In vino veritas.
sub rosa
Deus lo vult
Verbum caro...
Rupertus, filius...
Da mi...
Fugaces labuntur anni...
Ave, Caesar...
Ave Stella Maris
There are probably more but I think that makes the point: there is a lot of Latin.
I am trying to make another point. However, back from the outing, I now have to go out for the evening so I will get back to you later about why it matters that all this Latin is correct.
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I noticed the bit of Latin you quoted from Pournelle/Stirling's THE PRINCE (probably from GO TELL THE SPARTANS). I was right to think Pournelle also sometimes used Latin.
And I have wondered if Poul Anderson personally knew Latin well enough to read and translate from it. Or did he have assistance from Classicists?
Sean
Sean,
AVE... is from the very end of PRINCE OF SPARTA.
In GO TELL THE SPARTANS, they say "Legio Patria Nostra" - The Legion is our Fatherland.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Darn! That's what I get for depending on my imperfect memory! I don't have THE PRINCE, rather, I have its contents in the original separate volumes: GO TELL THE SPARTANS and PRINCE OF SPARTA.
The motto "Legio Patria Nostra" is perfect for a true mercenary unit like Falkenberg's Legion. But one thing I noticed in reading these stories was how Col. Falkenberg was seeking a HOME for his men and their families. Preferably as part of the military forces of a state they could respect and which treated them with respect.
Sean
Sean:
Seeking a home was the original motivation of Colonel Hammer's men in David Drake's *Hammer's Slammers*. Specifically, Hammer himself had a home planet, Friesland (stories written years later call it Nieuw Friesland), and recruited troops with the promise that THEY would be allowed to settle there. When Friesland's government reneged on that deal, and in fact made plans to murder Hammer's soldiers en masse ... THAT was when he became truly a mercenary, not a Frisian army officer on detached duty. Though he brought his Slammers to Friesland in the end....
Pournelle wrote an introduction for the first collection of Slammers stories. He explicitly noted that in certain important ways, Hammer and Falkenberg were much alike.
"For all great captains there is the great temptation; for those who can lead men to Hell, there is the vision that they might lead them to Paradise. Hammer is no exception: but history records few examples of success.
"Of course Hammer knows that. All the great warrior captains have. But humility has never been a military virtue..."
— Jerry Pournelle, 1979
Kaor, DAVID!
Thanks for your comments! I've actually read some of the Hammer's Slammers stories, but not all of them, and not in "context." I do recall reading some where that Col. Falkenberg was a more successful mercenary commander than Col. Hammer. Because I think Falkenberg managed to find a home and a COUNTRY for his men.
Sean
Sean:
When Hammer took over Nieuw Friesland's government — helping a would-be dictator seize power, and then assassinating his employer and providing a rather more sane regime — the Slammers became the core of the planet's military. So he, too, gave his troops a country ... or rather, a world.
Kaor, DAVID!
So many stories I've not read! And Falkenberg's Legion settled on New Washington and Sparta, swearing allegiance to Lysander I. They, along with the remnants of the fallen Co-Dominium's Fleet, became the nucleus of the military of the soon to be First Empire of Man.
Sean
Kaor, DAVID!
I had another thought, Poul Anderson wrote a novel which features very prominently a real world mercenary unit, the Catalan Grand Company, which we see in ROGUE SWORD. They were originally Aragonese knights and soldiers hired by the Byzantine Emperor Andronicius around 1300 in the wars against the Turks pressing in on the Empire in Anatolia. FEARSOMELY able and fearless soldiers, they drove back the Turks and seem set to soon making their fortunes. HOWEVER, Andronicus reneged on his deal and betrayed them and murdered their leader. We see them in ROGUE SWORD vengefully and savagely ripping apart the Eastern Empire. It ended with the Grand Company conquering parts of Greece, which they and their descendants misruled for about 70 years.
One wonders how history might have turned out if Andronicus had honored his deal with the Grand Company and treated them justly. I think the original plan was to distribute grants of land to the Company in the parts of Anatolia wrested back from the Turks. Kinda like what Falkenberg and Hammer tried to do for their men.
Conclusion, if you hire mercenaries and if they are any good, HONOR every clause of any agreement you make with them. It's all right to bargain hard (they will respect you more for being tough), but never ever cheat them!
Sean
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