Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

You come hither, my lord, to marry this lady?

Friar Francis

Much Ado About Nothing    Act IV, Scene i, Line 4

The answer to this question is a flat “No”.

This is the wedding scene. Claudio, the groom, has been fooled into believing that Hero, the bride, has been unfaithful to him. So he shows up for the wedding and when the priest asks him is he’s ready to marry, he says ‘no’. Then, somehow, the ceremony proceeds as if no one heard his answer, until twenty lines down he goes off into his speech about how Hero has cheated on him and how he wants nothing to do with her.

Give not this rotten orange to your friend;  he says to Hero’s father. He calls the bride a ‘rotten orange.’

How’s that!?

Okay, here's a Totally Random picture that has absolutely nothing to do with Today's Totally Random line; but I couldn't pass it up. 

Look at the shirt on this guy! He knows how to celebrate a holiday!

Bravo, Jon!

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Ah,  ha!—Come, some music! Come, the recorders!—

For if the king like not the comedy,

Why, then, belike,--he likes it not, perdy.--

Come, some music!

Hamlet

Hamlet               Act III, Scene ii, Line 311

 

The word perdy means assuredly. It’s a bastardization of the French per Dieu, or, per God. Anyway. 

This is the scene with the play within the play. Hamlet has had the visiting group of players (not the Cheshire Town Players) stage a play that had a scene which mimics how he believed that Claudius killed King Hamlet (Hamlet’s father). Claudius, upon watching the scene, has just stormed out, after which Hamlet concluded with Horatio that Claudius must indeed be guilty. And with this done, Hamlet says “Bring on the music.”

Interesting.

 

The scene…

Within the play…

With the players…

Staging a play…

That had a scene…

 

I believe the word is “confusing”, not “interesting”.

And I agree with Hamlet, just bring on the music.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

All this I see; and I see that the fashion wears out more apparel than the man. But art not thou thyself giddy with the fashion too, that thou hast shifted out of thy tale into telling me of the fashion?

Conrade

Much Ado About Nothing     Act III, Scene iii, Line 140

Conrade is speaking with his buddy Borachio. The latter is about to explain to Conrade how he was involved with the scheme to make Claudio think that his fiancé, Hero, was unfaithful to him. However, he begins the tale with this long winded thing about fashion. Honestly, it’s a bit much. It’s fashion this, and fashion that. I think there’s supposed to be humor here, but it’s a bit hard to flesh out; at least for me it is.

Anyway, it seems like Conrade is of the same mind as me since he seems to be telling Borachio just that, …thou hast shifted out of thy tale into telling me of the fashion.

In any event, Borachio apparently takes the hint, and after this line he goes into the tale of what he did concerning Hero.

Now that’s a funny name for a woman: Hero. Don’t you think?

 Oy! Mr. B.!

Are you trying to get us killed?

Maybe you could just let me drive, instead of distracting me with this nonsense? 

Hero, Shmero!

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Her hair, nor loose nor tied in formal plat,

Proclaim’d in her a careless hand of pride;

For some, untuckt, descended her sheaved hat,

Hanging her pale and pined cheek beside;

Some in threaden fillet still did bide,

And, true to bondage, would not break from thence,

Though slackly braided in loose negligence.

 

Narrator

A Lover’s Complaint         Stanza 5

And now, for something completely different. It’s not a play, or a sonnet; it’s one of Will’s poems. The two long poems he’s most well known for are Venus and Adonis, and Lucrece. This one is a bit shorter, and considered by some to be doubtful as to whether or not it is truly Will’s work. But we’ll assume that it is.

It’s a poem about a maiden lamenting the fact that she’s been abandoned by her lover. Without going into all that, this stanza is completely about her hair. Yes, her hair; it’s all about her hair.

It’s neither loose, nor tied;

It’s proclaimed;

Some of it’s untuckt, descended, and hanging,

And some is true to bondage, albeit slackly braided.

Yes, that’s her hair.

Comments?

This guy wants hair comments.

Are you kidding me?

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Ah, Gaunt, his blood was thine! That bed, that womb,

That metal , that self-mould, that fashion’d thee

Made him a man; and though thou livest and breathest,

Yet art thou slain in him: thou dost consent

In some large measure to thy father’s death,

In that thou seest thy wretched brother die,

Who was the model of thy father’s life. 

