Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls, And makes night hideous;--answer him, ye owls!
Two wolves kill a lion. Two weak men vanquish one that is strong.
The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.
One of the oldest and most important elements in such systems is the conception of justice. Society is impossible unless those who are associated agree to observe certain rules of conduct towards one another; its stability depends on the steadiness with which they abide by that agreement; and, so far as they waver, that mutual trust which is the bond of society is weakened or destroyed. Wolves could not hunt in packs except for the real, though unexpressed, understanding that they should not attack one another during the chase. The most rudimentary polity is a pack of men living under the like tacit, or expressed, understanding; and having made the very important advance upon wolf society, that they agree to use the force of the whole body against individuals who violate it and in favour of those who observe it. This observance of a common understanding, with the consequent distribution of punishments and rewards according to accepted rules, received the name of justice, while the contrary was called injustice. Early ethics did not take much note of the animus of the violator of the rules. But civilization could not advance far without the establishment of a capital distinction between the case of involuntary and that of wilful misdeed; between a merely wrong action and a guilty one.
He that lives with wolves will learn to howl.
"Man's inhumanity to man" is not the last word. The truth lies deeper. It is economic slavery, the savage struggle for a crumb, that has converted mankind into wolves and sheep.
All I'm saying is, if you celebrate Festivus, you may live a little longer. You are getting back to the essentials, to the days of gods on mountaintops and howling wolves. Because you are saying the holidays are in the heart, a celebration of being alive with our fellow humans. For that purpose, an aluminum pole will do just as well as anything else — as long as it's not stuck in the wrong place.
Il faut hurler avec les loups=--You must howl if you are among wolves.
There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Love will find its way / Through paths where wolves would fear to prey.
Dieu garde la lune des loups=--God guards the moon from the wolves.
In a forest a fox bumps into a little rabbit, and says, "Hi, Junior, what are you up to?" "I'm writing a dissertation on how rabbits eat foxes," said the rabbit. "Come now, friend rabbit, you know that's impossible! No one will publish such rubbish!" "Well, follow me and I'll show you." They both go into the rabbit's dwelling and after a while the rabbit emerges with a satisfied expression on his face. Comes along a wolf. "Hello, little buddy, what are we doing these days?" "I'm writing the 2'nd chapter of my thesis, on how rabbits devour
"Are you crazy? Where's your academic honesty?"
"Come with me and I'll show you."
As before, the rabbit comes out with a satisfied look on his face
and a diploma in his paw. Finally, the camera pans into the rabbit's cave
and, as everybody should have guessed by now, we see a mean-looking, huge
lion, sitting, picking his teeth and belching, next to some furry, bloody
remnants of the wolf and the fox.
The moral: It's not the contents of your thesis that are
important -- it's your PhD advisor that really counts.
You are transported to a room where you are faced by a wizard who points to you and says, "Them's fighting words!" You immediately get attacked by all sorts of denizens of the museum: there is a cobra chewing on your leg, a troglodyte is bashing your brains out with a gold nugget, a crocodile is removing large chunks of flesh from you, a rhinoceros is goring you with his horn, a sabre-tooth cat is busy trying to disembowel you, you are being trampled by a large mammoth, a vampire is sucking you dry, a Tyrannosaurus Rex is sinking his six inch long fangs into various parts of your anatomy, a large bear is dismembering your body, a gargoyle is bouncing up and down on your head, a burly troll is tearing you limb from limb, several dire wolves</p> are making mince meat out of your torso, and the wizard is about to transport you to the corner of Westwood and Broxton. Oh dear, you seem to have gotten yourself killed, as well. You scored 0 out of 250 possible points. That gives you a ranking of junior beginning adventurer. To achieve the next higher rating, you need to score 32 more points.
7:15. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
10:16. Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves.
I don't know how long I was asleep, but all of a sudden there was an awful scream and I was up. There was pap looking wild, and skipping around every which way and yelling about snakes. He said they was crawling up his legs; and then he would give a jump and scream, and say one had bit him on the cheekbut I couldn't see no snakes. He started and run round and round the cabin, hollering "Take him off! take him off! he's biting me on the neck!" I never see a man look so wild in the eyes. Pretty soon he was all fagged out, and fell down panting; then he rolled over and over wonderful fast, kicking things every which way, and striking and grabbing at the air with his hands, and screaming and saying there was devils a-hold of him. He wore out by and by, and laid still a while, moaning. Then he laid stiller, and didn't make a sound. I could hear the owls and the wolves away off in the woods, and it seemed terrible still. He was laying over by the corner. By and by he raised up part way and listened, with his head to one side. He says, very low:
10:3. Go: Behold I send you as lambs among wolves.
