Extremos Pudeat Rediisse: the old school motto and badge

Classical origins

The School’s original motto, Extremos Pudeat Rediisse, was taken from the great Roman epic poem, Virgil’s Aeneid, Book 5, verse 196.

Background to Book 5

Aeneas and the Trojans depart from Carthage and are forced by a violent storm to land near the tomb of Anchises (Aeneas’ father). As it is the anniversary of the death of his father, Aeneas calls an assembly and proclaims a solemn sacrifice at the tomb to be followed, on the ninth day, by contests in rowing, running, boxing and archery. In due time the ship race is held. There are four competitors - Mnestheus, Gyas, Sergestus and Cloanthus. Gyas at first takes the lead. Mnestheus and Sergestus contend for third position. Sergestus gets slightly ahead and Mnestheus urges his men to put forward all their efforts to avoid the disgrace of coming in last. Sergestus runs his ship aground, and Mnestheus overtakes Gyas. He, however, fails to overtake Cloanthus, whose prayers to the gods of the sea are answered.

Virgil, Aeneid V, 188-201:

at media socios incedens nave per ipsos

hortatur Mnestheus: “nunc, nunc insurgite remis,

Hectorei socii, Troiae quos sorte suprema

delegi comites; nunc illas promite viris,

nunc animos, quibus in Gaetulis Syrtibus usi

Ionioque mari Maleaeque sequacibus undis.

non iam prima peto Mnestheus neque vincere certo

(quamquam o! - sed superent quibus hoc, Neptune, dedisti);

extremos pudeat rediisse: hoc vincite, cives,

et prohibete nefas.’ olli certamine summo

procumbunt: vatis tremit ictibus aerea puppis

subtrahiturque solum, tum creber anhelitus artus

aridaque ora quatit, sudor fluit undique rivis.

attulit ipse viris optatum casus honorem...

 Virgil: The Aeneid (from the translation by W F Jackson Knight):

Meanwhile Mnestheus walked down his ship among the crew, encouraging them: ‘Rise to the oars! In! Out! You who were once the comrades of Hector! You whom I chose to be mine at Troy’s last fated hour! Show us now the strength and spirit which you showed in past perils, in the Gulf of African Syrtes, on the Ionian Sea, and amid Malea’s vengeful waves. I am not aiming at first place now. I, Mnestheus, am not striving for complete victory; and yet, I wish... ! But, Neptune, let those on whom your choice falls be the winners, whoever they are. Only may we be ashamed at the very thought of coming in last! Men, achieve just so much of victory and prevent that terrible reproach!’ The crew bent to it with supreme efforts. The bronze-plated ship quivered under their powerful strokes. The sea slipped past from under them. Sharp panting convulsed their limbs and parched mouths; sweat flowed in streams from them all. A mere accident brought the brave crew the honour for which they longed...

 The general intent of the verse appears to be that it is disgraceful to be content with less than one’s best (although in the context of the boat race the way of showing this was not coming in last).

Origins of the motto at SHS

The motto Extremos Pudeat Rediisse originated in 1900, when Mr W J Crompton, MA, at the request of the organisers, suggested it as a suitable motto for the 15th Annual Athletics Meeting, which was held on 24 August 1900. The honorary secretary of the Athletic Club, O A Diethelm, had this new motto printed across the invitation card.

Use as the School’s motto

The Wiedersehn history (page 40) notes that the verse gradually slipped into general use as the School’s motto until 1928. The earliest surviving instance of the motto’s use with a school badge is on the cover of the 23rd Annual Athletics Meeting held on 2 September 1908. It runs diagonally across a shield of ermines from the bottom left to the top right hand side.

The badge itself was designed by old boy Leslie John Hawkins (1898) who was one of the five winners of the Commonwealth flag design competition in 1901. As The Record of December 1918 explained:

When the idea of a School Shield was first mooted, Old Boys were asked to forward suitable designs. The one in use at present was considered the best, and was designed by an Old Boy, who won the prize for the best design for the Commonwealth flag.

The marks on the field represent purity, integrity, or something of that sort. As to the 'bar sinister,' it was thought that it looked better than the 'bar dexter,' since a school badge was thought of, and not some heraldic device.

The earliest recorded occurrence of the badge on the School Uniform is the photograph of the 1913 1st XV. Little is known of the colour of the uniforms at this time, but it is most likely that the blazers shown are of a maroon colour similar to the blazer of Harold Hardy (1922). The badge remained in general use, with the motto, until changes were considered in 1927.

Discontinuation of use

The first officially recorded suggestion of a change to the badge was made by the Badges Committee to the Union Committee Meeting of 26 October 1927. The recommendations included “(2) that the present motto be no longer used.” The clause was carried. At the next meeting, held on 30 November 1927, the Badges Committee recommended “(2) That the blazer badge as submitted be accepted with the motto “Veritate et Virtute” and “(3) That metal badges be the same.” The motion of Mr Peake, “that a meeting of the full Union be called, to whom the recommendations for the badge could be submitted,” was lost.

