Carthago delenda est " Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam " or " Ceterum autem censeo Carthaginem esse delendam " ( English : " Furthermore , ( moreover ) I consider that Carthage must be destroyed " ) often abbreviated to " Ceterum censeo " , " Carthago delenda est " , or " Delenda est Carthago " ( English : " Carthage must be destroyed " ) is a Latin oratorical phrase which was in popular use in the Roman Republic in the 2nd Century BC during the latter years of the Punic Wars against Carthage , by the party urging a foreign policy which sought to eliminate any further threat to the Roman Republic from its ancient rival Carthage , which had been defeated twice before and had a tendency after each defeat to rapidly rebuild its strength and engage in further warfare . It represented a policy of the extirpation of the enemies of Rome who engaged in aggression , and the rejection of the peace treaty as a means of ending conflict . The phrase was most famously uttered frequently and persistently almost to the point of absurdity by the Roman senator Cato the Elder ( 234 - 149 BC ) , as a part of his speeches . Grammatical analysis . The phrase employs the gerundive , a verbal adjective , of " deleo , delere , delevi , deletum " , " to destroy " , ( " delendus , - a , - um " ) . The future passive participle " delenda " ( meaning " to be destroyed " ) is then combined with the verb " sum " ( " to be " ) or parts thereof , adds an element of compulsion or necessity , yielding " is to be destroyed " , or , as it is more commonly rendered " must be destroyed " . This then forms a predicative adjective . This construction in Latin is known as the passive periphrastic . " Carthago , - inis " being a feminine noun , the feminine gender of the gerundive is applied . The fuller forms " Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam " or " Ceterum autem censeo Carthaginem esse delendam " use the so - called accusative and infinitive for the indirect statement . Historical background . Although the Romans were successful in the first two Punic Wars , as they vied for dominance with the seafaring Phoenician city - state of Carthage in North Africa ( modern day Tunisia ) , they suffered a number of humiliations and damaging reverses in the course of these engagements , especially at the Battle of Cannae ( 216 BC ) . This grew into an attitude of seeking vengeance and total victory , which was expressed by these phrases . The city of Carthage was indeed finally razed by the Roman general Scipio Aemilianus after the Third Battle of Carthage in 146 BC , and its entire remaining population was sold into slavery . It thus never again posed a threat to Rome , although the neighbouring town of Utica became powerful . The modern legend that the city was sown with salt reflects the perceived savagery of its destruction . Historical literary sources . Although no ancient source gives the phrase exactly as it is usually quoted in modern times ( either " Carthago delenda est " or the fuller " Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam " ) , according to several ancient sources the Roman statesman Cato the Elder frequently if not invariably ended his speeches in the Senate with a variant of this expression even when his speech had been totally unrelated to Roman foreign policy towards Carthage . The main ancient sources , all of which written at least 200 years after Cato ' s death , are : The evolution of the phrasing towards its modern forms has been considered by Silvia Thürlemann , in her article " Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam " in the journal " Gymnasium " 81 ( 1974 ) . Modern usage . A common modern use in order to emphasise to third parties the strength of one ' s opinion about a perceived necessary course of action is to add either at the beginning or the end of a statement the two opening words " " Ceterum censeo " . . . " The phrase is sometimes fully adapted in modern usage , as a learned reference to total warfare . In 1673 the English minister Anthony Ashley Cooper , 1st Earl of Shaftesbury revived the phrase in the form " Delenda est Carthago " in a famous speech before Parliament during the Third Anglo - Dutch War , comparing England to Rome and the Dutch Republic to Carthage . The pro - German radio station " Radio Paris " in occupied France between 1940 and 1944 had " England , like Carthage , shall be destroyed ! " as its slogan . Ben Klassen , the founder of the anti - Semitic Church of the Creator , adopted the phrase for his movement , modifying it to " Delenda est Judaica " , " Judaism must be destroyed " . The phrase was used as the title for Alan Wilkins ' 2007 play on the Third Punic War .