Hiram And Solomon

"Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks."

To paraphrase Epsilon Korten:

Without Hiram's support and second-hand prestige, Solomon will be unable to hold his tribes together. The Philistines will take revenge. Monotheism will not survive. The Hebrew god will sink back into the pantheon.

Everard chips in:

That would eliminate much of Classical civilization. Judaism influenced philosophy and Greek and Roman historical events. No Christianity would mean no Western or Byzantine civilizations or their successors.

"'No telling what will arise instead.'" (p. 308)

Korten responds impatiently:

"'Yes, of course...'" (ibid.)

Impatience is warranted. Everard has no need to spell this out to Patrol colleagues but Korten cannot realize that Everard really speaks as he does for the benefit of Poul Anderson's readers.