It is often said that there is a need to be merciful. We never know when we may be asked for mercy. We all have a need to be heard asking for mercy. It means that we are in a position to yield in an argument. We may have to be allowed to give mercy to our opponent. It is an honorable thing to be merciful and even if we have the right, it is better not to use it and allow the law the right to accept the way of the victor.
To ask for mercy is not a weakness. It is a sensible request when there is no other way to resolve an issue. It means that by being merciful the winner is saved the cowardice that can leave the failed with his head held high without having to make the final blow to take away the victory and turning it into an act of savagery. It is one thing to win. It is another to do so honorably. In battle it was always the act of the winning side to decide if they should be merciful and let the captured souls live or die. It was a practical issue because if mercy was allowed and the prisoners were allowed to live, they had to be fed and guarded.
This took resources of the winning side and made them more vulnerable. Food wasn’t an item that was carried and there were no reserves. The guarding of the prisoners took away fighting men from the front and so there were less numbers available to carry on the fighting. It was easier to kill the prisoners as life was cheap in those days and dead men cost little. There was no honor in saving lives when the whole object was to reduce the odds against one’s own side.
It is a barbarous act and victors have been known to slaughter all the women and children and leave nothing of the opposition. Usually there was a hatred worked up before the battle and no side was immune from butchery of the act and so to be merciful was a knightly act of forgiveness and there would be no punishment for taking up arms against the winning side. What a loss of life was exposed. No amount of slavery was worth the trouble of looking after the losers. There was no obvious gain by being merciful, so the common people were slaughtered. The higher ranks were put up for their families to pay for the ransom. Very little can be said to be good about war.
Sunday, 11th April 2021
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