Nec[34] cauponantes bellum, sed belligerantes
Ferro, non auro vitam cernamus utrique.
Vosne velit an me regnare era, quidve ferat Fors,
Virtute experiamur. Et hoc simul accipe dictum:
Quorum virtuti[35] belli fortuna pepercit,
Eorundem libertati me parcere certum est.
Dono, ducite, doque volentibus cum magnis dis.
Regalis sane et digna Aeacidarum genere sententia.
XII. This also I observe—that he who would properly have been called "a fighting enemy" (perduellis) was called "a guest" (hostis), thus relieving the ugliness of the fact by a softened expression; for "enemy" (hostis) meant to our ancestors what we now call "stranger" (peregrinus). This is proved by the usage in the Twelve Tables: "Or a day fixed for trial with a stranger" (hostis). And again: "Right of ownership is inalienable for ever in dealings with a stranger" (hostis). What can exceed such charity, when he with whom one is at war is called by so gentle a name? And yet long lapse of time has given that word a harsher meaning: for it has lost its signification of "stranger" and has taken on the technical connotation of "an enemy under arms."
Justice in war.