Alliteration And Humanity

"How grossly ungrateful, no glory goes ever
"To us who do also face anger-swung edges,
"That tales of the deeds may be talked of in towns,
"We careful recorders, we war correspondents..."
- Poul Anderson and Gordon R Dickson, Star Prince Charlie (New York, 1976), p. 154.

Awesome, amazing and astonishing alliteration, even involving internal letters and sounds.

Line 1: 4 g's and 4 r's, including 2 gr's, and 2 s sounds.
Line 2: 5 s sounds and 1 rhyme.
Line 3: 4 t's and 3 s's.
Line 4: 3 w's, including 2 we's, 3 c's, 6 r sounds and 2 s's.

Again, the text transcends humor when Charlie realizes that, "...regardless of biology..." (p. 150),  the comical New Lemurians are intelligent, sensitive, brave and basically decent, therefore are men and women with human rights. As it happens, his interstellar civilization, the Interbeing League, already recognizes this, which is precisely why there is a rule of non-interference that Charlie has been drawn into transgressing - although, as someone asked about Star Trek, if they do not interfere, then how can there be a story?

"In spite of his growing distrust of Dzenko, Charlie had to admire the noble. Calm and self-possessed, he went about his work as if it were routine, not a clash which would decide the fate of the kingdom and his own life or death." (p. 149)

We know that Dzenko's motives are far from disinterested. Thus, some of what I am about to write is not applicable. Nevertheless, in his conduct of the battle, Dzenko sounds like a karma yogi (one who controls thought though action) as described to Arjuna by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita:

do your duty;

attend fully to each task, undistracted either by desire for success and praise or by fear of failure and blame;

if you are a theist, then offer each act to God (laborare est orare, to work is to pray), although Buddhists may also practice "working meditation."

One hero of the Roman Republic, summoned by the Senate to lead an army, left his farm, led the army to victory, reported back to the Senate, then returned to his farm. He did not make the mistake of Marius who went disastrously into politics on the strength of having been successful as a general. That Republican hero, whose name I forget, sounds like a Pagan karma yogi.

Meanwhile, back to Star Prince Charlie's predicament, we expect some treachery from Dzenko before the end of the novel. When he has become king, he will no longer need the Prince of the Prophecy.