To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire, and where they make a desert, they call it peace.

Close of chapter 30, Oxford Revised Translation | Loeb Classical Library edition | To plunder, butcher, steal, these things they misname empire: they make a desolation and they call it peace. | As translated by William Peterson | More colloquially: They rob, kill and plunder and deceivingly call it "Roman rule", and where they make a desert, they call it "peace". | This is a speech by the Caledonian chieftain Calgacus addressing assembled warriors about Rome's insatiable appetite for conquest and plunder. The chieftain's sentiment can be contrasted to "peace given to the world" which was frequently inscribed on Roman medals. The last part solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant (they make a desert, and call it peace) is often quoted alone. Lord Byron for instance uses the phrase (in English) as follows | Mark where his carnage and his conquests cease! He makes a solitude, and calls it — peace. | Lord Byron, Bride of Abydos (1813), Canto 2, stanza 20

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