The Record of December 1927 (page 44) fleshes out these decisions:

The School badge and motto has been altered by the Union Committee after consultation with the old boys’ Union...

A new blazer pocket badge has been chosen. It consists of a shield shaped as that of the City of Sydney divided in two parts - the upper blue upon which the letters SHS are embroidered in chocolate, and the lower of chocolate with an open book embroidered thereon.

Above the shield is a gold crown, and below the shield a scroll with the motto:

“Veritate et Virtute”...

These will be the only badges allowed in future, and they will be available early next year.

Wiedersehn (pages 68-70) notes that the change was brought about because it was felt that the then current badge “had no heraldic significance.” (Even though the original designer to an extent eschewed heraldic significance in a school badge.) He also suggests that “these changes were well justified, in that the old badge and the old motto contained some anomalies whose origin cannot be traced.”

K J Andrews a member of staff not long after this time throws some light on the part of Headmaster, George Saxby in the process of change:

Shortly before the removal of the School to Moore Park, Saxby decided that the time was ripe to replace the old motto with a more appropriate one. He knew, of course, that the boys rendered it as "Last home lousy!" At his suggestion the School Union commissioned the secretary, Norman James, to design a new crest with a new motto. After considerable research Mr James designed the school badge as it is today. It was adopted by the Union in 1927 and it is usually accepted that the motto "Veritate et Virtute" was suggested by Mr Saxby.

On the matter of the “regrettable” translation “Last in Lousy” R H Matthews (SHS 1921-1925) wrote in a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald on 1 June 1973:

 Our headmaster, known to us as “Caesar” Smith, was a classical scholar, and was even known to use the regrettable Australian translation in a school assembly. He had a sense of humour.

 When I was in fifth year in 1925, Mr George Saxby became principal, and he was sufficiently scandalised to change the motto to “Veritate et Virtute.”

Mathews further recalls that as soon as Saxby announced that the new motto would be translated as “by truth and by virtue” “it was immediately translated by the whole school as “buy Truth and buy Beckett’s.” The Truth was a scurrilous Sydney Publication in the early days of the twentieth century and Beckett’s Budget was “a particularly scurrilous and pornographic publication” of the 1920s.

The School Song

The original School Song contained a very direct reference to the original motto:

The Spirit of our dear old School,
Upon our hearts its spell hath cast.
Her Motto proud shall be our rule
“Be ye ashamed to come in last”
“Be ye ashamed to come in last”

Wiedersehn (page 70) records that this school song, adopted in 1919, was abandoned as a  result  of  the  introduction  of the current motto in 1928.  The “negative” translation offered by this song no doubt contributed to the view of the motto at the time.

Opposition to the change

The introduction of the new motto was not greeted with universal acclaim as can be shown by the following passage from The Record of December 1928:

At a recent Union meeting a communication was received from the Old Boys which stated that they were opposed to the adoption of the new school motto. They contended that the tradition of the School in the past was bound up in the old motto, "Extremos pudeat redisse." This contention, however, was not unanimous amongst the Old Boys themselves. After a brief discussion, the School Union unanimously supported the motion that the present motto, "Veritate et Virtute," be retained.

The unanimous decision of the Union was due, no doubt, to the fact that the Headmaster personally supported the new motto.

Sir Bernard Sugerman (SHS 1917-1920), one time President of the Old Boys’ Union, writing to the Sydney Morning Herald on 5 June 1973, rather more scathingly referred to the new motto as a “wishy washy substitute, devised by the trite formula of taking two nouns... and joining them with an et.” In answer to claims made in his time, that the original motto “amounted to an arrogant assertion of undue competitiveness,” Sir Bernard Sugerman suggested that its intention was rather “to deprecate sloth and encourage the ideal of worthy achievement.”

Later use of the motto

The motto reappeared in 1933 contained in a variant of the original badge as a motif throughout the Jubilee Record. A similar variant may be seen on the foundation stone of the School which was set on 5 March 1927.

The Old Boys’ Union also adopted the new shield although without crown or book. No motto appears to have been retained originally. However, sometime in the 1970s, the original motto and variant of the original badge were adopted by the OBU for use on correspondence and other official documents, possibly at the insistence of the Mary Ann Street Old Boys (See, for example, the High Bulletin for February 1977). Sir Bernard Sugerman, writing in 1973, stated that the Union had always adhered to the original motto. The use of this badge was officially discontinued by the OBU in 1991. No mention was made of the use of any motto at the time, and no motto is currently used by the OBU.

The original motto also made a reappearance, without any badge, on the program of the 91st Annual Prize-Giving held on 11 March 1975 and has again appeared in 1993.

Finally, the motto was incorporated into the 2nd XI cricket cap in the early 1980s, being used on a scroll in place of the current motto.