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Civis Romanus sum Look up civis romanus sum in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. The Latin phrase cīvis Rōmānus sum (Classical Latin: [ˈkiːwis roːˈmaːnus ˈsũː]; "I am (a) Roman citizen") is a phrase used in Cicero's In Verrem as a plea for the legal rights of a Roman citizen.[1] When travelling across the Roman Empire, safety was said to be guaranteed to anyone who declared, "civis Romanus sum". Paul the ApostleIn the New Testament book of Acts, chapter 22, Paul the Apostle, when imprisoned and on trial, claimed his right as a Roman citizen to be tried before Caesar, and the judicial process had to be suspended until he was taken to Rome:
Don Pacifico affairThe exchange was quoted by Lord Palmerston when called to explain his decision to blockade Greece during the Don Pacifico affair. In his speech in the Houses of Parliament on June 25, 1850, he claimed that every British subject in the world should be protected by the British Empire like a Roman citizen in the Roman Empire.[4][5] Charles SumnerCharles Sumner, an American senator from Massachusetts, related a similar phrase in his famous "The Crime Against Kansas" speech in 1856, stating "I fearlessly assert that the wrongs of much-abused Sicily...were small by the side of the wrongs of Kansas...where the cry "I am an American citizen" has been interposed in vain against outrage of every kind, even upon life itself".[6] John F. KennedyAmerican president John F. Kennedy used the phrase in 1963: "Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was 'civis Romanus sum'. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is 'Ich bin ein Berliner'."[7] In popular cultureA variation of the phrase is mentioned in an episode of The West Wing. In Season 1, Episode 3 ("A Proportional Response"), President Josiah Bartlet states, "Did you know that two thousand years ago, a Roman citizen could walk across the face of the known world, free of the fear of molestation? He could walk across the earth unharmed, cloaked only in the protection of the words 'Civis romanus' - 'I am a Roman citizen'. So great was the retribution of Rome, universally understood as certain, should any harm befall even one of its citizens." In Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett, part of the Discworld novel series, chief editor and founder of The Ankh Morpork Times William de Worde serves as a war correspondent, reporting on a war between Borogravia and its neighbours. He explains to a division of Borogravian soldiers the principle of 'Civis Ankhmorporkius sum' which allows him to not be classified as an enemy informant. See alsoReferences
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