On one occasion his wife, Berenice,
pronounced thereanent those memorable words:--'There cannot be
too much deliberation when the death of a man is concerned'--
afterwards adopted by Juvenal--Nulla unquam de morte hominis
cunctatio longa est.[15]
[15] Aelian, Var. Hist. lib. XLIV. c. xiii.; Juvenal, Sat. vi.
Tolomnius, King of the Veii, happened to be playing at dice when
the arrival of Roman ambassadors was announced. At the very
instant he uttered the word KILL, a term of the game; the word
was misinterpreted by the hearers, and they went forthwith and
massacred the ambassadors. Livy suggests that this was an excuse
alleged AFTER the commission of the deed; but gamesters are
subject to such absence of mind that there is really nothing
incredible or astonishing in the act. 'Sire,' exclaimed a
messenger to the Caliph Alamin, 'it is no longer time for play--
Babylon is besieged!' 'Silence!' said the caliph, 'don't you see
I am on the point of giving checkmate?' The same story is told
of a Duke of Normandy.
Wars have arisen from very trivial causes--among the rest
gambling. Henry, the son of William the Conqueror, was playing
at chess with Louis, the son of Philip, King of France.
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