[Martin Wallgren]

[Mikko Kuusirati]

And then there's the poem quoted in Carl's signature:

Serpent prow on the Afric coast,
Doom on the Moorish town;
And this is the song the steersman sang
As the dragonship swept down:

I followed Asgrimm Snorri's son around the world and half-way back,
And 'scaped the hate of Galdjerhrun who sank our ship off Skagerack.
I lent my sword to Hrothgar then; his eyes were ice, his heart was hard;
He fell with half his weapon-men to our own kin at Mikligard.

And then for many a weary moon I labored at the galley's oar
Where men grow maddened by the rune of row-locks clacking ever more.
But I survived the reeking rack, the toil, the whips that burned and gashed,
The spiteful Greeks that scarred my back and trembled even while they lashed.

They sold me on the Eastern block; in silver coins their price was paid;
They girt me with a chain and lock, I laughed and they were sore afraid.
I toiled among the olive trees until a night of hot desire
Blew me a breath of outer seas and filled my veins with curious fire.

Then I arose and broke my chain and laughed to know that I was free,
And battered out my master's brain and fled and gained the open sea.
Beneath a copper sun adrift, I shunned the proa and the dhow,
Until I saw a sail uplift, and saw and knew the dragon prow.

Oh, East of sands and sunlit gulf, your blood is thin, your gods are few;
You could not break the Northern wolf and now the wolf has turned on you.
The fires that light the coasts of Spain fling shadows on the Eastern strand.
Master, your slave has come again with torch and axe in his right hand!

-- Robert E, Howard, "Thor's Son"

[Carl Goff]

Yeah, I owe you a thank-you for that site.

[Mark Mattimore]

OK, this isn't really a battle speech but it has a similar tone. From Julius Caesar, this is Anthony speaking after Caesar is murdered. He regrets what has happened and predict that war is to come.

O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times.
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy,-
Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips,
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue-
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy ;
Blood and destruction shall be so in use
And dreadful objects so familiar
That mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war;
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds:
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.

[Eric Nower]

Hello all,

A bit old but here's one from Flight of the Dragons

Blade with whom I have lived,
Blade with whom I now die,
Serve Right and Justice one last time,
Seek one last heart of evil,
Still one last life of pain,
Cut well old friend and then.....farewell

[Alexander Ren]

"Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
Mandy Patinkin - The Princess Bride

[Edward Hitchens]

The bicenntenial of the Battle of Trafalgar is this year (this month to be exact )

"England expects every man to do his duty." -Adm. Lord Horatio Nelson

[Jason Daub]

General Sir Ian Hamilton, addressing his Gallipoli troops;

You will hardly fade away until the sun fades out of the sky and the earth sinks into the universal blackness. For already you form part of that great tradition of the Dardenelles which began with Hector and Achilles. In another few thousand years the two stories will have blended into one, and whether when "the iron roaring went up to the vault of heaven through the unharvested sky," as Homer tells us, it was the spear of Achilles or whether it was a 100-lb shell from Asiatic Annie won't make much odds to the Almighty.

quote by Alan Moorehead, Gallipoli

[Eric Spitler]

Molon Labe.

[Gordon Frye]

[Mikko Kuusirati]

[Gabriel Stevens]

Great one Eric....on that note, not really a speech but....

Although extraordinary valor was displayed by the entire corps of Spartans and Thespians, yet bravest of all was declared the Spartan Dienekes. It was said that on the eve of battle, he was told by a native of Trachis that the Persian archers were so numerous that, when they fired their volleys , the mass of arrows blocked out the sun. Dienekes, however, quite undaunted by this prospect, remarked with a laugh, "Good. Then we'll have our battle in the shade."

Herodotus, The Histories

[Steve Grisetti]

How about this one:

"Soldiers of the glorious Red Army,
From now on, it is either victory or death!
Those who retreat will be shot!
There will be no mercy for cowards and traitors!"

- political officer in Enemy at the Gates.

[Chuck Russell]

M..o..o..n spells moon