- English translation
Once someone lays down his arms, it is wrong to take his life.
- Literal wording
Whoever hands over his weapon, his killing becomes forbidden.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying holds that surrender changes the moral situation. When an adversary stops fighting and gives up the means of resistance, whether by handing over or surrendering a weapon, the victor loses any right to strike them down. Attacking someone who has submitted is treated as forbidden, a moral expectation of restraint rather than a specific legal or religious ruling.
Beyond the battlefield, the expression serves as a call for mercy toward anyone who has yielded. Whoever drops their opposition and accepts terms should be left unharmed. It reminds the stronger party that pursuing a beaten opponent turns justified conflict into needless cruelty, and that submission earns protection.
- When it is used
Suitable when urging someone to stop punishing or pressing an opponent who has already given in, whether in a literal fight or a quarrel, rivalry, or dispute where the other side has conceded and stopped resisting.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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