Greek and Roman
A Dream of Death; a Life of Sorrow
“Gabriotto did not reply, but simply lay there gasping for breath and perspiring all over, and shortly thereafter he gave up the ghost.” […]
14th Century AD
Human Affairs
The Way of the Mongol
“In case of need, they will ride a good ten days’ journey without provision and without making a fire, living only on the blood of their horses; for every rider pierces a vein of his horse and drinks the blood.” […]
Viking
An Embar-ass-ing Setback
“Then, just as King Adils was pulling the spear shaft with the ring on it back towards him, King Hrolf galloped up and sliced off both his buttocks right down to the bone.” […]
Human Affairs
The Arrogance of Metalworkers
” The king bade them do so, and they then made a knife and brought it to the king. He tried it on his beard, and took off the beard as well as the skin, so that it took hold in the flesh.” […]
Britons and Celts
A Patriot’s Vision of his Homeland
“Numberless springs also well up, and burst forth from the hills and the sloping ridges of the mountains, and, trickling down with sweetest sound, in crystal rivulets between flowery banks, flow together through the level vales, and give birth to many streams; and these again to large rivers, in which Scotia marvelously abounds, beyond any other country.” […]
Greek and Roman
Totally Normal Behavior
“Then she wrapped the head in a piece of rich cloth, and laid it in a large and elegant pot, of the sort in which she planted several springs of the finest Salernitan basil.” […]
History
To Defy a Khan
“Never in our time were so many men engaged on one battlefield, especially so many horsemen. So many died on either side that it was a marvel to behold.” […]
Viking
Two Against One and the Odds are Even
“Thorbjorn rushed forward and swung a blow at Grettir, who drew his buckler with his left hand to parry it, then thrust out with his sword, splitting Thorbjorn’s shield and striking him such a blow on the head that his brains spilled out and he fell down dead on the spot.” […]
Greek and Roman
The Pharaoh’s Losses
“One thousand and five hundred years, and seventy, less one,
Before the birth, as I have found, of God’s incarnate Son,
Was Pharaoh, following the Jews, in the Red Sea Undone” […]
Human Affairs
Medieval Labor Relations
” One morning he went off with Atli’s farmhands and worked like a man with a thousand hands. Ali kept this up through the summer. Atli ignored him, but had him fed because he approved of the work he was doing.” […]