JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — After years in and out of court during a difficult divorce settlement, the State of North Carolina has taken everything from a guy with the words “molon labe” tattooed across his back.

“They came and they took it all,” said former Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Jeff Fowler as tears streamed down his face. “My guns, my house, my money, my kids, my dignity. Everything I hold dear in this world, they came and they took it.”

The words molon labe, translated roughly as “come and take them,” purportedly were uttered by the Spartan king Leonidas to the invading Persian king Xerxes as a sign of defiance. Fowler had the words tattooed across his back in the hopes that they would keep at bay all enemies who dared tell him to surrender his property and weapons.