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things about that SidBy person, there'd be another. But the real reason to
kill her is to get at you. If they thought she didn't like you, thought she
was goin* through with this marriage for politics, she'd be safe enough,
they'd purely love to have you in a bad marriage where you're likely to do
something stupid.
But the way you two been canyin' on, like love birds, it's pretty clear you
made up whatever problems you had, and that's not so good, the way they see
it."
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"What the heB is it to them?"
"Come off it. Highness," Whitlock said. "You got to know, for all practical
purposes right now you are the nation. Oh, sure, people love your father, but
they think of him as the old king, nice old man, symbol of the nation and all
that, but still, he's the old king. And they trust David to do what's best if
there's peace, but there ain't no peace, and they don't see there'll be -any
peace without you make it happen. Now most times maybe its best you don't act
like you know all this, but this is a time for some plain talk. Whatever
future this experiment in the good society has got, right now it pretty much
rests on you."
Lysander didn't say anything. Whitlock nodded.
"So, we got that straight. Now, about Croser."
PRINCE OF SPARTA 177
"But Dr. Whidock, he's been careful, there's no evidence to connect him or
his political movement with any of this. No criminal acts."
"Well, that's right, and if that's what you're waiting for, you'll never get
it," Whitlock said. "Son, a long time ago a man named Burke said that for evil
to win all that's got to happen is that good men do nothin'.
That's happening here. You're in a war, and you got to fight it like a war."
"And if we get like the enemy what's the point of winning?"
"That's what King David's always sayin'," Whidock said. "Your father, too,
sometimes, not so much now.
Lysander, let me tell you something, you couldn't in a million years be like
them even if you was to work at it." Whidock studied papers on his desk for a
moment-
"You better think about it. I'll go on plannin' the politics for you, and Pete
Owensford will go on fightin'
the enemy for you, good men will go on dyin' for you, and hell, it may be
enough. Prince Lysander, it just may be enough, and maybe you got a point.
You've got a decent government, and Lord knows I'd hate to see it turn mean,
but you better think. Your Highness. Just how many of your people are you
willing to see killed just so Citizen Dion Croser can have his legal rights?"
^ CHAPTER EIGHT
To be a general it is sufficient to pay well, command well, and hang well.
Sir Ralph Hopton circa 1689
"
»
The discipline enforced by firing squad or pistol is inferior to that
accepted, self-imposed discipline which characterizes good soldiers.
Regulations designed to keep dull-witted con-
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scripts together on the shoulder-to-shoulder battlefields of theblackpowder
era are inappropriate in an age when weap-
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file:///F|/rah/Jerry%20Pournelle/Pournelle,%20Jerry%20%20+%20Stirling,%20S.%20
M.%20-%20The%20Prince%20of%20Sparta%20UC.txt ons and tactics demand dispersion
on the battlefield, and when the initiative may be more important than blind
obedi-
ence. In the last analysis fighting spirit centres on the morale of the
individual soldier and the small group of comrades with whom he fights.
John Keegan and Richai-d Holmes; Soldiers
"
O
If I learned nothing else from war, it taught me the false-
ness of the belief that wealth, material resources, and industrial genius are
the real sources of a nation's military power. These things are but the stage
setting: those who manage them but the stage crew.
The play's the thing. Finally, every action large or small is decided by what
happens there on the line where men take the final chance of life or death.
And so in the final and great-
est reality, that national strength lies only in the hearts and spirits of
men.
S.L. A. Marshall
^ 4- "
>
Crofton's Encyclopedia of the Inhabited Planets (2nd Edition):
Stora Mine: Mining settlement in the southern foothills of the
Kuprwi Mountains (q.v.), north of Lake Alexander in the Upper
PRINCE OF SPARTA 179
Valley section of the Eurotas river, on the planet Sparta (q.v-).
The initial CoDominium University survey of Sparta indicated that the eroded
volcano later christened Stonioerg contained unusual concentrations of
metallic ores. Researchers hypothesized that during the original uplift
process which produced the Kupros Mountains, a "plug" of freakishly
mineral-rich magma was extruded through a fissure. Over time, the rapid
erosive forces produced by Sparta's 1.22 G stripped away the covering of
softer rock, exposing the core and depositing alluvial metal deposits
extensively in the area. The rock of northern slopes of the mountain contains
up to 8%
copper, 6% lead, 2% silver and significant quantities of platinum, palladium
and thorium group metals; locally higher concentrations are studded through
the mass of the mountain and nearby deposits of "ruddle" hematite have iron
contents of up to 83%. Exploratory mining began during the period of
CoDominium administration and full-scale exploitation commenced with the
chartering of Stora Mines Inc. in 2041.
Both open-pit and shaft mining is carried on; facilities include a geothermal
power plant, smelters and concentration plants, the
215-kilometer electrified railway to Lake Alexander, and miscellaneous
support, maintenance and repair industries.
Description: The settlement of Stora Mine lies on an eroded peneplane at the
northeastern edge of Storaberg Mt. Built-up areas are largely confined to
"ribbon" developments along the valleys of the northeast-southwest tending
ridges. The central town is laid out on a grid basis, forming an H surrounding
two public squares, and includes a business district, public buildings
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population (2090) is 27,253, including many temporary workers housed in
company barracks.
Climate is severe, roughly analogous to northeastern Minnesota or southern
Siberia; the longer seasons make this a loose comparison, however. The
sflt-hlled basins and rocky hills of the piedmont zone running down to the
lakeshore have been extensively developed to supply the mining labor force and
enjoy more moderate temperatures...
" -V "
^ O
There is a semi-facetious classification of officers long familiar to many of
the military fraternity. It does credit to the understanding of its unknown
originator as well as to his sense of humor. Its lightly sketched implications
when further explored and a little amplified approached conclusions that are
not so humorous. Using the terms "brilliant," "energetic," "stupid," and
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