V

Thersites
     Hooray, hooray, we Greeks have won!

Ephialtes
     But I showed that good-for-nothing Leonidas!

Neighbor
     He's a coward and a traitor, that Archimedes! An enemy descends upon our city, and he draws his circles!

The Statesman Cato
     What's that? Hunger? Famine? Crop failure? That's nothing. First of all, Carthage must be destroyed.

Ananias
     Sure, he wanted to save the world, why not, but he shouldn't have gotten caught up with those Pharisees.

Nero
     The persecution of Christians is a lie. We are merely arguing against their conception of the world.

Attila
     We too have come to save the world.

Boleslav the Cruel
     ...the thing with that Václav, that was a political necessity.

Genghis Khan
     Burn and slash on! This concerns the grandeur of Tartary.

Muslims
     Yes, but we fight in the name of God.

Dictator
     I have attained unanimity. Everyone must listen.

Tyrant
     You squalid lot, I made a great nation out of you!

After St. Bartholomew's Day
     Oof!...We have recreated spiritual unity in the nation.

Father Konias
     Education? Oh, sir, I've read all about it!

Conquistador
     You know, benevolent God, that inhumanity is alien to me. The Aztecs, of course, are not human.

Commander
     Shut your mouth, my heroes!

Blacks
     We have burned the village of Twi. Our victory is a new page in the history of the world.

Over a Fallen Enemy
     He started it. He couldn't defend himself, and there was peace.

Looter of the Slain
     None of this feeble humanity! War is war.

Report
     Inhabitants slaughtered and city burned by simple calm and discipline.

Leader
     We fight for an exalted idea: for its victory.

Contemporary
     Is Hus correct? I'll tell you one thing: his strategy isn't.

Another Contemporary
     What does that Galileo say? The earth revolves around the sun? Hmm, I have bigger fish to fry!

Yet Another Dictator
     I have taken away their freedom, but in return I have given them self-confidence.

LN, 30 April, 1933