1:8. Their horses are lighter than leopards, and swifter than evening wolves; and their horsemen shall be spread abroad: for their horsemen shall come from afar, they shall fly as an eagle that maketh haste to eat.
The peasants of Asturias are convinced that in every litter of wolves there is one dog, which is killed by the mother because, otherwise, as he grew up, he would devour the other little ones.
Then put Patroclus on his radiant arms. Around his legs his polish'd greaves he clasp'd, With argent studs secured; the hauberk rich Star-spangled to his breast he bound of swift Æacides; he slung his brazen sword With silver bright emboss'd, and his broad shield Ponderous; on his noble head his casque He settled elegant, whose lofty crest Waved dreadful o'er his brows, and last he seized Well fitted to his gripe two sturdy spears. Of all Achilles' arms his spear alone He took not; that huge beam, of bulk and length Enormous, none, Æacides except, In all Achaia's host had power to wield. It was that Pelian ash which from the top Of Pelion hewn that it might prove the death Of heroes, Chiron had to Peleus given. He bade Automedon his coursers bind Speedily to the yoke, for him he loved Next to Achilles most, as worthiest found Of trust, what time the battle loudest roar'd. Then led Automedon the fiery steeds Swift as wing'd tempests to the chariot-yoke, Xanthus and Balius. Them the harpy bore Podarge, while in meadows green she fed On Ocean's side, to Zephyrus the wind. To these he added, at their side, a third, The noble Pedasus; him Peleus' son, Eëtion's city taken, thence had brought, Though mortal, yet a match for steeds divine. Meantime from every tent Achilles call'd And arm'd his Myrmidons. As wolves that gorge The prey yet panting, terrible in force, When on the mountains wild they have devour'd An antler'd stag new-slain, with bloody jaws Troop all at once to some clear fountain, there To lap with slender tongues the brimming wave; No fears have they, but at their ease eject From full maws flatulent the clotted gore; Such seem'd the Myrmidon heroic Chiefs Assembling fast around the valiant friend Of swift Æacides. Amid them stood Warlike Achilles, the well-shielded ranks Exhorting, and the steeds, to glorious war.
Sudden as hungry wolves the kids purloin Or lambs, which haply some unheeding swain Hath left to roam at large the mountains wild; They, seeing, snatch them from beside the dams, And rend incontinent the feeble prey, So swift the Danaï the host assail'd Of Ilium; they, into tumultuous flight Together driven, all hope, all courage lost.
When they reached the Myasnitski Street and could no longer hear the shouts of the mob, the count began to repent. He remembered with dissatisfaction the agitation and fear he had betrayed before his subordinates. "The mob is terrible--disgusting," he said to himself in French. "They are like wolves whom nothing but flesh can appease." "Count! One God is above us both!"--Vereshchagin's words suddenly recurred to him, and a disagreeable shiver ran down his back. But this was only a momentary feeling and Count Rostopchin smiled disdainfully at himself. "I had other duties," thought he. "The people had to be appeased. Many other victims have perished and are perishing for the public good"--and he began thinking of his social duties to his family and to the city entrusted to him, and of himself--not himself as Theodore Vasilyevich Rostopchin (he fancied that Theodore Vasilyevich Rostopchin was sacrificing himself for the public good) but himself as governor, the representative of authority and of the Tsar. "Had I been simply Theodore Vasilyevich my course of action would have been quite different, but it was my duty to safeguard my life and dignity as commander-in-chief."
"Whoever is afraid of wolves had better not go into the wood," said Nastasia, smiling.