 

Duchess of Gloster

King Richard the Second   Act I, Scene ii, Line 25

Okay then; here's where we're at: The Duchess of Gloster is the widow of Thomas, the latter being Gaunt’s brother. She’s talking to Gaunt about Thomas. Gaunt and Thomas were son’s of Edward III. The current king, Richard II is the grandson of Edward III. There are some, including Thomas of Gloster, who think/thought Richard to be doing a lousy job as king. Thomas has been eliminated by Richard’s people, and his widow wants Gaunt, her brother-in-law, to avenge Gloster’s death. Gaunt says, no; leave it to God.

Gloster’s widow is not particularly happy with that answer and leaves. She ends the scene with a farewell rhyming couplet.

Desolate, desolate, will I hence and die:

The last leave of thee takes my weeping eye.

Just a little bit maudlin, eh? A bit of a Debbie Downer.

A bit maudlin?!? Her husband was "eliminated" by her nephew, and her brother-in-law's not going to do a thing about it! 

Maudlin???

 

Oooh, go easy on that one, Mrs. B; that's the one you drew blood on last time.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

They shall be satisfied: I’ll read enough,

When I do see the very book indeed

Where all my sins are writ, and that’s myself.  

 

King Richard

King Richard the Second   Act IV, Scene i, Line 273

Bolingbroke has won. They are in Westminster Hall and everyone is present. King Richard has been brought forth and is being asked to read aloud a list of his wrong doings as a way of justifying Bolingbroke’s usurpation of the throne. Richard is quibbling about doing this, and Bolingbroke says he doesn’t have to. Northumberland remarks that the masses will not be satisfied unless Richard reads the list of his sins, and this is what Richard is responding to above. 

So that took me eight and a half lines to set up today’s three lines. Oh, and Richard has already requested a mirror, so that’s what he’s referring to when he says, When I do see the very book. He’s talking about his face. He has a nice little speech when he looks in the mirror. It’s thirteen lines. Oh what the heck.

Give me the glass, and therein will I read.-

No deeper wrinkles yet? Hath sorrow struck

So many blows upon this face of mine,

And made no deeper wounds! – O flattering glass,

Like to my followers in prosperity,

Thou dost beguile me! Was this face the face

That every day under his household roof

Did keep ten thousand men? Was this the face

That, like the sun, did make beholders wink:

Was this the face that faced so many follies,

And was at last out-faced by Bolingbroke?

A brittle glory shineth in this face:

As brittle as the glory is the face;

                       [dashes the glass against the ground]

For there it is, crackt in a hundred shivers.—

Mark, silent king, the moral of this sport,--

How soon my sorrow hath destroy’d my face.

 

And Bolingbroke replies,

The shadow of your sorrow hath destroy’d

The shadow of your face.

 

Richard seems surprised,

                                      Say that again.

The shadow of my sorrow? Ha, let’s see:--

‘Tis very true, my grief lies all within;

And then he goes on, but we won't.

I’m not sure why I felt the need to give you all that. There’s a lot of what Richard has to say in this play that’s really great. I guess I just felt that here’s some of that, so that I wanted to make sure you got it. It’s pretty great just reading it, the beauty of the language; and of course there’s all sorts of meaning that can be mined out of it should you decide to put on your miners helmet with the light and dive on in.

But let’s face it: that's up to you. 

 

He doesn’t think I noticed that he snuck the word ‘face’ into that last sentence just because the whole thing was about faces and facing. 

I noticed. 

This face notices everything!

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

That book in many’s eyes doth share the glory,

That in gold clasps locks in the golden story;

So shall you share all that he doth possess,

By having him, making yourself no less.

 

Lady Capulet

Romeo and Juliet       Act I, Scene iii, Line 95

This is early on in the play. Romeo and Juliet have yet to lay eyes on each other. Here, Juliet’s mother is telling the young girl about Paris, who has expressed an interest in Juliet. The mother is asking the daughter how she feels about marrying Paris. Juliet’s reply?

I’ll look to like, if looking liking move:

But no more deep will I endart mine eye

Then your consent gives a strength to make it fly.

