The Will to Battle (Terra Ignota, #3)

by Ada Palmer

“Hobbes says that neither passion nor action may be called a sin until they know some law that forbids them, and that, where there are no man-made laws, the immutable and eternal Laws of Nature and Reason state that all men must and may, by whatever means we can, defend ourselves.”

“It has never been the will of men, or kings, that steered the world. I judge a man by whether he faces Fate bravely or whether he squirms like a coward. So does history.”

“You think I should not try to prevent the war?” Caesar asked. “Of course you should try, just don’t imagine you’ll succeed. There’s honor in urging the right course, even when the wrong is set. Many of my old friends are still called wise for their efforts to make peace with Troy. Fail well, as they did, and be ready to fight well once you have failed.”

After life itself, peace is the greatest gift a mortal man can enjoy, we know that well.”

“The passions that incline men to peace are fear of death, desire of such things as are necessary to commodious living, and a hope by their industry to obtain them.”

Humor, mankind’s survival strategy, brought absurd images before my mind here, mobs in blasted wastelands, raising impossibly honest banners: “Financial stability! Self-determination! Xenophobia!” We do need pretexts for our wars. A man may leap into the fray in the name of Liberty, Homeland, Human Rights, Justice, but never Economics.

In darker ages Justice stood alone before courthouses, but in Carlyle’s vision her sister Temperance stands to one side holding back her sword, while from the other side Reason lifts away her blindfold, so Justice can finally see the contents of her scales.

Robots and monsters traded electric hisses as Caesar advanced.

“War is not just battle, but that tract of time wherein the Will to Battle is so manifest that humankind can no longer trust itself to keep the peace. We are at war.”

“Live on in your black-and-white world, Martin my Manichean; I will never tell you you are wrong.”

1. Here we endeavor sincerely to keep the peace, but when that fails, we defend ourselves with all the means at our disposal. 2. Here we remember that what we do to others, others can and will do to us. 3. Here we put reasonable effort into accommodating others, no more nor less. 4. Here, when we harm others, we either volunteer fair recompense, or accept vendetta; when we are harmed, we accept fair recompense, and do not let vendetta go too far. 5. Here we endeavor not to harm or monopolize communal things. 6. Here we do not act on rash rumor, but do heed well-weighed opinion. 7. Here we do not harm or hinder peacemakers, arbiters, ambassadors, or those working for the public good, nor do we undo their work without good cause. 8. Here those chosen to be arbiters try to be fair, and those who consent to have a disagreement settled by an arbiter accept the judgment, and let matters end.