"'When, parted hence, the wind, that ready waits For Sicily, shall bear you to the straits Where proud Pelorus opes a wider way, Tack to the larboard, and stand off to sea: Veer starboard sea and land. Th' Italian shore And fair Sicilia's coast were one, before An earthquake caus'd the flaw: the roaring tides The passage broke that land from land divides; And where the lands retir'd, the rushing ocean rides. Distinguish'd by the straits, on either hand, Now rising cities in long order stand, And fruitful fields: so much can time invade The mold'ring work that beauteous Nature made. Far on the right, her dogs foul Scylla hides: Charybdis roaring on the left presides, And in her greedy whirlpool sucks the tides; Then spouts them from below: with fury driv'n, The waves mount up and wash the face of heav'n. But Scylla from her den, with open jaws, The sinking vessel in her eddy draws, Then dashes on the rocks. A human face, And virgin bosom, hides her tail's disgrace: Her parts obscene below the waves descend, With dogs inclos'd, and in a dolphin end. 'T is safer, then, to bear aloof to sea, And coast Pachynus, tho' with more delay, Than once to view misshapen Scylla near, And the loud yell of wat'ry wolves to hear.
"But, Monseigneur, there is a band of them! A flock of wolves!"
Nor was Praeneste's founder wanting there, Whom fame reports the son of Mulciber: Found in the fire, and foster'd in the plains, A shepherd and a king at once he reigns, And leads to Turnus' aid his country swains. His own Praeneste sends a chosen band, With those who plow Saturnia's Gabine land; Besides the succor which cold Anien yields, The rocks of Hernicus, and dewy fields, Anagnia fat, and Father Amasene- A num'rous rout, but all of naked men: Nor arms they wear, nor swords and bucklers wield, Nor drive the chariot thro' the dusty field, But whirl from leathern slings huge balls of lead, And spoils of yellow wolves adorn their head; The left foot naked, when they march to fight, But in a bull's raw hide they sheathe the right. Messapus next, (great Neptune was his sire,) Secure of steel, and fated from the fire, In pomp appears, and with his ardor warms A heartless train, unexercis'd in arms: The just Faliscans he to battle brings, And those who live where Lake Ciminia springs; And where Feronia's grove and temple stands, Who till Fescennian or Flavinian lands. All these in order march, and marching sing The warlike actions of their sea-born king; Like a long team of snowy swans on high, Which clap their wings, and cleave the liquid sky, When, homeward from their wat'ry pastures borne, They sing, and Asia's lakes their notes return. Not one who heard their music from afar, Would think these troops an army train'd to war, But flocks of fowl, that, when the tempests roar, With their hoarse gabbling seek the silent shore.
And now the battle join'd. Shield clash'd with shield And spear with spear, conflicting corselets rang, Boss'd bucklers met, and tumult wild arose. Then, many a yell was heard, and many a shout Loud intermix'd, the slayer o'er the maim'd Exulting, and the field was drench'd with blood. As when two winter torrents rolling down The mountains, shoot their floods through gulleys huge Into one gulf below, station'd remote The shepherd in the uplands hears the roar; Such was the thunder of the mingling hosts. And first, Antilochus a Trojan Chief Slew Echepolus, from Thalysias sprung, Contending valiant in the van of Troy. Him smiting on his crested casque, he drove The brazen lance into his front, and pierced The bones within; night overspread his eyes, And in fierce battle, like a tower, he fell. Him fallen by both feet Calchodon's son Seized, royal Elephenor, leader brave Of the Abantes, and in haste to strip His armor, drew him from the fight aside. But short was that attempt. Him so employ'd Dauntless Agenor mark'd, and as he stoop'd, In his unshielded flank a pointed spear Implanted deep; he languid sunk and died. So Elephenor fell, for whom arose Sharp conflict; Greeks and Trojans mutual flew Like wolves to battle, and man grappled man. Then Telamonian Ajax, in his prime Of youthful vigor Simöisius slew, Son of Anthemion. Him on Simoïs' banks His mother bore, when with her parents once She came from Ida down to view the flocks, And thence they named him; but his parents' He lived not to requite, in early youth Slain by the spear of Ajax famed in arms. For him advancing Ajax at the pap Wounded; right through his shoulder driven the point Stood forth behind; he fell, and press'd the dust. So in some spacious marsh the poplar falls Smooth-skinn'd, with boughs unladen save aloft; Some chariot-builder with his axe the trunk Severs, that he may warp it to a wheel Of shapely form; meantime exposed it lies To parching airs beside the running stream; Such Simöisius seemed, Anthemion's son, Whom noble Ajax slew. But soon at him Antiphus, son of Priam, bright in arms, Hurl'd through the multitude his pointed spear. He erred from Ajax, but he pierced the groin Of Leucus, valiant warrior of the band Led by Ulysses. He the body dragg'd Apart, but fell beside it, and let fall, Breathless himself, the burthen from his hand. Then burn'd Ulysses' wrath for Leucus slain, And through the foremost combatants, array'd In dazzling arms, he rush'd. Full near he stood, And, looking keen around him, hurl'd a lance. Back fell the Trojans from before the face Dispersed of great Ulysses. Not in vain His weapon flew, but on the field outstretch'd A spurious son of Priam, from the shores Call'd of Abydus famed for fleetest mares, Democoon; him, for Leucus' sake enraged, Ulysses through both temples with his spear Transpierced. The night of death hung on his eyes, And sounding on his batter'd arms he fell. Then Hector and the van of Troy retired; Loud shout the Grecians; these draw off the dead, Those onward march amain, and from the heights Of Pergamus Apollo looking down In anger, to the Trojans called aloud.