That’s a little confusing, but I think it sounds like she’s game for Paris, doesn’t it? But what the heck is that first line? I’ll look to like, if looking liking move: I’ll take a look at him with the hope of liking what I see? Is that it? I think that’s it. Then she’s saying that she’ll go no further with Paris than her mother gives her consent to. But it sounds like her mother is already giving that consent, and more. I think she’s referred to Paris as a golden story, hasn’t she? Juliet’s just trying to hedge her bets. And good thing, too, because her golden story’s not going to be named Paris.

The best laid plans of mice and Lady Capulet go oft awry.

Mice?  Did somebody say Mice?

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

The villain is much lighter-heel’d than I:

I follow’d fast, but faster he did fly;

That fall’n am I in dark uneven way,

And here will rest me. [Lies down] Come, thou

gentle day!

 

Lysander

A Midsummer Night’s Dream  Act III, Scene ii, Line 418

The villain noted in the first line above is Puck, and he’s leading Lysander on a chase through the woods. Well, he was leading him, but now Lysander’s done chasing and he’s going to lie down to sleep.

I forget exactly what’s going on here, as far as who’s doing what to who. But I think it’s enough to know that this is the main part of the play where everyone’s in the forest at night doing something. Lysander’s something right now is sleeping, and considering that dream is in the title of the play, one might expect that there’ll be a bit of sleeping.

And there you have it.

Playing the part of Lysander (and perfectly cast, I might add)...

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

There is no malice in this burning coal;

The breath of heaven hath blown his spirit out,

And strew’d repentant ashes on his head.

 

Arthur

King John                Act IV, Scene i, Line 110

Arthur, a child, is talking to Hubert de Burgh. The latter has been sent to burn Arthur’s eyes out. The former is doing his best to talk Huburt out of doing it. Arthur has noted that the fire has gone out and that the red hot poker in Huburt's hand is now cold. Huburt replies that he can heat it. No, says Arthur,

No, in good sooth; the fire is dead with grief,

Being create for comfort, to be used

In undeserved extrement: see else yourself;

There is no malice in this burning coal;

The breath of heaven hath blown his spirit out,

And strew’d repentant ashes on his head.

Arthur is giving quite a bit of life and conscience to the fire. Will is great at doing that: giving life to inanimate objects. As usual, he does it with some really great language. Again, the poet playwright.

Speaking of inanimate objects...

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

O, why should wrath be mute, and fury dumb?

Aaron

Titus Andronicus               Act V, Scene iii, Line 185

This is actually the line before Today’s actual Totally Random Line, but the TTRL runs for six lines (which I’ll give you in a moment), so I’m giving you this easier line up front.

Aaron has just been sentenced to be buried breast-deep and to be left to starve to death. That’s what he’s reacting to above. He goes on, since he’s already said that wrath and fury should be verbalized, and here is that verbalization: 

I am no baby, I, that with base prayers

I should repent the evils I have done:

Ten thousand worse than ever yet I did

Would I perform, if I might have my will:

If one good deed in all my life I did,

I do repent it from my very soul.

There, how’s that for wrath and fury; he's not a nice fellow at all. Luckily, Lucius, Titus’s son, get’s the last words of the play after Aaron speaks. He’s not terribly nice either, talking about tossing Tamora’s body forth to beasts and birds of prey. But, thankfully, he ends this whole torrid affair on a little bit  more of an upbeat note:

Then, afterwards, to order well the state,

That like events may ne’er it ruinate.

Yeah, I don’t think anyone would want events like those that took place in this play (murder, rape, mutilation, cannibalization, etc, etc) to ever repeat. That could very definitely ruinate the state.

Of course, there are other types of actions that could ruinate the state as well, but I'm not gonna go there today.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

Signior Benedick, no; for then were you a child.

Leonato

Much Ado About Nothing    Act I, Scene i, Line xxx

I can’t believe it took me so long to figure this line out. Here’s the setup: Don Pedro asks Leonato if the young woman with him is his daughter. Leonato replies, Her mother hath many times told me so. Wise-ass Benedick chimes in, Were you in doubt, sir, that you asked her? That's when Leonato replies with Today’s Line, no; for then you were a child.

