Veni, Vedi, Vici, what does this song mean????????

[Youpidou1]

Originally Posted by espire

Veni, Vidi, Vici. It indeed does mean "I came, I saw, I conquered."

It was originally coined by Julius Caesar after a major victory, and quoted by Napoleon Bonaparte after one of his victories. This song likely had something to do with both Alizée and Napoleon being Corsicans.

So Alizée basically wrote it because Napoleon was from Corsica? I must say writing about history is really cool, I don't recall the last artist I herd who wrote about past times and about a leader and who sung it so beautifully.

[INDUSTRIAL]

Originally Posted by espire

Veni, Vidi, Vici. It indeed does mean "I came, I saw, I conquered."

It was originally coined by Julius Caesar after a major victory, and quoted by Napoleon Bonaparte after one of his victories. This song likely had something to do with both Alizée and Napoleon being Corsicans.

You sure?
I never heard Napoleon said it.

[espire]

Originally Posted by Youpidou1

So Alizée basically wrote it because Napoleon was from Corsica? I must say writing about history is really cool, I don't recall the last artist I herd who wrote about past times and about a leader and who sung it so beautifully.

I definitely don't know for sure. Alizée didn't write the songs, Mylène Farmer did, but Alizée had some amount of input on the content expressed in the songs. I can suspect that there is some relation between the song being about an expression partly made famous by Napoleon and the shared birthplace. I doubt that the song is all about Napoleon, though.

Originally Posted by INDUSTRIAL

You sure?
I never heard Napoleon said it.

He did.

[Deepwaters]

Originally Posted by Youpidou1

So Alizée basically wrote it because Napoleon was from Corsica?

Alizée didn't write it, she just sang it. Mylène Farmer wrote it. I've been reading over the lyrics, which on the surface look a bit banal. But with Mylène, there's never just one meaning.

Mylène wrote another historical song for Alizée, Tempeste, which is definitely about Napoléon. Industrial has an interesting idea about VVV being about Caesar and Cleopatra, but it's not obvious from the lyrics that that's true.

[Youpidou1]

Originally Posted by espire

I definitely don't know for sure. Alizée didn't write the songs, Mylène Farmer did, but Alizée had some amount of input on the content expressed in the songs. I can suspect that there is some relation between the song being about an expression partly made famous by Napoleon and the shared birthplace. I doubt that the song is all about Napoleon, though.



He did.

Originally Posted by Deepwaters

Alizée didn't write it, she just sang it. Mylène Farmer wrote it. I've been reading over the lyrics, which on the surface look a bit banal. But with Mylène, there's never just one meaning.

Mylène wrote another historical song for Alizée, Tempeste, which is definitely about Napoléon. Industrial has an interesting idea about VVV being about Caesar and Cleopatra, but it's not obvious from the lyrics that that's true.

Right right I knew that I just meant it was written because they were both from Corsica, I will elaborate next time. Sorry.

[espire]

Never apologize for wanting to know more, Youpidou1. There is much dignity in a question, far more than what most people think.

[ajaccio corsica]

hi
the "conquest" of gauls wasn't that hard, it took about 30 years for the romans to control the whole country, caesar wrote his book to celebrate his own glory
most of the french didn't resist, vercingetorix's resistance was nothing more than a small rebellion
"courageous gauls" resisting the roman invasion is a myth invented by the french to promote patriotism
it took about 100 years for the romans to control 2 cities on the east coast of corsica aleria & mariana but it was very unsafe, that's why there aren't any huge roman ruins here
I found this video on youtube, it's pretty cool
<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ct8KEYjVn00&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ct8KEYjVn00&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
cheers

[Deepwaters]

I do love that video AC.

Have to differ with you about the difficulty of conquering Gaul, though. Vercingetorix was only the main unified uprising by the Gauls, who normally fought among themselves all the time. What was special about him was that they elected a high king and fought as one army. But before and after his uprising, Caesar was dealing with smaller-scale uprisings that wiped out several legions and resulted in over a million Gallic deaths.