Nicholas Rostov meanwhile remained at his post, waiting for the wolf. By the way the hunt approached and receded, by the cries of the dogs whose notes were familiar to him, by the way the voices of the huntsmen approached, receded, and rose, he realized what was happening at the copse. He knew that young and old wolves were there, that the hounds had separated into two packs, that somewhere a wolf was being chased, and that something had gone wrong. He expected the wolf to come his way any moment. He made thousands of different conjectures as to where and from what side the beast would come and how he would set upon it. Hope alternated with despair. Several times he addressed a prayer to God that the wolf should come his way. He prayed with that passionate and shamefaced feeling with which men pray at moments of great excitement arising from trivial causes. "What would it be to Thee to do this for me?" he said to God. "I know Thou art great, and that it is a sin to ask this of Thee, but for God's sake do let the old wolf come my way and let Karay spring at it--in sight of 'Uncle' who is watching from over there- -and seize it by the throat in a death grip!" A thousand times during that half-hour Rostov cast eager and restless glances over the edge of the wood, with the two scraggy oaks rising above the aspen undergrowth and the gully with its water-worn side and "Uncle's" cap just visible above the bush on his right.
"Monsieur le maire, it may be that it is of this very flock of wolves that Jesus has constituted me the shepherd. Who knows the ways of Providence?"
Receiving the brimming pewter, and turning to the harpooneers, he ordered them to produce their weapons. Then ranging them before him near the capstan, with their harpoons in their hands, while his three mates stood at his side with their lances, and the rest of the ship's company formed a circle round the group; he stood for an instant searchingly eyeing every man of his crew. But those wild eyes met his, as the bloodshot eyes of the prairie wolves meet the eye of their leader, ere he rushes on at their head in the trail of the bison; but, alas! only to fall into the hidden snare of the Indian.
At that moment, the cudgelling, multiplied by a hundred hands, became zealous, blows with the flat of the sword were mingled with it, it was a perfect storm of whips and clubs; the convicts bent before it, a hideous obedience was evoked by the torture, and all held their peace, darting glances like chained wolves.
After the departure of the ruffians, the Rue Plumet resumed its tranquil, nocturnal aspect. That which had just taken place in this street would not have astonished a forest. The lofty trees, the copses, the heaths, the branches rudely interlaced, the tall grass, exist in a sombre manner; the savage swarming there catches glimpses of sudden apparitions of the invisible; that which is below man distinguishes, through the mists, that which is beyond man; and the things of which we living beings are ignorant there meet face to face in the night. Nature, bristling and wild, takes alarm at certain approaches in which she fancies that she feels the supernatural. The forces of the gloom know each other, and are strangely balanced by each other. Teeth and claws fear what they cannot grasp. Blood-drinking bestiality, voracious appetites, hunger in search of prey, the armed instincts of nails and jaws which have for source and aim the belly, glare and smell out uneasily the impassive spectral forms straying beneath a shroud, erect in its vague and shuddering robe, and which seem to them to live with a dead and terrible life. These brutalities, which are only matter, entertain a confused fear of having to deal with the immense obscurity condensed into an unknown being. A black figure barring the way stops the wild beast short. That which emerges from the cemetery intimidates and disconcerts that which emerges from the cave; the ferocious fear the sinister; wolves recoil when they encounter a ghoul.