How did I not get that? In case you’re as dull witted as myself, Leonato is saying that he wasn’t in doubt because Benedick was too young then to have fathered her. In other words, Leonato is saying that Benedick is a lady’s man, to put it nicely, and since he was just a child when this girl was born, he (Leonato), does not have to worry about his wife having cheated on him with Benedick. How hard is that? How did I not get that right away?

I'll bet old sleepy head over there wouldn't have got it either. I think all of this stuff is over his head anyway. 

Just kidding, buddy. Just kidding. I'm sure you got it the first time you heard it. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Madam, I was very late more near her than I think she wisht me: alone she was, and did communicate to herself her own words to her own ears; she thought, I dare vow for her, they toucht not any stranger sense.

 

Steward

All’s Well That Ends Well     Act I, Scene iii, Line 106

Steward is telling his boss, the Countess, that he was eavesdropping on Helena talking to herself. Yup, that’s what he’s saying. He’s being a bit long-winded about it, isn’t he. Four and a half lines to say I overheard Helena talking to herself.

Sometimes I wonder why the Bard will so often take so many words to communicate something that can be said with so few. For instance, the last part - she thought, I dare vow for her, they toucht not any stranger sense. Why not – I think she thought she was alone. Seven words vs thirteen. Clearly Will never read Strunk and White – No unneeded words! Just as clearly Will was the Poet Playwright. I guess we’ll leave it at that.

I can only wonder how many words Will would use to describe Mojo in this picture. I can sum it up with two words:

Complete Disinterest.

Perhaps, as you read this, you're feeling the same as Mojo here?

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

I dare not say I take you ; but I give

Me and my service, ever whilst I live,

Into your guiding power.- This is the man.

 

Helena

All’s Well That Ends Well     Act II, Scene iii, Line 104

 

Perhaps I should tell you what’s going on here.

The king was dying until Helen came in and saved him with a miracle cure. Helen is the daughter of a late and great physician; that makes her a commoner. The king, in his gratitude to Helen, tells her that she may pick any one of the men in court (counts, and nobles, and such) to marry. She goes down the line and speaks to four men telling them that she won’t be picking them. Then she comes to Bertram and gives us today’s line. So it looks like Betram is the lucky winner of a wife. The only problem is that Betram wants no part of Helen:

A poor physician’s daughter my wife!- Disdain

Rather corrupt me ever!

And now we have the set up for the rest of the play. The king will insist, so what will Bertram do? What will Helen do? Will they marry and live happily ever after? Or will all  sorts of shenanigans take place? I guess you’ll have to experience the play to find out.

I wish some girl with amazing healing powers would want to marry me. This Bertam guy sounds like a real dick.  

Mojo! Language!

Oh, sorry. Sounds like a bit of  dick.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Antony,

The posture of your blows are yet unknown;

But for your words, they rob the Hybla bees,

And leave them honeyless.

  

Cassius

Julius Caesar             Act V, Scene i, Line 34

Octavius and Marc Antony are at the head of one army, whilst Brutus and Cassius lead another. The four men are meeting for a parlay before the battle that’s about to take place. This particular exchange begins with Brutus saying 

Good words are better than bad strokes, Octavius.

I’m pretty sure that Brutus doesn’t want to have this battle, but Marc Antony throws those words right back in Brutus’s face,

In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good words;

Witness the hole you made in Caesar’s heart,

Crying, ‘Long live! Hail, Caesar!’

Well, he’s got a really good point there: Brutus and Cassius are part of the group that stabbed Caesar to death. But Cassius nevertheless fires right back with Today’s Lines about Marc Antony’s words being so sweet that they could rob the Hybla bees of their honey. Hybla was famous for it’s honey, and Cassius is implying that Antony’s words are sweet but treacherous since they rob the honey. And they are treacherous; Marc Antony is very dangerous with his words. 

This is the scene before that battle, near the end of the play, and Cassius and Brutus will both be dead shortly. Marc Antony and Octavius will have avenged the killing of Caesar. 

Words and actions: both can be pretty dangerous.

No need to worry little buddy; the Hybla bees are safe for today, and so are you. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Well, as time shall try:

‘In time the savage bull doth bear the yoke.’

