The Big Truth about Head Shrinking Quiz

Answer: The Bible, specifically I Cor. 13 or the love chapter

The title comes from I Cor. 13:12 (KJV) - "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." Patton was a man of contradictions as evidenced here. He took the title of his poem about being a warrior from the one chapter in the Bible that could arguably be considered the least warlike chapter of the Bible, the love chapter. Further, his belief in reincarnation would be considered by mainstream Christianity to be at odds with what the Scriptures teach. Yet in Patton the two ideas seemed to coexist seamlessly.

Perhaps, though, Patton's belief in reincarnation came more from his lineage than anything else. Patton was raised in the grand military tradition of a Southern gentleman. One of his ancestors was General Hugh Mercer from the Revolutionary War. His great uncle, Lt. Col. Waller T. Patton a regimental commander, died in Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. His paternal grandfather, after whom he was named, was a Colonel in the Confederate Army and died at the Battle of Opequon. Two of his other uncles were colonels in the Confederate Army and one served in the Confederate Navy. Hugh Weedon Mercer, another close relative, was a Confederate general. As you read this poem you get the sense that these men and especially the deaths of those who died in battle had a profound influence on Patton. These deaths epitomized a glorious death in a noble cause, something Patton aspired to emulate.

Answer: Patton saw war as a glorious enterprise

Dictionary.com gives one definition of pomp as "ostentatious or vain display, especially of dignity or importance." It further defines panoply as "full ceremonial attire or paraphernalia; special dress and equipment." Patton saw war as a glorious enterprise. He understood the pageantry of the military. He dressed immaculately so as to look the part and inspire his men. To him the fighting and dying were mere side issues to the glory to be won on the battlefield. His personality was more like that of Gen. George Custer than that of his subordinate and then superior, Gen. Omar Bradley, who was known as "The G.I.'s General". Bradley did not care for all of the hoopla, unlike Patton.

In these first quatrains Patton sets forth the motif for the poem - the glory of war. He then begins at, where else, the beginning of time. His vision of long ago is unclear and yet the feelings evoked by these memories are still raw in him. It is this rawness of emotion and of a more unreasoning man that gets transformed throughout the poem much as the history of man can be traced from the primitive to the more advanced. He saw war as one of the constants of human history.

Answer: Rene Descartes

The 'thinker' in this case is Rene DeCartes who famously stated, "I think, therefore I am." Cartesian Dualism draws a distinction between the body/brain and the mind of a person. The consciousness of a person is not merely a function of the brain but exists apart from it. The 'high souled voice of conscience' would be a product of that part of a person that exists beyond the physical, from within the soul as it were, and the 'beastly lust' would be that which is driven by the needs or desires of the physical body.

What is interesting here is that Patton is not really talking about the motivations which may cause a man to go to war; they are merely details that do not matter. Here what matters is the battle itself, the act of combat. Patton sees himself as having lived for and is now living for the battle itself. It does not matter why he fought or fights only that he fought and fights. His glory is in the fight. He delineates all the motivations and concludes that they all lead to the same place - the grave. It is not what a man fights for but how he fights that is his glory.

Answer: Longinus

The clue 'lanky' is a synonym for long. Patton's reference here to possibly being a part Christ's death and then calling on Him in later lives parallels the legend of Longinus quite remarkably. Longinus was a common soldier who in fulfilling his duties as a soldier became a part of something that was greater than himself. Afterwards tradition holds that Longinus became a believer much as Patton himself was a believer. The lance he used figures prominently in the legends of the Holy Grail.

What is most fascinating about this section is that it brings to light another facet of Patton's childhood; he read the classics like the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" as well as military history and was greatly influenced by them. He also heard the stories of John Mosby, the Gray Ghost, who was a guerilla fighter in the Civil War and a friend of Patton's father. The myths and the history blended together in the young Patton's mind much like the myth and the history of Longinus blended together over the years. Even Patton's life has become obscured between fact and myth, much like Longinus.

Answer: They were citizen soldiers

Stephen Ambrose's book "Citizen Soldiers" was published in 1997 and tells the story of the US Army from the D-Day landings to final victory. The Hoplites were mainly free citizens who had a duty to defend the city or country when the need arose, much like Americans. In Sparta, the men trained all of their lives for warfare and were renowned in their abilities. In Athens, free men were not exempt from service until after their 60th birthday. In essence, service was the price of freedom, just like America.

The Siege of Tyre was a long drawn out affair because Tyre was an island city with walls right on the edge of the island. First Alexander blockaded the city then he built a causeway out to the city so that he could breech the walls. The siege lasted seven months.

Although Patton led an army of citizen soldiers, he himself was a career military man born of a family with a proud military tradition. Many of his ancestors had graduated from Virginia Military Institute and served during the Civil War. Patton himself graduated from West Point. In these quatrains however, Patton saw himself as a common soldier, bearing the burdens associated with such a life. Although he was a mere soldier, he was partaking in one of the greatest military campaigns ever known, a theme similar to the story of Longinus.

