Odysseus' song, Book III, line 424
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)
Context: The worm stood straight on God's blood-splattered threshold then
and beat his drum, beat it again, and raised his throat:
'You've matched all well on earth, wine, women, bread, and song,
but why, you Murderer, must you slay our children? Why?'
God foamed with rage and raised his sword to pierce that throat,
but his old copper sword, my lads, stuck at the bone.
Then from his belt the worm drew his black-hilted sword,
rushed up and slew that old decrepit god in heaven!
And now, my gallant lads — I don't know when or how —
that worm's god-slaying sword has fallen into my hands;
I swear that from its topmost iron tip the blood still drips!
“I have been in the Place of the Gods and seen it! Now slay me, if it is the law — but still I know they were men.”
By the Waters of Babylon (1937)
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Stephen Vincent Benét 102
poet, short story writer, novelist 1898–1943Related quotes
No. 12, l. 1-4.
Last Poems http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/8lspm10.txt (1922)
Source: Redemption in Indigo (2010), Chapter 18 “A Spider in His Parlour and a Very Eager Fly” (p. 139)
“I don't know what effect these men will have on the enemy, but by God, they terrify me.”
Said to be his remarks on a draft of new troops sent to him in Spain (1809), as quoted in A New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles from Ancient and Modern Sources (1942) by H. L. Mencken, this quote is disputed, and may be derived from a comment made to Colonel Robert Torrens about some of his generals in a despatch (29 August 1810): "As Lord Chesterfield said of the generals of his day, "I only hope that when the enemy reads the list of their names, he trembles as I do."
Disputed
Book Three, Part I “Snake’s Road”, Chapter 2 (p. 323)
The Birthgrave (1975)
Shake Hands with the Devil (2003)
Source: Shake Hands With The Devil