“Nie rozumiesz. Każda religia, która nakazuje wyznawcom kochać odległego, zapewne wymyślonego boga bardziej od tych, których powinni kochać, rodziny, przyjaciół, a przede wszystkim dzieci, jest okrutna i nieludzka. Więc jak widzisz, nie sądzę, żebym należał do ludzi, których można nawrócić na wiarę w waszego ukrzyżowanego boga.”
“Maximus was cleaning his blade on the dead man’s wolfskin. ‘You promised him his life,’ the Greek said. ‘No, I said death was his last worry.’ Maximus swung up on to Pale Horse. ‘Is that not so for all of us?”
“I take it you do not agree with your countrymen’s religious practices.’‘Oh no,’ said Hippothous. ‘I am not Cilician by birth. Mine has been a long and tragic path. I was born in Perinthus, the noble city close by Byzantium. My father was on the Boule. When I was young, I fell desperately in love. Hyperanthes was nearly my age. Stripped for wrestling in the gymnasium, he was like a god. And his eyes – no sidelong glances or fearsome looks, no trace of villainy or dissembling.’As they ate, Hippothous told them a tale of love, lust, subterfuge, murder, flight, shipwreck, loss and exile – a tale worthy of a Greek romance. ‘Probably from a fucking Greek romance,’ muttered Calgacus.”