De Oppresso Liber - Meaning

Meaning

It is US Army tradition that the phrase is Latin for "to free from oppression" or "to liberate the oppressed".

Liber means not "to free" but simply the adjective "free", which, in the masculine singular form here used, may be interpreted as a noun, meaning "a free man"; while "oppressus" is not "oppression" but "overwhelmed, overthrown, overpowered, crushed." "De oppresso" is in the ablative perfective passive participle meaning "having been surprised, oppressed, or put down", which offers the translation: (one/'royal' we) Free from having been oppressed. As it stands, the phrase might be translated "Out of the overthrown man, (comes/is made) the free man." (The structure resembles that of the motto "E pluribus unum": "Out of many, one.") Other translations, just as viable: "From a man caught, a man free," and "From the man seized, a man free.". A close, more properly worded motto for the common translation would therefore be: De Oppressione Liberare

The given translation however may have morphed over time to resemble a small portion of a famous St. Augustine quote:

The turbulent have to be corrected,
The faint-hearted cheered up,
The weak supported;
The Gospel's opponents need to be refuted,

Its insidious enemies guarded against;
The unlearned need to be taught,
The indolent stirred up,
The argumentative checked;

The proud must be put in their place,
The desperate set on their feet,
Those engaged in quarrels reconciled;
The needy have to be helped,

The oppressed to be liberated,
The good to be encouraged,
The bad to be tolerated;
All must be loved.

Corripiendi sunt inquieti,
pusillanimes consolandi,
infirmi suscipiendi,
contradicentes redarguendi,

insidiantes cavendi,
imperiti docendi,
desidiosi excitandi,
contentiosi cohibendi,

superbientes reprimendi,
desperantes erigendi,
litigantes pacandi,
inopes adiuvandi,

oppressi liberandi,
boni approbandi,
mali tolerandi,
omnes amandi.

Cf. Isaiah 1:17:

Learn to do well:
seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed
judge for the fatherless,
defend the widow.

discite benefacere
quaerite iudicium
subvenite oppresso
judicate pupillo
defendite viduam

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