook/ |access-date=2021-08-02 |website=The Trace |language=en-us}}