Liber means not "to free" but simply the adjective "free", which, in the masculine singular form here used, may be interpreted as a noun, meaning "a free man"; while "oppressus" is not "oppression" but "overwhelmed, overthrown, overpowered, crushed." As it stands, the phrase might be translated "Out of the overthrown man, (comes/is made) the free man." (The structure resembles that of the motto "pluribus unum" Other translations, just as viable: "From a man caught, a man free," and "From the man seized, a man free