Verse 66
Count the bright wanderer, for beauty that keeps a calendar is more dangerous than beauty that merely smiles.
Liber Veneris - Chapter 50
Verses
Verse 67
When the Dawn Lord first pierces the horizon, close neither eye. An omen ignored does not become unemployed.
Verse 68
The priests marked the days with red knots and black cuts, and the captains pretended this was not fear.
Verse 69
Five journeys of the bright one were bound to eight journeys of the Sun, and the counters smiled at the near-return.
Verse 70
They said, The sky remembers numbers even when kings forget debts.
Verse 71
On the first appearance, sharpen no blade before asking whom the blade already serves.
Verse 72
On the second, paint the shield with the face you are most afraid to become.
Verse 73
On the third, feed the fire something precious that is not alive.
Verse 74
On the fourth, listen for dogs before dawn; they notice returning powers sooner than ministers.
Verse 75
On the fifth, make no prophecy. Repetition tempts the mouth into arrogance.
Verse 76
The warrior asked, Is the Morning Star favorable?
Verse 77
The keeper of counts answered, Favorable to what?
Verse 78
He said, To victory.
Verse 79
The keeper laughed. Victory is only a corpse viewed from one side.
Verse 80
At dawn the bright spear rose, and three cities interpreted it differently.
Verse 81
The first attacked.
Verse 82
The second fortified.
Verse 83
The third held a festival and got drunk.
Verse 84
By sunset all three blamed the planet.
Verse 85
Thus was established the oldest military doctrine: if the plan fails, consult astronomy.
Verse 86
Obsidian reflects a face and cuts the hand. Therefore it is a proper mirror for desire.
Verse 87
Copper shines warmly; obsidian shines coldly. Venus has room for both.
Verse 88
Do not call the Dawn Lord cruel. A clock does not murder the late.
Verse 89
Yet do not call him innocent. Men have killed for less persuasive symbols.
Verse 90
When the bright one disappears, store the banners. Invisible gods encourage visible politicians.
Verse 91
When he returns, examine the granaries before the prophecies.
Verse 92
A hungry army has no theology beyond breakfast.
Verse 93
The cat at the temple steps slept through the omen and survived every dynasty.
Verse 94
Write this beneath the war calendar: No star commands the hand that chooses.
Verse 95
Write beneath that: The hand will still invent a star to blame.