  

Don Pedro

Much Ado About Nothing       Act I, Scene i, Line 245

 

Yup, act one, scene one. Don Pedro and Claudio are talking to Benedick. The latter is telling them that he will ever remain a confirmed bachelor, and the other two are telling him that eventually he will marry. Benedick replies,

If I do, hang me in a bottle like a cat, and shoot at me; and he that hits me, let him be clapt on the shoulder, and called Adam. 

And to this, Don Pedro replies with Today’s Line about the savage bull bearing the yoke. Well, the thing about the savage bull bearing the yoke is not bad, but it’s not half as good as Hang me in a bottle like a cat and shoot at me. That’s fabulous! I think that’s one I need to find a way to remember so that I can use it at an opportune moment; like when I see something entirely out of the ordinary that defies all expectations. An instance where you might expect to hear someone say, Well don’t that beat all! Yeah, instead I’ll say Hang me in a bottle like a cat and shoot at me! It’s perfect. Can you imagine the look on their faces? I gotta find a way to remember that. 

Hang me in a bottle like a cat and shoot at me!

That's a great idea, Mr. Blagys.

YIKES! Just when I thought this guy couldn't get any whackier, he manages to out-whack himself. I guess I should be thankful he's not talking about hanging a dog in a bottle. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Then give me welcome, next my heaven the best,

Even to thy pure and most most loving breast.

  

Narrator

Sonnet 110             Concluding Couplet

All right then; that’s the last two lines of the sonnet, and this being a sonnet, like many of them, it’s hard enough to understand in its entirety, so it makes no sense at all trying to figure out these two lines. Unless of course we take a stab at the whole thing. Well that being said, no, I don’t mind if I do. Here goes.

As I’ve said many times, the sonnets are best viewed a quatrain at a time. Here’s number one.

Alas, ‘tis true I have gone here and there,

And made myself motley to the view,

Gored mine own thoughts, sold cheap what is most dear,

Made old offences of affections new;

Sounds like he’s saying that he’s been a pretty big jerk. It’s hard to tell exactly what he’s done, but he’s acted poorly, that’s for sure.

Most true it is that I have looked on truth

Askance and strangely: but, by all above,

These blenches (turnings aside) gave my heart another youth,

And worst essays (trials or tests) proved thee my best of love.

This second quatrain gets a little tougher. I think he’s reiterating that he’s done wrong, but by doing so it has allowed him to see anew that thee (whoever that is) is his true love.

Now all is done, have what shall have no end:

Mine appetite I never more will grind

On newer proof, to try an older friend,

A god in love, to whom I am confined.

I’m pretty much throwing up my hands and waving the white flag on this quatrain. Okay, I’ll take a crack at it. Now that all is said and done, there’s nothing he can do about it. But he’s changing and never again will try something new to test his love for thee, to whom he is committed solely.

 

Then give me welcome, next my heaven the best,

Even to thy pure and most most loving breast.

He’s saying, ‘please welcome me back and accept me, you who are the next thing to heaven for me; welcome me to your loving breast.’

There, I did it. Now, as is always the test, let’s take a look at what Katherine Duncan-Jones has to say in The Arden Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Here’s her one sentence summation.

The speaker acknowledges that he has strayed in affection from the youth (Thee), but claims that this has served only to strengthen his original and continuing devotion.

Yeah, that’s pretty much what I said, isn’t it? Ahhh, sonnets; they’re the best!

Mojo slept through the entire Daily Mojo. 

Oh well, who can blame him.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour.

 

Nurse

Romeo and Juliet             Act I, Scene iii, Line 12

I think that Nurse and Friar Knucklehead might be the two most interesting characters in this play. That’s not to say that the other players lack interest, but just to say that these two are the best.

This scene is with Nurse, Juliet, and Lady Capulet, Juliet’s mother. When the Lady brings up the fact that her daughter is of a pretty age (not yet fourteen), Nurse gives us Today’s Line. But she doesn’t stop there. She goes into thirty-odd lines about raising Juliet, whom she calls Jule, from a pup. Then she and Juliet get into a bit of a laughing fit about a story of Jule falling on her face when she was just a toddler.

