# sic semper tyrannis

idiom · CEFR C2 · Formal

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/sic-semper-tyrannis
Updated: 2026-08-03

## Meaning

Thus always to tyrants — a slogan claiming that oppressors get what is coming to them.

## Examples

- The banner over the crowd read "Sic semper tyrannis".
- When the dictator's statue came down, someone had already painted sic semper tyrannis across the empty plinth.
- The historian traced the slogan from the Roman Republic to the Virginia state seal and finally to Ford's Theatre, arguing that sic semper tyrannis has always flattered the person shouting it more than it has described the person it names.

## Origin

Sic semper tyrannis means "thus always to tyrants" — that is, this is how tyrants always end. Tradition puts the words in Brutus's mouth at Caesar's assassination, though no Roman source records them, and the Latin is almost certainly later. What is Roman is the sentiment: the Republic's founding story was the expulsion of a king, and killing a would-be one was framed as a civic duty rather than a murder. The phrase was revived by republicans who read their Livy. Virginia adopted it as a state motto in 1776, with a seal showing Virtue standing over a fallen tyrant. Its most notorious outing came in 1865, when John Wilkes Booth shouted it after shooting Abraham Lincoln — a use that sits over the phrase permanently, and a demonstration of how easily "tyrant" is applied by whoever is holding the weapon. (disputed)

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.