So I, whom hearing, they all courage lost, And at remembrance of Antiphatas The Læstrygonian, and the Cyclops' deeds, Ferocious feeder on the flesh of man, Mourn'd loud and wept, but tears could nought avail. Then numb'ring man by man, I parted them In equal portions, and assign'd a Chief To either band, myself to these, to those Godlike Eurylochus. This done, we cast The lots into the helmet, and at once Forth sprang the lot of bold Eurylochus. He went, and with him of my people march'd Twenty and two, all weeping; nor ourselves Wept less, at separation from our friends. Low in a vale, but on an open spot, They found the splendid house of Circe, built With hewn and polish'd stones; compass'd she dwelt By lions on all sides and mountain-wolves Tamed by herself with drugs of noxious pow'rs. Nor were they mischievous, but as my friends Approach'd, arising on their hinder feet, Paw'd them in blandishment, and wagg'd the tail. As, when from feast he rises, dogs around Their master fawn, accustom'd to receive The sop conciliatory from his hand, Around my people, so, those talon'd wolves And lions fawn'd. They, terrified, that troop Of savage monsters horrible beheld. And now, before the Goddess' gates arrived, They heard the voice of Circe singing sweet Within, while, busied at the loom, she wove An ample web immortal, such a work Transparent, graceful, and of bright design As hands of Goddesses alone produce. Thus then Polites, Prince of men, the friend Highest in my esteem, the rest bespake.
Opposite, on the rising-ground, appear'd The Trojans; them majestic Hector led, Noble Polydamas, Æneas raised To godlike honors in all Trojan hearts, And Polybus, with whom Antenor's sons Agenor, and young Acamas advanced. Hector the splendid orb of his broad shield Bore in the van, and as a comet now Glares through the clouds portentous, and again, Obscured by gloomy vapors, disappears, So Hector, marshalling his host, in front Now shone, now vanish'd in the distant rear. All-cased he flamed in brass, and on the sight Flash'd as the lightnings of Jove Ægis-arm'd. As reapers, toiling opposite, lay bare Some rich man's furrows, while the sever'd grain, Barley or wheat, sinks as the sickle moves, So Greeks and Trojans springing into fight Slew mutual; foul retreat alike they scorn'd, Alike in fierce hostility their heads Both bore aloft, and rush'd like wolves to war. Discord, spectatress terrible, that sight Beheld exulting; she, of all the Gods, Alone was present; not a Power beside There interfered, but each his bright abode Quiescent occupied wherever built Among the windings of the Olympian heights; Yet blamed they all the storm-assembler King Saturnian, for his purposed aid to Troy. The eternal father reck'd not; he, apart, Seated in solitary pomp, enjoy'd His glory, and from on high the towers survey'd Of Ilium and the fleet of Greece, the flash Of gleaming arms, the slayer and the slain.
During their long conversation on Wednesday evening, Speranski more than once remarked: "We regard everything that is above the common level of rooted custom..." or, with a smile: "But we want the wolves to be fed and the sheep to be safe..." or: "They cannot understand this..." and all in a way that seemed to say: "We, you and I, understand what they are and who we are."
"That peasant near Mozhaysk where the battle was said the men were all called up from ten villages around and they carted for twenty days and still didn't finish carting the dead away. And as for the wolves, he says..."
To whom Achilles, lowering dark, replied. Hector! my bitterest foe! speak not to me Of covenants! as concord can be none Lions and men between, nor wolves and lambs Can be unanimous, but hate perforce Each other by a law not to be changed, So cannot amity subsist between Thee and myself; nor league make I with thee Or compact, till thy blood in battle shed Or mine, shall gratify the fiery Mars. Rouse all thy virtue; thou hast utmost need Of valor now, and of address in arms. Escape me more thou canst not; Pallas' hand By mine subdues thee; now will I avenge At once the agonies of every Greek In thy unsparing fury slain by thee.
At midday on the twenty-second of October Pierre was going uphill along the muddy, slippery road, looking at his feet and at the roughness of the way. Occasionally he glanced at the familiar crowd around him and then again at his feet. The former and the latter were alike familiar and his own. The blue-gray bandy legged dog ran merrily along the side of the road, sometimes in proof of its agility and self-satisfaction lifting one hind leg and hopping along on three, and then again going on all four and rushing to bark at the crows that sat on the carrion. The dog was merrier and sleeker than it had been in Moscow. All around lay the flesh of different animals--from men to horses--in various stages of decomposition; and as the wolves were kept off by the passing men the dog could eat all it wanted.