Greek and Roman
Zeus’ Wrath
“He paid the penalty of his arrogance towards the gods, since he was slain by a stroke of lightning and his entire house was submerged in the Alban lake.” […]
Articles by Saxo
Britons and Celts
Not Built to Turn the Other Cheek
“But Wallace quickly brought the rascal back,
And there give him the whistle of his plack.
Along his ribs he gave him such a rout,
Till all his entrails and his lungs hung out;” […]
Humor
When Wooing Goes Wrong
“When the last of the men had left, the queen got up. She shaved off all his hair and smeared him with tar. Next, she took a leather sack made for sleeping and placed some clothes in it. After that she grabbed hold of the king and stuffed him into the sack. ” […]
Britons and Celts
The Death of Walter Raleigh
“He took a pipe of tobacco a little before he went to the scaffold, which some formal persons were scandalized at, but I think ‘twas well and properly done, to settle his spirits.” […]
Violence
Death with Honor
“Now, at the urging of King Attila, they seized Hogni and cut out his heart. Hogni’s strength was so immense that he laughed while he suffered this torture.” […]
Human Affairs
Curse of a Deadbeat Dad
– “How badly do you want your sword back?” said Thurid.
– “I’d much rather lose a fortune than my sword,” replied Geirmund.
– “Then you shall never have it back,” said Thurid. “You have treated us disgracefully, and you will never see me again.” […]
Britons and Celts
The Bishop of Battle
” Then Odo, the good priest, the bishop of Bayeux, galloped up, and said to them, ‘Stand fast! stand fast! be quiet and move not! fear nothing, for if God please, we shall conquer yet.'” […]
Britons and Celts
A Cat Tricks and is Tricked
“For the old Priest which was so tumbled among them that his face lay upon a boys bare ass, which belike was fallen headlong under him was so astonished; then when the boy (which for fear beshit himself) had raised his face, he neither felt nor smelt it nor removed from him.” […]
Greek and Roman
The Gullible Emperor
“But as he bowed his head and brought his mouth near to the mouth of one of the brothers, this one seized him firmly by the hair and the other brother cut off his head.” […]
Human Affairs
The Sex-Trap
” His wiliness (said these) would be most readily detected, if a fair woman were put in his way in some secluded place, who should provoke his mind to the temptations of love; all men’s natural temper being too blindly amorous to be artfully dissembled, and this passion being also too impetuous to be checked by cunning. ” […]