Answer: Crassus

The Battle of Carrhae was one of the worst defeats ever suffered by the Roman legions. The First Triumvirate began in 59 BC when Julius Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey made an alliance to govern Rome. Crassus set out to conquer Parthia in 55 BC. Crassus and the Romans underestimated the Parthians and paid for it with their lives. Although greatly outnumbered by a greater than a 4 to 1 margin, the horse archers of the Parthians destroyed the Romans, killing about half and capturing another quarter. With Crassus' death, the alliance between Caesar and Pompey disintegrated into civil war. Caesar proved victorious and Pompey was assassinated.

In these quatrains Patton demonstrates the fact that it did not matter to him on which side of a battle he fought, only that he fought bravely and with dignity. The line "our discipline was in vain" demonstrates this fact. Also note that as Patton moves through history in this poem he sees his past lives becoming clearer. Furthermore, notice that in each instance throughout the poem his recollection of his past life ends with his death in battle. Clearly Patton had a fixation with dying in battle, seeing that as the only true way for a warrior to die.

Answer: French

Patton's reference to Flemish plate (armor) would mean he saw himself as a knight. The main determining factor would be that history records the death of only two English knights while the French armies and her allies lost 11 noblemen and 1,542 knights. Certainly the most likely side for him to have been on would have been the French.

These quatrains carry on a theme that flows throughout the poem of Patton dying while being a member of the losing side in a battle. It would seem apparent that the deaths of his relatives in the Civil War as Confederate soldiers played deeply on Patton's psyche. This is also the first time Patton saw himself as more than a common soldier, he was a knight. In many ways Patton would have identified with the knights of old and the code of chivalry, it was part of his DNA. Many of his contemporaries saw him as being born at the wrong time and thought he would have fit easily in an earlier era. But Patton adjusted to the times and became one of the greatest tank commanders in history.

Answer: Brigands

Brigands is the only one of the four that would not apply to sanctioned pirating. Dictionary.com defines a brigand as "a bandit, especially one of a band of robbers in mountain or forest regions." The other three terms are used interchangeably but have differences. The term buccaneer was first used for pirates who were sanctioned by the English to attack Spanish shipping in the Caribbean in the 17th century. The term corsair was used for French sanctioned pirates who were used to attack enemies of the state. The term privateer was used more generally for any sanctioned pirate.

Although Patton may have romanticized a pirate's life, especially because his background with the Confederate guerilla John Mosby, it is doubtful he would have enjoyed the life. He was much more rigid in his mannerisms and ways and would not have relished the wild life of pirates. But the privateers were kind of a hybrid between the pirate and the normal navy. Mosby would have fallen more in this category if he had lived during that time.

Answer: Naples

Joachim Murat was made King of Naples and Sicily in 1808 where he ruled until 1815. Murat was one of Napoleon's most trusted Marshals and in 1804 he was named "First Horseman of Europe". This title would have appealed to Patton who was first commissioned in the cavalry after graduating from West Point in 1909. He was named the Army's youngest ever Master of the Sword in 1912 and in 1913 he developed the Model 1913 Cavalry Saber, known as the Patton Saber.

Here Patton says he was a General with Murat. Some have postulated that Patton was the reincarnation of Marshal Ney, although it is uncertain whether this is who he was referring to here. Marshal Ney was nicknamed "the bravest of the brave" by Napoleon, and that would certainly fit with Patton's personality. The line "the sunken road of Ohein" is a reference to the Battle of Waterloo and how Wellington defeated Napoleon. Again the theme of dying on the losing side is expounded in these quatrains.

Answer: Cannon fodder

The first known use of the phrase 'cannon fodder' comes from the Napoleonic era. A related phrase is 'forlorn hope', which traces its roots back to the English Civil War (1642-1651) and the Napoleonic Peninsular War. The forlorn hope were the soldiers given the task of rushing a breech in a wall in the hopes of tying up the enemy so that the next waves could break through. In both phrases the idea is that the troops are expendable and high casualties are expected to gain some strategic advantage.

In these quatrains Patton sums up who he is but freely admits what he does not know. As a good soldier he merely follows orders and lets God worry about the results of his toil. He sees himself as a tool to be used to accomplish God's will on earth. In many ways he accepts Divine Providence as the controlling force in human history and that his only concern is to be the best warrior he can no matter how many times he lives and fights and dies. This can be most clearly seen in his use of the example of Longinus and how this soldier became a part of one of the most important moments in history, probably without even understanding it. Patton was no philosopher or theologian and had no problem reconciling his Christian beliefs with his belief that he had lived many times before. Whether this belief was a true heartfelt belief or merely a manifestation of his upbringing and his obsession with war is irrelevant. One fact is clear, Patton proved to be one of the ablest combat commanders America has ever produced and if these beliefs were necessary for him to do this then so be it.