Anyway, the reason for this scene taking place is Lady Capulet telling her daughter that Paris is going to be seeking her hand in marriage. Therefore, Juliet should check him out closely at the party the Capulets are having that evening. Juliet agrees to this since she hasn’t yet met Romeo. Of course, she’ll meet her titular lover this evening, so the Paris thing won’t be working out quite the way that Lady Capulet wants.

Ah well, the best laid plans of mice and men, eh?

I'm not sure what's up with Mojo. He's told me before that R&J is not one of his favorite plays, but that can't be it. Something's gotten into him, and he doesn't seem to want to leave the security of his gated community this morning. 

Yes, we call it his gated community. Don't ask. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Aye, and it makes men hate one another.

 

 First Serving-Man

Coriolanus             Act IV, Scene iv, Line 225

I bet that in a million years you could not guess what it is these guys are saying makes men hate one another. Give up? It’s peace. Yes, peace makes men hate one another.

Reason: because they then less need one another.

Yup, that’s the simple explanation given by Third Serving Man as to why peace makes men hate one another: because then they don’t need each other as much as they do in war.

These are three waiters talking amongst themselves. They are working a feast where the Volscians have just decided to go and attack Rome. These guys, the waiters that is, think that’s great. Listen to the exchange between the three of them when they hear the news that they’re going to war (though it seems unlikely that these three will be going anywhere).

Why, then we shall have a stirring world again. This peace is nothing, but to rust iron, increase tailors, and breed ballad-makers.

Let me have war, say I; it exceeds peace as far as day does night; it’s spritely, waking, audible, and full of vent. Peace is a very apoplexy (unconsciousness), lethargy; mull’d, deaf, sleepy, insensible; a getter of more bastard children than war’s a destroyer of men.

‘Tis so: and as war, in some sort, may be said to be a ravisher, so it cannot be denied but peace is a great maker of cuckolds.

Ay, and it makes men hate one another.  

So these guys, who are not going to be having any part of the war, think war is a great idea and a much greater thing than peace. And one of the reasons is that even though war is a ravisher, peace results in more bastard children being born. That’s right, it’s better to have people being killed, than to have a bunch of out-of-wedlock or extra-marital sex taking place.

I was taking this seriously and was a bit aghast, until I realized that Will is going for a laugh here. He likes to use anonymous characters to add a little comic relief in his tragedies. At least, I hope this is comic relief. It must be; right?

  

I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Mr. Blagys. Those guys back then had a pretty different outlook on life. You know what they said: 'better dead than sexually fed'...

 

They did not say that, Mojo. You're a piece of work. 'Better dead than sexually fed'; Where do you even come up with this stuff?

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

He has made too much plenty with ‘em,

He’s a sworn rioter: he has a sin that often

Drowns him, and takes his valour prisoner:

If there were no foes, that were enough

To overcome him: in that beastly fury

He has been know to commit outrages

And cherish factions: ‘tis inferr’d to us

His days are foul, and his drink dangerous.


Second Senator

Timon of Athens                Act III, Scene v, Line 72

The senator is speaking about a man who they are about to pass sentence on for murder. The murderer is a soldier, and his general, Alcibiades, is here pleading for his life. He’s telling the senators what a great soldier this guy is and how well he has served and defended his country. Apparently though, this fellow can’t handle his drink, and that’s a problem.

Previous to Today’s Line Alcibiades is saying of the soldier,

How full of valour did he bear himself

In the last conflict, and made plenteous wounds.

Apparently, though, according to the senator, he makes too many wounds and much of them are made not in battle but in bar rooms. The senator makes reference to the soldier’s drinking problem

                               …he has a sin that often

Drowns him, and takes his valour prisoner:

Bottom line is that they end up sentencing the guy to death for murder. Alcibiades gets a bit overzealous in his defense of the soldier and in the process manages to really piss off the senators; so they banish Alcibiades just for good measure.

We’re done with the soldier after this scene (in fact, we never actually see the guy), but banished Alcibiades will show up later in the play interacting with the self-banished Timon. So, this scene is merely a set up for Alcibiades to be banished, and the soldier is just collateral damage of the plot line.  Hey, what do you think of that wording: collateral damage of the plot line. I like that, and it carries the battle scene imagery straight through. Not bad, eh?

 

And there he goes again with the ‘how great his writing is’ thing.

Not listening. NOT LISTENING.