51�Թ�

As a result, politics almost continually involved attacks on one’s honor and reputation…If they got out of hand, it became an affair of honor… There was whole ritual where the offended party asks for an explanation… and then he issues a challenge, and if things don’t get resolved beforehand, which they usually did, it led to a duel.

The “tinies” manifest themselves as follows: The tiniest infraction earns an abundance of punishment; the tiniest insult is received as a mortal affront; the tiniest bit of humor at one’s expense is absorbed as an assault on one’s honor — and dishonor must pay a price.