Translation: "May it ever thus be to tyrants; Thus always to tyrants."

Sic semper tyrannis is the motto of the State of Virginia, U.S.A.

There are some who say these words were shouted by John Wilkes Booth as he leaped to the stage after shooting President Abraham Lincoln. Other witnesses thought he said something else, for example it is said that he added, "The South is avenged."