Sailing to Sarantium (The Sarantine Mosaic, #1)

by Guy Gavriel Kay

Philosophy could be a consolation, an attempt to explain and understand the place of man in the gods’ creation. It couldn’t always succeed, though. There were times when comfort could only be found in a woman’s laughter, a friend’s known face and voice, shared rumors about the Antae court, even something so simple as a steaming bowl of pea soup at a table with others.

Sometimes, when the shadows of the half-world pressed too near, one needed the world.

We can’t even stop children from dying, how would we presume to understand the truth of things? Behind things? Does the presence of one power deny another?”

No killing in the chapels, Leontes.” “Of course not, my lord,” the Strategos said. His piety was well-known.