quotes_aug12_2007.htm

…”Would a Spaniard”, she began, looking on the ground, “speak of his revenge till his revenge were ripe? No. Yet a man who loved a woman might threaten her in the hope that his threats might make her love him. Such things have been”…

This is from “Gloriana” in Rewards and Fairies.

Queen Elizabeth of England is trying to interpret a letter from Philip of Spain, in which he threatens her with a ‘destruction from the West’.

… ‘You can tell your mates that even in that place, at that time, hanging on the wet, weedy edge of death, our Bishop, a Christian, counselled me, a heathen, to stand by my fathers’ gods. I tell you now that a faith which takes care that every man shall keep faith, even though he may save his soul by breaking faith, is the faith for a man to believe in’…

This is from “The Conversion of St Wilfrid” in Rewards and Fairies.

Meon, a heathen king of the West Saxons, is urging his people to turn to Christianity.

…'”What would you have done” he said to me, “If I had not been here?”
“I should have killed that man,” I answered.
“Kill him now,” he said. “He will not move a limb.”
“No”, I said. “You’ve taken my men out of my command. I should only be your butcher if I killed him now.”…

This is from “A Centurion of the Thirtieth” in Puck of Pook’s Hill.

Parnesius, a newly promoted Centurion, is marching his first command north to the Great Wall. He has just been challenged by an insubordinate soldier, when they happen on Maximus, the would-be Emperor of Rome.