Only one thing is more admirable than the admirable reply of the Saxon king: that an Icelander, a man of the lineage of the vanquished, has perpetuated the reply. It is as if a Carthaginian had bequeathed to us the memory of the exploit of Regulus. Saxo Grammaticus wrote with justification in his Gesta Danorum: 'The men of Thule [Iceland] are very fond of learning and of recording the history of all peoples and they are equally pleased to reveal the excellences of others or of themselves.' Not the day when the Saxon said the words, but the day when an enemy perpetuated them, was the historic date. A date that is a prophecy of something still in the future: the day when races and nations will be cast into oblivion, and the solidarity of all mankind will be established.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- It is more admirable that an enemy preserved the words of a vanquished king than the words themselves, signaling future human solidarity.
- In plain terms
- An enemy recording a defeated king's words shows hope for future unity among all people.
- What can you take from it?
- Preserving history across enemy lines foreshadows human unity.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Whose history do you preserve?
- How do enemies respect each other?
Another view
It idealizes a future unity that may not be realistic.
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