As in these Rome - To Die Among Strangers lyrics:
the whores of rome and the kings of france
have tried to brave my fire
now the snakes curl up, the curtains part
will you try to brave my fire?
and
keep your treason brittle as glass
you could have been the first
could have been the last to brave my fire
I checked all the different meanings of brave in dictionary.com, but this sentence still hardly makes any sense to me... I can only guess. Thanks in advance!
Fire is being used as a metaphor for wrath or anger I think.
Brave my fire in this context means tempt my anger.
To put it in more colloquial terms he's saying "Come on if you think you are hard enough" do you dare to face my wrath.
I guess it could also mean passion so intense that it will burn you.
It's all poetic imagery really.
If you think about it one has to be pretty brave to stick their hand (for example) in an open flame, the flame here however is not an actual flame but it represents something else, probably some form of retribution.
I would interpret "fire" here in the sense of projectiles and "brave" in meaning 7 from dictionary.com: "to meet or face courageously". A soldier who charges at an enemy who is shooting at him is braving the enemy's fire.
"Brave" has a very long story.
The original root is from Greek "βάρβαρος" (barbaros). Βάρβαροι were the people whose language was unintelligible (Βάρβαροs is a well known example of Greek word of onomatopoeic origin) since all you could apparently grab was "bar-bar".
Although it obviously had a pejorative connotation, the main meaning however was simply "foreigner" (as in "non-Greek" of course).
Imported in Latin, the noun barbarus retained this meaning of "foreigner" (although remarkably for the Romans the Greeks were the only "non barbaric" foreigners ;-). In Late Latin however, the adjective, now contracted to "brabus", had the meanings of "savage", "courageous", "indomitable".
Studies about phonetic evolution from Late Latin to Medieval Italian have well documented1 how the plosive 'b' in intervocalic position nearly always evolved into a labiodental fricative 'v', caballum => cavallo (horse) and how the final "us" evolved into "o" (marius => mario, marcus => marco...).
Following these rules "brabus" evolved into "bravo".
In 14th century Italian, it then came to mean "flamboyant", "well dressed" or even "arrogant" as an adjective as well as "mercenary"2 as a noun.
However in modern Italian the meaning is "good at things" (Questo ragazzo è molto bravo in informatica).
During the Renaissance, French kings were obsessed with the conquest of Italy and their armies met the Italian armies on many occasions. When Italian soldiers were showing off in front of the enemy they companions would cheer "Bravo !!!" and congratulate each other.
So that the French interpreted the "Bravo" interjection in many ways: "noble", "courageous", "handsome", "arrogant". Eventually, only the main meaning of "fearless on the battlefield" remained3. Hence the French "bravoure".
One way soldiers would demonstrate "bravoure" in front of their fellow countrymen would be to expose their bare chest to the enemy line, daring them to fire.
Which in my view explains the metaphor "brave my fire" as Peter Taylor has rightly pointed out in his answer.
1: József Herman, Le Latin Vulgaire, 1967 - English Translation Roger Wright, Vulgar Latin, 1997.
2: Dictionnaire Historique de la Langue Française (Robert, 1993).
3: Of course we also interject "Bravo !" to express our admiration, even to female artists to the great surprise of Italians who would rather expect "Brava !".
It means, more or less, to "face my intensity".
It's just to bravely withstand when they pour their fire. And to keep standing without backing off or taking it personally. To keep along all good and bad of their enormous passion. Many are not capable to hang on. And the one tempting us to brave their fire is well aware of many not being capable. Which does not make them wrathfull at all. Just sad. Cause they have been disappointed many a times by those who promised they will stand but when the fire came they fleed. Such is the mankind.
This is something like to keep my fire alive and burning lighter. Like to through some logs or brushwood. Of course in this case there is not real fire. But some kind of internal one.
