We got out of the motor before
going into the courtyard of the chateau, and immediately I was
taken by the Chancellor into a garden on the gently sloping hillside
below the chateau. Here the Emperor, dressed in uniform, was
walking.
As I drew near the Emperor, he said immediately, "Do you come
like the great pro-consul bearing peace or war in either hand?"
By this he referred, of course, to the episode in which Quintus
Fabius Maximus, chief of the Roman envoys sent to Hannibal in
the Second Punic War, doubled his toga in his hand, held it up
and said: "In this fold I carry peace and war: choose which you
will have." "Give us which you prefer," was the reply. "Then
take war," answered the Roman, letting the toga fall. "We accept
the gift," cried the Carthaginian Senator, "and welcome."
I said, "No, your Majesty, only hoping that the differences between
two friendly nations may be adjusted." The Emperor then spoke of
what he termed the uncourteous tone of our notes, saying that
we charged the Germans with barbarism in warfare and that, as
Emperor and head of the Church, he had wished to carry on the
war in a knightly manner.
Pages:
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379