"To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire; and where they make a wilderness, they call it peace"

Tacitus’ words deliver a scathing critique of the methods and rhetoric often used by imperial powers to justify their dominion and expansion. He exposes the hypocrisy behind the claims of civilization, order, and peace voiced by conquerors, highlighting a brutal reality masked by lofty language. Plundering, slaughtering, and stealing, in Tacitus’ analysis, are not unfortunate side effects or occasional excesses but central, defining rituals of empire itself, direct actions rebranded with terms like “law,” “peace,” and “civilization.”

By confronting the disconnect between imperial self-presentation and violent practice, Tacitus challenges the moral legitimacy of empire. The phrase “they misname empire” points to a deliberate effort to disguise aggression and exploitation as noble governance. Empire, to those in power, is not simply the extension of administration or culture. It functions as a cloak for violent subjugation and systematic theft, all carried out under the pretense of spreading order and prosperity.

The most powerful indictment lies in the observation, “where they make a wilderness, they call it peace.” Tacitus draws attention to a perverse inversion: true peace is not the harmonious coexistence of peoples but rather the silence that follows devastation. The so-called “order” secured by imperial conquest is not one of flourishing societies or protected lives but rather the bleak stillness left when resistance is extinguished and populations decimated. This “wilderness” is both literal and figurative, a landscape ruined by war and a cultural, moral emptiness installed by conquest.

Ultimately, Tacitus warns of the dangers inherent when powerful states equate domination with virtue and justify atrocity as progress. His observation serves as a universal, timeless caution, urging societies to look beyond official narratives and question who benefits from the “peace” proclaimed by empires, and at what irrevocable cost it is imposed.