Si vis pacem, para bellum is a Latin adage translated as "If you want peace, prepare for war." The phrase is adapted from a statement found in Roman author Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus's tract De Re Militari, in which the actual phrasing is Igitur qui desiderat pacem, præparet bellum. The idea which it conveys also appears in earlier works such as Plato's Nomoi (Laws). The phrase presents the insight that the conditions of peace are often preserved by a readiness to make war to defend said peace when the need arises.