More Re: Antedatings in the Yale Book of Quotations -- 26: Line in the Sand

[Towse]

1847. ...

On 12/26/06, Towse <my.cache at gmail.com> wrote:
> William Prescott  - /History of the Conquest of Peru/
>
> =============
> A ray of hope was enough for the courageous spirit of Pizarro. It does
> not appear that he himself had entertained, at any time, thoughts of
> returning. If he had, these words of encouragement entirely banished
> them from his bosom, and he prepared to stand the fortune of the cast
> on which he had so desperately ventured. He knew, however, that
> solicitations or remonstrances would avail little with the companions
> of his enterprise; and he probably did not care to win over the more
> timid spirits who, by perpetually looking back, would only be a clog
> on his future movements. He announced his own purpose, however, in a
> laconic but decided manner, characteristic of a man more accustomed to
> act than to talk, and well calculated to make an impression on his
> rough followers.
>
> Drawing his sword, he traced a line with it on the sand from east to
> west. Then turning towards the south, "Friend and comrades!" he said,
> "on that side are toil, hunger, nakedness, the drenching storm,
> desertion, and death; on this side, ease and pleasure. There lies Peru
> with its riches; here, Panama, and its poverty. Choose, each man, what
> best becomes a brave Castilian. For my part, I go to the south." So
> saying, he stepped across the line. He was followed by the brave pilot
> Ruiz; next by Pedro de Candia, a cavalier, born, as his name imports,
> in one of the isles of Greece. Eleven others successively crossed the
> line, thus intimating their willingness to abide the fortunes of their
> leader, for good or for evil. Fame, to quote the enthusiastic language
> of an ancient chronicler, has commemorated the names of this little
> band, "who thus, in the face or difficulties unexampled in history,
> with death rather than riches for their reward, preferred it all to
> abandoning their honor, and stood firm by their leader as an example
> of loyalty to future ages."
> =================
>
> <http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/hst/southamerican/HistoryoftheConquestofPeru/chap11.html>
>
> Prescott must be quoting an earlier source. He refers to "an ancient
> chronicler" and Pizarro would have said something more akin to , "Alla
> esta Peru y aqui esta Panama. ..."
>
> On 12/26/06, Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
> > 1853 _Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion_ 26 Nov. 350 (American
> > Periodical Series)  A couple of well-armed guides came upon us and
> > insisted upon disturbing our meditations with their magpie chatter. ...
> > Talking did no good, they talked so much faster and in more languages than
> > we.  I remembered the brave American adventurer, and drew a line in the
> > sand; if they crossed that, I hardly know what terrors were to come upon
> > them.  And these stout, well armed men marched like lions to the line --
> > there they stopped, and we were molested no more.
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
> > Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS
> >    Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press
> > Yale Law School                             ISBN 0300107986
> > e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org