Song of the Praetorians - Epic Roman Music

Music & vocals by Farya Faraji, lyrics by Demetrios Paraschos, with much help from my friend Luke of the Scorpio Martianus and polýMATHY channel. Please note that this isn't reconstructed ancient Roman music, only modern music with elements of Roman music and Roman instrumentation.

The Praetorians were the elite bodyguards of the Roman emperors, and were well known to be some of the greatest warriors of the empire too. Their role as bodyguards was often complicated by their participation in palace intrigues, and they sometimes killed the very man they were sworn to protect.

The instrumentation uses an ancient Greco-Roman lyre, aulos, drums, and ancient cymbals. The melody is written using both the ancient Phrygian and Dorian modes of Greco-Roman music theory of Antiquity.

Latin lyrics:
Tibi fidēlitātem jūrāmus,
Sumus tuī humilēs servī,
Et vīta nostra tibi pertinet,

Hostēs tuī corruent,
Nam gladiī nostrī ac scūta validī sunt, Memineris, Imperātor,
Sumus tuum scūtum,

Tuās pugnās gerimus, tē victōriam efficimus,
Nōn est Imperātor sine nōbis,
Haec numquam oblivīscāris, ō Caesar,

Clāmās fortiter,
Nōlī oblivīscī qui tē in sōlium posuerit,
Memineris, vīta tua nōbis pertinet,

Jacē super pavīmentum marmoreum, Caesar,
Nōn amplius purpureum indue,
Et marmoreum candidum in rubrum convertistī

English translation:
We pledge loyalty to you,
We are your humble servants,
And our lives belong to you,

Your enemies, they flee,
For our swords are sharp, our shields strong,
Remember, Emperor,
We are your shield,

We fight your wars, we make you victorious,
There is no Emperor without us,
Never forget this, oh Caesar,

You speak loudly Caesar, you are arrogant,
Do not forget who placed you on the throne,
Remember, your life belongs to us,

Lie on the marble floor, Caesar,
You wear purple no longer,
And vou have turned the white marble red.

[faryafaraji]

DISCLAIMER: I know that the comment section will be blitzkrieg-ed by people opposing the translation of "imperātor" as "emperor" and saying "actually imperātor didn't mean emperor it was a military office etc etc." The context of these lyrics clearly sets the song deep within the imperial era of Roman history. The history of Latin in ancient Rome stretches across 1000 years. Words change in meaning over such a long time. With such languages, we can't always say "this word meant that, " often, we have to clarify what it meant in which specific era.

Indeed, originally in the Republican era, imperātor didn't mean "emperor, " as we understand it, but by the time the Roman Empire falls, all the diverging dialects of Latin that are becoming fully fledged Romance languages now use this word to mean something akin to "monarch/king" like we do. We can do the math: clearly, as the Principate and Dominate eras went on, the word ended up being more and more closely associated to the person of the monarch of the state, to the point where by the end, its meaning had effectively changed. That is the natural evolution of languages, just like how "mean" meant poor people/peasants in Shakespeare's time, and now has gained a new meaning after a few centuries of gradual connotation change.

kk love you thx for reading byeee😘

Music & vocals by Farya Faraji, lyrics by Demetrios Paraschos, with much help from my friend Luke of the Scorpio Martianus and polýMATHY channel. Please note that this isn't reconstructed ancient Roman music, only modern music with elements of Roman music and Roman instrumentation.

The Praetorians were the elite bodyguards of the Roman emperors, and were well known to be some of the greatest warriors of the empire too. Their role as bodyguards was often complicated by their participation in palace intrigues, and they sometimes killed the very man they were sworn to protect.


The instrumentation uses an ancient Greco-Roman lyre, aulos, drums, and ancient cymbals. The melody is written using both the ancient Phrygian and Dorian modes of Greco-Roman music theory of Antiquity.

Latin lyrics:
Tibi fidēlitātem jūrāmus,
Sumus tuī humilēs servī,
Et vīta nostra tibi pertinet,

Hostēs tuī corruent,
Nam gladiī nostrī ac scūta validī sunt, Memineris, Imperātor,
Sumus tuum scūtum,

Tuās pugnās gerimus, tē victōriam efficimus,
Nōn est Imperātor sine nōbis,
Haec numquam oblivīscāris, ō Caesar,

Clāmās fortiter,
Nōlī oblivīscī qui tē in sōlium posuerit,
Memineris, vīta tua nōbis pertinet,

Jacē super pavīmentum marmoreum, Caesar,
Nōn amplius purpureum indue,
Et marmoreum candidum in rubrum convertistī

English translation:
We pledge loyalty to you,
We are your humble servants,
And our lives belong to you,

Your enemies, they flee,
For our swords are sharp, our shields strong,
Remember, Emperor,
We are your shield,

We fight your wars, we make you victorious,
There is no Emperor without us,
Never forget this, oh Caesar,

You speak loudly Caesar, you are arrogant,
Do not forget who placed you on the throne,
Remember, your life belongs to us,

Lie on the marble floor, Caesar,
You wear purple no longer,
And vou have turned the white marble red.

[YOUPIMatin]

We swear fidelity to you*

*Terms & conditions apply

[finnilebo]

What a nice Guard. I'm sure they're loyal to the emperor

[TetsuShima]

I love how the song perfectly represents the Praetorians' whole history, with the lyrics expressing at first blind loyalty, only to to end with "IF NO MONEY, GUTS OUT".
Pure and hard realism 👍

[aramyounis]

When the boy emperor refuses to pay each one of you 10, 000, 000, 000, 000 dinarius salary💀💀

[Noizzed]

Praetorian Guards when they see an unbetrayed emperor:

[TetsuShima]

Augustus: "I shall appoint the Praetorians as my personal guard. They sure will protect me and the following emperors with absolute loyalty..."

*Centuries later*
Praetorian Guards: "WHERE IS THE F*CKING MONEY, PERTINAX?"
Pertinax: "It's down there somewhere. Let me take another look..."
Praetorian Guards: *Plunge his head back into the Tiber*

[visegradi]

Man, this song slays just like the praetorians slayed Aurelian

[bigdaddy]

The last thing Gallienus heard before he truly stepped into Caesar‘s footsteps

[hambikv]

Imagine the faces of Caesars when they realize the most epic Roman songs are composed by an Iranian

[kingspore]

I swear, there was always feeling of something both admirable and terryfying about Praetorians...and Farya managed to put this feeling into this song and lyrics perfectly

[lucashofacker]

I love the contrast in this song. The "svmvs tvvm scvtvtm" line sounds so... honest, loyal (earnest?). And on the other hand you have "vita tva nobis pertinet" showing the absolute corruption of the praetorians.

[SirBolsón]

It's always a good day when Farya uploads a Roman video 😎

[nikolaosboukouvalas]

Me: Yo, pass the aux cord!
The Emperor: You better not murder me and sell the throne to the highest bidder!
Me: 0:22

[SirDailySuccesses]

Whenever a song is released by Farya, everyone’s day instantly becomes better.

[DomMarmelo]

Greetings from the Roman province of Lvsitania <3 loved the song

[indrast]

I love Latin and I love your songs, I am Greek so everything Roman related is part of my history and I really like it.
Great work once again brother.

[Ioustinianos_the_great]

Truly a song for those absolutely barbarous guards…

[justinianthegreat]

MORE!!!! MORE!!!! What an epic prequel to the Varangian piece you had but of course the Varangian Guard are the ones that the Praetorian Guards cannot be

[justinianthegreat]

Petition to put Epic Roman and Epic Byzantine music of Farya into one compilation because they're both Roman music.