A Coward or A Liar

I have been reading The Count of Monte Cristo and have just read the chapter where Albert Morcerf finds a little article in the newspaper implicating a man named Fernand in some traitorous mercenary political activity several years ago. Albert Morcerf seizes upon this as an implication that his father, le Comte de Morcerf, is a traitorous mercenary because his father was named Fernand Mondego before his father’s ascendancy into wealth and power. Albert rushes the newspaper’s owner and challenges Beauchamp to a duel because Albert feels that Beauchamp’s newspaper has slandered the family name.

I thought this emphasis on honor above life seemed anachronistic until I recalled the exchange on TV between Hard Ball’s Chris Matthews and Senator Zell Miller during the Republican Convention. Senator Miller challenged Chris Matthews to a duel because Chris Matthews introduced Senator Miller as an “old time seggy,” a racist segregationist.

I applaud Senator Zell Miller who has kept such a forgotten value as honor alive in this age of slander and innuendo.

Here is a link to the story of the challenge: Duel

In the old days, a man who doesn’t accept the challenge of a duel of honor was labeled either a coward or a liar, or both.