The Confusion (The Baroque Cycle, #2)

by Neal Stephenson

The vain-glory which consisteth in the feigning or supposing of abilities in ourselves, which we know are not, is most incident to young men, and nourished by the histories, or fictions of gallant persons; and is corrected oftentimes by age, and employment. —HOBBES, Leviathan

“To fetch the rest, I’d suppose.” “The rest of the Germans!?”

From time to time they would pass a criminal who had been impaled on a javelin and left to die by the road-side, which only confirmed the impression that they were in a well-ordered place now, and had not taken any undue risks in sending their escort home.