So when you are tempted to be direct, remember Cathago delenda est.
Haha, that I will. But are you aware I was speaking of Hannibal Lecter? Not sure if the fictional character was named after the general or not.
Also the brilliant (though fictitious) parable of Pai Mei:
Once upon a time......in China......some believe around the year......one double aught-three....head priest of the White Lotus Clan, Pai Mei, was walking down a road......contemplating whatever it is that a man of Pai Mei's infinite powers would contemplate -which is another way of saying, "Who knows?"
-when a Shaolin monk appeared on the road,
traveling in the opposite direction.
As the monk and the priest
crossed paths......Pai Mei......in a practically unfathomable
display of generosity,
gave the monk the slightest of nods.
The nod...
...was not returned.
Now, was it the intention
of the Shaolin monk to insult Pai Mei?
Or did he just fail to see
the generous social gesture?
The motives of the monk
remain unknown.
What is known...
...were the consequences.
The next morning, Pai Mei
appeared at the Shaolin temple...
...and demanded
of the temple's head abbot
that he offer Pai Mei his neck
to repay the insult.
The abbot, at first,
tried to console Pai Mei.
Only to find Pai Mei was...
...inconsolable.
So began...
...the Massacre of the Shaolin Temple,
and all sixty of the monks inside,
at the fists of the White Lotus.