I read his Commentaries in my Latin class years ago. ("Gallia est omnes divisa in partes tres, quorum unum incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appelantur.") I also went over archaeological evidence because I was interested in the period and especially in Caesar himself. I'm sure he glossed over and exaggerated a few things, but the incredible wall construction at Alesia was real, and the size of the armies opposing him wasn't much exaggerated if any. Remember the Gauls centuries earlier had actually sacked Rome, or maybe been paid off not to. And they had invaded and conquered what is now northern Italy. They weren't trivial opponents.

As for Corsica, all the Romans wanted it for was the seaports. It's not a good grain-growing land, and they had Sicily and Sardinia for that which are much better. But those ports are nicely placed between Italy and Spain. The Romans were never very good mariners, so they needed all the ports they could get.

[ajaccio corsica]

hi
corsicans were classified "barbarii" by romans
history reminds that a roman general was captured by locals after a battle, prisoners were generally released after the governor in aleria paid for this, they were also asked to never fight corsicans again before being released
however the corsican chief said to him: go back to rome and tell your emperor you lost the battle
the general accepted but he already knew what would happen to him: the emperor asked him to commit suicide
here's an interesting site about the history of the island, with some parts in english
http://www.storiacorsa.com/main.php?...ere=0&idPere=3
cheers

[Deepwaters]

Originally Posted by ajaccio corsica

hi
corsicans were classified "barbarii" by romans

They called most people barbarians. They considered themselves and the Greeks civilized, and maybe a few other people in the East. Of course, the Greeks took it one step further and called the Romans barbarians, too.

Thanks for the link! Here's an interesting passage from it:

Auguste érige la Corse en province impériale, avec un procurateur qui réside à Alalia, devenue Aléria. L'île est colonie de peuplement: Marius y donne des terres à ses vétérans, près d'une ville qui prend son nom Mariana.

Sylla a établi ses légionnaires à Aléria. Puis viennent des Bataves, des Gaulois, des Germains, qui font choix de l'île pour leur retraite. Les insulaires les plus farouches ne peuvent rester insensibles à six ou huit siècles d'occupation. Leurs coutûmes composent avec les principes des juristes latins.

Leur langue même s'efface: Sénèque, qui entend jargonner autour de lui, croit déceler "un mélange confus de latin, de Cantabre, de ligure et de grec". Autant dire qu'il n'y comprend rien, tout en décelant la part grandissante du vocabulaire romain.

Les Corses se mettent à parler l'argot bas latin du soldat occupant. Leurs toponymes, qui gardent parfois la marque de radicaux pre-indoeuropeens (Cargèse, les Calanches, Polasca...) font la plus large place aux racines latines (Castagniccia, Figari. Oliveto, Vivario, Corbara...).

"Augustus made Corsica an imperial province, with a governor residing at Alalia, now Aléria. The island is a colony of peoples: Marius gave land there to his veterans, near a town which took his name: Mariana.

Sulla based his legions at Aléria. They came from the Batavians, the Gauls, the Germans, who chose the island for their retirement. Even the most savage islanders could not remain unaffected by six or eight centuries of occupation. Their customs conformed with the principles of Latin law.

Even their language faded away: Seneca, who heard it spoken around him, is believed to have discovered it to be "a confused mix of Latin, Cantabrian, Ligurian, and Greek." Which is as much as to say that he understood nothing there, while detecting the growing Roman vocabulary.

The Corsicans began to speak the low Latin argot of the occupying soldiers. Their toponyms, which they took sometimes from pre-Indo-European roots (Cargèse, Calanches, Polaska ...) made way for Latin influences (Castagniccia, Figari, Oliveto, Vivario, Corbara ...)"

Edit:

More thoughts on this song. Whether it's about Caesar and Cleopatra or not, obviously it relates to both Caesar and Napoléon. The parallels between those two men are pretty obvious, aren't they? Both great generals and politicians, both took autocratic control of a country governed by a collapsing republic, both left lasting legacies of law and government structures, both were cut down in their prime. Both represented the paradox of a dictator championing freedom and democracy.

Mylène wrote these lyrics, but Alizée is closer by birth to Napoléon, and hence because of the parallels to Caesar, than Mylène. So I wonder if the inspiration for VVV and for Tempete came from Alizée rather than from Mylène. Her emotion when singing Tempete in concert is amazing. I wonder how she sees herself in relation to Napoléon, or Caesar for that matter.