It is rather like a part of of Grettir's Saga when Thorbjorn attacked Atli and ran him through with his spear. As he died, Atli looked down and said that he could see that broad spears are the fashion these days. While I am not certain I could be so nonchalant in facing my own death, the epic hero was.
In The Iliad, Lycaon, a Trojan prince, grabbed his captor Achilles about the knees and begged for his life. Achilles said to him,
"Die, die, my friend. What tears are these? What sad looks spoil thy face? Patroclus died, that far pass'd thee: nay seest thou not beside, myself, ev'n I, a fair young man, and rarely magnified, and (to my father being a king) a mother have, that sits in rank with goddesses; and yet, ..., death , and as violent a fate, must overtake ev'n me."
One has to wonder. Were such men ever real or perhaps seeing the inevitability of death frees one from caring about it. Charles I of England died on this day 1649 on the scaffold, executed by Cromwell with Milton's support. He said that he was going from a corruptible crown to an incorruptible one, where no disturbance can be. Nice last words. I like the ones Joan Crawford is said to have uttered to her maid who started praying, "Dammit don't you dare ask God to help me." See, women can be brave too.
